AAA Plus RV???

[Tow411]

Topic Originally Created by AIKTOW4U in July of 2008:

 

looking to gather some info on AAA plus RV. Does AAA pay for the time it takes to remove shafts or axles? Is it profitable to sign up with aaa for this service? We have alot of camping areas and AAA currently has to pay retail to a non-contracted tower (which I think is great) and he is looking to get out of it. I aquired a truck able to provide the service but dont know how AAA looks at this kind of work. Hoping to make it work for me and want to approach the negotiations well informed, thus any input offered would be a great help! C-YA in the Ditch!

 

Auto Rescue said:

They are already paying private rates why should you get paid less if no one else is doing it and your going to buy equipment to provide them with service?

 

AIKTOW4U said:

That's why I want to know what I should be getting for this service. If AAA will pay retail now, what are the wages I should get for this service? not exact as discussing rates is not allowed, just in general a ball-park figure so I dont short myself.

 

EdsTowing said:

Not saying this is for you but it works ok for us with some exceptions. We give them our MD wrecker for their rate but any Class A that requires a HD are billed hourly at our standard rate. We get prior approval on those jobs and they always authorize it.
Did one on Sunday night, a Suburban pulling a camper trailer. Split it down and towed them around 40 miles (rollback for truck, wrecker for trailer). Total was around $420 for the job.

Their HD rate in our area is $85 hook and 3.50 loaded for all / 2.00 in route with 7 free. Up to 30' is a MD rate which is the same but a $55 hook. We get additional for shafts and any added hook up time. I can run my F650 for this but I explained that my 35ton would sit before I could do it for this rate. It typically works out to around 50% of my normal rate. Many guys turn them down but as long as we are all in line with the money I'll take it to the far corners of the country....

Thanks,
Ed

 

annettemcd said:

We get paid hourly at our contracted rate which is adequate or hourly for extra work (dropping drive shafts, winching to position, etc.) and standard for tow. We have decent rates with Mountain West AAA.

A question is why is the other guy getting out of it? The work, the equipment, the volume, and/or the rates? Is he still going to tow RVs, just not for AAA? With fewer and fewer RVs on the roads because of the present cost of fuel, RV towing is a field that may not be worth expanding into. This year is bad, next year might be worse.

One warning, make sure that the work is there and that you will get a contract BEFORE you buy any specialized equipment. We have seen a few small businesses destroyed by buying equipment for work and contracts that they THOUGHT that they will get only to have government agencies or private companies decide that the services were not going to be needed or used after all.

 

AIKTOW4U said:

The business looking to exit is running a large heavy and the unit is better put to use otherwise. His driver is very good and still running but also looking to retire. His truck is for sale or so I am told but not really advertised as such. I am not looking to cut his throat, just see an opportunity and trying to cash in on it.

 

Towinghondas said:

I would never do the Rvs at thier pathetic rates if you can get you rates. I think we get $45 to hook and ? a mile. I tell my boss no thanks I dont want to touch them!! Private rates on a case by case basis. We really don't have all the goodies to do motorhomes.

 

annettemcd said:

If you get into RV towing, look into the Good Sam which is presently handled by Road America. (But with this musical chair thing going on with which motor club handles whom, you never know who might handle them next year.) Also Coach-Net, All-State, etc. I do not know if our experience is typical, but it seems like the AAA Plus-RV members have small RV while the bigger RVs have Good Sam, Coach-Net, or one of the others.

Good Sam tries to treat its members well. Even with CCMC handling them, we often were asked to do (and get paid for) extra stuff. Also there are service calls with RVs which are totally different from other vehicles: fixing slide-outs and awning which will not retract, changing tires which the owners can not handle, electrical problems related to their multiple batteries, etc.

Also towing RVs is different from other vehicles. They often extend far past the rear axle and what is on the underside back there is vulnerable to damage: septic lines, water lines, etc. Therefore the angle at which they can be towed is limited.

You still need to determine if there is enough business to justify the expense of the equipment to do it. At least in Alaska, there are fewer and fewer RVs on the road these days.

 

AIKTOW4U said:

thanks for the help and info.

 

mooresbp said:

We get paid hourly by AAA for RV calls port to port, I just wish we could get some more calls for them.

 

WheelLiftWarrior said:

I get paid well for our rv calls at a pretty good hookup rate also which isnt to shabby for the extra money on the ones that dont stress you out to much....plus im the only one that usually does them from west palm beach up to port st lucie sometimes when other companies dont want to touch them......give me my enroute plus my MD payment with my hookup driveshaft time increments and im good to go you just have to know what your doing when it comes to motorclubs to make that money

 

ExpressTowAaron said;
Most of what we do now is RV towing and mobile repair. AAA is very fair with us and it is a standardized rate throughout our area. so much for hook (which is a little better than one hour of retail heavy duty rate) pay for pulling and reinstalling shaft/axles and set $ per mileage with no free miles. I've never had a complaint with AAA's RV rates they have always been very fair and very good to me. Very easy to work with for wait time etc...

 

schu said:

I used to work for a backup station .... we would do medium duty for AAA and it was at least what our comercial accounts paid , most of the time it was cash rates . never had a problem getting paid