Are you looking forward to get a membership to gain some benefits with it? Of course you are, that is why you are reading this post about ‘Good Sam vs American Automobile Association’. Many and many out there have a reason to join one or the other, or in many cases, none too. If you are one of the former ones, how likely are you to choose from any one of them?
We assume, that you are pretty confused over what is the option you should go for, will Good Sam be a good option, or going with the American Automobile Association would be good. Before getting into any such detail to get the answer to that question, let’s see a little bio of both the organisations, and for that, let us start with the American Automobile Association, famously referred to as the ‘AAA’.
Established in the early 20th century’s date of 1902, AAA is an association of various motor clubs which have international presence. The HQ of AAA is situated in the American state of Florida.
AAA is a privately held and operated organisation, and is also claimed to be a non-profit body. As a matter of fact, even though AAA headquarters is today located in Florida, its origin lies in Chicago, where it is recorded to be founded. The time was 1902, when nine motor clubs came forward with a strength of 1500 members, to form the AAA.
Its operations included, helping its members with suggestions of good hotels on road trip, giving out maps to them etc. AAA has also been involved in automobile racing and road safety programmes.
Given its popularity and work in the next 5 decades, AAA also got a stamp on its 50th anniversary in 1952. The stamp showed the School Safety Patrol assignment with a dedication to the AAA.
All in all, it is a big and famous name in the automobile world. Now let’s learn a little about Good Sam.
So, Good Sam is much younger than AAA, with its inception being known for the year 1966. But like AAA, it is also an international organisation engaged in furnishing automobile club memberships. But there is a catch, Good Sam is not as famous as AAA for dealing in every type of vehicle out there, it has primarily focused and is known for its dealing with Recreational vehicles, which are for eg- caravans, vanity vans etc. It too has engaged in various automobile sports events.
Its members are also given various service related to automobile, but they are known to be quite specific towards a specific genre of automobiles. As of 2021, Good Sam is owned by Good Sam Enterprises, and apart from its dealing with Recreational Vehicles, it also has its focus towards camping grounds.
This organisation is very much into the leisure and recreational aspect of driving and travel. On Wikipedia, the club is shown to be headquartered in Kentucky. In the same page, there is also a reference to how this organisation was named. It suggests that it is named after the ‘Good Samaritan’ story, referenced in the Bible.
Now, if you have started to deduce the similarities and differences b/w both of these bodies, first read the subheadings which have been written to give a clearer idea over, ‘Which is better for you, AAA or Good Sam?’.
How to Cancel AAA Membership
Outreach
This is one important factor to check, as it is crucial to know that who has its services covered for the longest mile.
Let’s begin with AAA. This organisation supposedly has nearly 1000 locations across the whole North America. It is also reported to have a gigantic quantity of 60 million members, which is quite an astonishing number, as it nearly translates to 1/5th of the population of the United States. This number of members, also show a gigantic growth seen by AAA, as when it started back in 1902, it started with a member base of 1500.
Its outreach makes it quite a favourable in case a member needs emergency assistance somewhere, especially in US.
With such a wide outreach, it makes a favourable argument to go for AAA.
But wait, now there is the turn of Good Sam.
As per the data given on https://www.getawaycouple.com/good-sam-club/ , Good Sam has about 1200 ‘local chapter’ across North America.
Given the assumption that chapter means branch here, Good Sam seems to be beating AAA in this front. But let’s not be hasty and look further.
As it was mentioned earlier, that Good Sam is involved in the business of Recreational Club memberships, which makes a lot of things to be different in its operation and services.
It also helps you in finding a good location to camp over with your family and friends with the help of your caravan or vanity van, which is somewhat different from the hotel suggestion service provided by the AAA.
This also gives another point of difference b/w both the organisations, let us try and see some more points to try to get a clearer answer.
How to file a complaint with AAA
Roadside Assistance
This point is very very crucial when you are dealing with the membership of an automobile derivative organisation.
This time, let’s start with Good Sam. Good Sam offers a range of roadside services like towing, discounts on car rentals, flat tire assistance etc. In terms of coverage, it offers to cover your medical expenses as well, along with the coverages like tire replacement, home transportation during medical emergency etc.
With a sigh for many people, Good Sam offers 24×7 towing services under the area it has its jurisdiction to. Not just that, it also offers access to Recreational Vehicle specialist technicians, who are a bunch of able people to help you in the case of need.
Other sorts of roadside assistance include flat tire replacement, so that you don’t need to drag a blown tire. And they also offer help in the case your vehicle has gone battery-dead or fuel exhaustion. Seems helpful, isn’t it?
Now what does AAA have to compete in this dual?
This body has a lot to offer as an assistance to its members. Read and find out.
Flat tire, no problem. Fuel over, no issues. Is the battery dead, OK. Are you locked out of your vehicle? Don’t worry. Is the vehicle acting funny? OK. Stuck on road with your vehicle who just ditched you in the journey, no problemo.
All the problems mentioned above are duly covered by AAA, for giving its members a worthwhile experience for their membership.
AAA offers roadside mechanic services, re-fuelling service, locksmith assistance, battery assistance, towing assistance and probably a lot more.
So given these inputs, AAA stands in a tough competition to the Good Sam. If the next point could help you better, it would be really good.
Cost
A truly subjective criteria after witnessing all sorts of services offered by both. The financial input for the membership, which the organisation asks for.
Good Sam gives two sorts of pricing on its website, one is for its membership, the other is for auto and RV coverage for roadside assistance.
It offers its membership for, from $29 for one year to $79 for three years. There is also a plan option b/w of them, which is at $50 for two years.
Other plan is linked to its roadside assistance, which is further segregated into two segments, RV and Auto+RV.
The plan which just covers non-RV autos has a pricing of $49.95, $54.95 and $89.95 depending on the scale of services wished to be availed.
Further, for RV and Auto combined, its plan ranges from $64.95, $79.95, $119.95.
So, what now for AAA?
American Automobile Association’s membership charges are like mentioned below.
AAA basically has three membership plans which ranges from $68 to $131. The most basic plan offers the ‘Classic’ membership in AAA at the annual cost of $68.
But actually, the membership plan of AAA is not that simple too, as individual regions tend to have their autonomy over the pricing and services.
For eg- charges of towing are not the same across the whole US for a AAA member, somewhere there is a charge of $5, somewhere $15, and somewhere it’s available for free.
So to learn this, you should actually get in touch with some AAA representative of your local region, and ask about the membership charges.
And if that helps, then it could turn out to be a beneficial option for you.
Other services
This section could help you if you are still truly confused over where to go, Good Sam or AAA. This segment could be a potential tie-breaker, if there is one.
So, AAA and Good Sam offer few other services too apart from what had been mentioned yet. For eg- they both offer insurance.
AAA could have a little edge, if you like that something extra. AAA offers notary services as well for everyone. And if you are a member, then you could avail discounts over availing notary service by AAA.
Hence with this, a long page written will come to an end. If this page somehow helped you in making a decision, then you might share it with some of your friends too, who have a similar doubt. And if it didn’t help you, then on a positive note, we urge you to get in touch with representatives of both organisations, and understand both of their offerings and pricing in detail.
