AAA members benefit from emergency fuel delivery, but there’s one small catch.
Imagine this scenario, you’re 100 percent broke, on the way home, and your gas light comes on. Knowing that means one gallon left you do some quick maths, realize you’re not going to make it, and, eventually you’re going to run out of gas.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut, you remember your parents put you on their AAA plan and that means Emergency Fuel Delivery.
You take the nearest exit (which is literally in the middle of nowhere,) park, and call AAA telling them your predicament that you need gas and, if they can help you out, that would be great.
AAA then tells you that they actually can’t help you and, get this, they can only authorize an emergency fuel delivery service when you are literally out of gas.
It’s past midnight, pitch black, and, even if you knew where the nearest gas station is, you probably can’t make it
That means you have to venture away from your safe parking space into the night and, hopefully, your car dies where there’s room to pull off.
How do I know these exact details?
Well, I’m talking about me.
This happened to me several years ago and, only now, am I blogging about it.
So, my broke *ss hops back onto the freeway because I don’t know the city I exited into well enough (this was before everyone had a GPS.)
And, like clockwork, about 25 miles later, my Civic’s engine stutters once before everything shuts off.
It’s not like the movies, when your car runs out of gas, it just dies.
I coasted to the side of the road, lit a handful of emergency flares, called AAA, and informed them that I indeed have run out of fuel this time.
Sure enough, half an hour later, a tow truck arrives.
Long story short, the tow truck driver actually flat-bedded me back home, we had a nice chat, and my parent’s AAA membership came in clutch, albeit it wasn’t as convenient as I thought it would be.
What are the details to AAA’s emergency fuel delivery service, and what’s the catch?
Details about AAA’s Emergency Fuel Delivery Service can be found, linked here.
According to AAA,
If you run out of fuel, we’ll bring you enough to get you to the nearest gas station. Note that if you need diesel fuel, you must request it when you call, and that diesel may not be available in all locations.
If you didn’t already get it, this is the catch, AAA will only authorize a AAA-approved truck to be sent to your location with emergency fuel if they determine, from what you tell them, that you are absolutely out of gas.
When it says in their description for emergency fuel delivery service, “If you run out of fuel…” they really mean it.
Only when your car dies as a result of a lack of gas or you can no longer start it because you’ve run out do you meet their conditions.
If you have a basic AAA membership, they’ll charge you for the gas at whatever the market rate is.
If you have AAA Plus, Plus RV, or are a Premier Member, fuel is “free.”
“For questions about your AAA fuel delivery service benefits, call 800-922-8228.“
Conclusion
Hopefully, if you’re a AAA member or your parents have you on their plan, you learn from my predicament and, armed with this knowledge, when you’re really in a gas emergency, make your call for emergency fuel accordingly*wink*wink*nudge*nudge*
If you’re up for another story when AAA bailed me out because I ran out of gas.
That’s the end of this blog post but, if you’ve made it this far, I might as well tell you of the other time I called AAA for gas.
I was staying with a good friend’s house over the summer, which you had to drive half a mile uphill to reach his street (hilly Berkely area.)
Again, my broke a** was used to filling up with $5 of gas every day. That was enough to get me to work and back to my friend’s place.
This, in hindsight, an asinine practice, bit me in the behind when one morning when I went to start my little Honda which, at that point was parked on a slope with the fuel light on, it could not start.
Since the fuel was sloshed to one end, my fuel pickup could not reach any gas.
This time, I was literally out of gas.
I called AAA and, when the tow truck driver came out, he hooked me up with his entire 5-gallon fuel can.
That was almost half a tank!
Thankfully, I made it to work on time.
But, once again, that AAA membership came in clutch.
