My car died but I'm okay

[fabricdragon]

whouseknecht here posting for Kirsten.

Long Story Short: She is staying with some friends in NJ because her car broke down en route from I-CON.

Comments

[thespian]

are you basic or Plus with AAA? If you are Plus, have her call them ASAP, because AAA *does* pay the tolls for tow operators to haul Plus members. They may be able to reimburse her, but it sounds to me like he probably got her to pay cash at the time, then will bill them for reimbursement and line his pocket a second time.

[isabelladangelo]

This. I have had AAA for years. Anything within 90 miles should be free.

[dr_zrfq]

What thespian said; Plus members get up to 100 miles of tow for free, *AND* all necessary tolls are reimbursed by AAA. (As opposed to Basic memberships which only get 3 miles for free and no tolls. I considered it a good investment to upgrade to Plus, which has paid off over the last few years.)

[fabricdragon]

WE have plus.
The people i was with had something called premier?
anyway the idea was we use their AAA to get from brooklyn to their house (within the 100 miles) and then if needed use mine to pay for towing from their house to mine (another 100 miles)

note: it was the guy FROM AAA who told us we had to pay the bridge tolls, both ways, cash.
told us on the phone before he would cal the tow company

[eglantine_br]

Glad you are safe. had similar problem once. It was my alternator.

[rikibeth]

I could explain about the front wheel drive/flatbed thing. You see, an old-style winch truck winches the thing up from the rear, leaving the front wheels on the ground. This is fine, if the front wheels are not part of the drive train, and will just spin freely no matter what gear the thing is in. If the front wheels are the drive wheels, it's a lot less feasible.

That really sucks about the car trouble, and the tolls, and all the related hassle. I'm so sorry.

[dr_zrfq]

Most of the non-flatbed tow trucks in my area can handle front-wheel drive cars just fine; they aren't plain winch trucks but ones with widgets that actually lift the wheels. So they just lift whichever wheels are the drive wheels. This doesn't work on 4-wheel or all-wheel drive of course. (E.g. our Subaru.)

I don't think I've seen an old-style winch truck in a couple of decades, myself...

[mousewings]

I'm glad Kirsten is safe. Good thoughts are going out to the both of you.

[cedarwolfsinger]

Sorry to hear about the troubles. Glad that Kirsten is OK, it could have been very bad. Good thoughts and prayers coming your way. Cedar