August 16, 2006

Your Towing Trouble Contingency Plan Isn't AAA Is It?

On our yearly trip to ride on Lake Winnipesauke, The Wakeboard Report crew was met with an unfortunate towing problem. About half way through the journey, we noticed a slight wobble on the left wheel of our single axle Eagle trailer, causing the entire rig to jitter ever so slightly. After another 60 miles or so, the jittering stopped as the tire gave out in a stinky poof of hot rubber and metal mesh.

On the side of this particularly hilly and poorly paved section of road leading to Wolfeboro, NH, we sat in shock and tried to figure out what the next steps would be. Should we get the Super Air Nautique a ride on a flatbed to a garage? That sounds like fun both for me AND my credit card balance! Should we disconnect the truck and try to find an open garage, in the hopes that they had that exact 6 lug 65psi trailer tire lying around? This happened in the lakes region of New Hampshire after all, so we were certainly in a more towing/trailer friendly locale, but both options seemed sub-optimal. Were we near anything? No - the nearest establishment was a sketchy looking Clam Shack, with the words "closed" spray painted across several windows. This was something we we're going to need to continue to try and resolve on our own.

I should add, with decent cell phone signals, my Dad on his way down to help us sort out the situation, and no less than 10 other motorists stopping to offer help (one of which refuted any doubt I had about the Chevrolet 1500's ability to stop while towing - he stopped the truck and a 28 foot Scarab in about 100 feet, without a single chirp or squeak), we weren't exactly stranded - just hungry, cranky, annoyed and a tiny bit scared. And as the conductor of this operation, I was slightly embarrassed that I was not more prepared for a scenario like this. Our annual Winnipesauke road trip is the longest one we take during the summer, and none of us had never experienced an issue like this. Double dumbass on me for this one: I don't carry a spare for the trailer. It doesn't even have a mount for one. But in a flash of clarity, we remembered good old 'AAA', and the fact that all four of us are members, one of which carries the coveted Platinum AAA Club Card. We were going to be fine.

Right?

On attempt #1 with AAA, the friendly customer service representative told me that they could not help at all, unless I wanted to have the truck towed instead, sans boat (thanks!). They reported that they could give me a number to a local garage that could potentially flatbed the boat, but that it was not covered with my membership. No worries - we had the platinum card on deck, ready to go. Or not. Call #2 resulted in the same answer. So much for that Platinum membership.

So, what is AAA's stance in a scenario where a tow vehicle fails and the motorist requires assistance? Does AAA expect people to detach their boat and leave it on the highway? And if so, for how long? Is there a Super Platinum membership? We encountered what must be a common scenario, yet AAA had no advice apart from what I would call blatantly obvious, or unhelpful. And this was the second time in 2 weeks that I encountered difficulty with AAA, which is why I am firing this shot across their bow. AAA seems to require too much to be going quite well in order to render their services. Their tolerance for bad circumstances seems low, and if you think about it, when you're in a situation where your car has broken down or you have otherwise experienced difficulty on the road, that is just not acceptable. And when all hell has broken loose and chaos has ensued, AAA still needs you to be with the vehicle, with cash in hand, with no fluid visibly leaking from the vehicle. I do not believe that they deal with random factors very well.

Some of this scenario was my fault. I was not carrying a spare for the trailer and I won't make that mistake again. My truck's jack did not have enough travel, but I was lucky enough to borrow one from a passing motorist that worked well. I now own a fancy jack thank you very much, with plenty of travel. Also, I downgraded my AAA membership. I can't see how reactively canceling it altogether would do any good, but AAA certainly was useless during this fiasco. I will whine a little bit when it comes time to renew it.

Everything worked out in the end. My wife has a photographic memory, and remembered that there was a small Tire Warehouse franchise near our location, and she remembered the name of the place so we were able to contact them, and despite the fact that he had already closed, he stayed open and waited for us to jack the trailer up, remove the tire, detach the trailer, and pay him a visit. The owner happened to also be the town Fire Chief; helping people may have been in his nature and the tire was changed faster than I shave in the morning. The whole thing took about 2 hours from blown tire to getting rolling again. We didn't miss a moment on the lake, and I learned at least 6 lessons from the whole ordeal.

1. Carry a spare tire for your trailer.
2. Downgrade your AAA membership.
3. Have a long-travel jack and proper lug wrench.
4. Support your local tire shop.
5. Don't buy cellphones without analog roam modes.
6. Go on road trips. We had a blast.

Posted by erik