ONE OF OUR READERS RAISED an interesting point that we hadn’t considered before.
When she bought her new car, it included (as so many do these days) roadside assist (in her case, for the duration of the new car warranty, which was three years).
It’s one of the many incentives car companies are including to make their products more attractive, and with auto association costs rising year upon year, one that has obvious appeal to motorists watching the pennies.
Since, like most of us, the main reason for being a paid up member of the local auto association (in this case, the RAA in South Australia) was the peace of mind of roadside assistance should she need it, it seemed an obvious choice to allow her membership of the auto club to lapse and rely on her roadside assistance package included in the purchase price of her new car (especially since almost all car company roadside assist packages are operated by the local auto association anyway).
So far, so good.
However, after a few years of ownership, not receiving a copy of the auto association magazine, a magazine she always enjoyed reading, alerted her to the fact that she was no longer a member of the RAA. Of more concern to her was the realisation that her car company roadside assist had expired and she was no longer covered.
She approached the RAA to renew her membership, only to be told she would have to pay a joining fee, and revert to the lowest membership level. So there was an unexpected expense involved and, perhaps even more worryingly, by dropping from her previous Gold Membership to the lowest level, things like car and household insurance premiums would be higher and she would miss out on other membership benefits to which she had previously been entitled.
Keep this in mind before allowing your auto association membership to lapse while you enjoy the benefits of a car company roadside assist program or one provided by your car insurance company.