Buy Or Don’t Buy

Disclaimer: This is not what AAA used to tow our car

To make a long story short, last night I was driving through downtown D.C. to pick up a friend from the airport when her car’s brakes failed.  As in, I could not stop the car.  (My reaction was, I’m told, similar to my reaction “when something stupid happens on Gossip GIrl.”  I’m glad to know that my stress reponse has its priorities in order.)  Luckily I managed to coast it to a stop in a little-trafficked circle at the entrance to West Potomac Park, near the river and behind the Lincoln Memorial.

And of course the first thing we all agreed upon was “CALL TRIPLE A!”

I’ve had AAA since I first started driving, which I guess was 5 years ago.  But I’ve never had to use it.  I’ve never been in an accident, I’ve never had a flat tire, and until now, I’d never had any other sort of vehicular emergency.  So I didn’t really have any expectations one way or the other.

I didn’t actually deal with AAA myself; my roommate did that.  After a very long and ridiculous conversation in which they attempted to discern our location (”Do you have the name of the street you’re on?”  No.  “Do you have the names of any streets around you?”  No.  “Does the circle you’re in look like a teardrop?”  Um…maybe from an aerial view?), they told us that a tow truck would arrive sometime within the next hour and a half.

And lo and behold, it arrived within 20 minutes!  We were very impressed.  Tow Truck Dude loaded up the car and we hopped into the truck with him.  He then proceeded to show us the wonders of his magical GPS system (”You want Chinese food?  Type it in.  You want Italian food?  Type it in.), and also said that the car was probably just low on brake fluid (good to know after we almost DIED.)  He dropped us off at a Goodyear in Ballston, had us sign a little paperwork, and then we went to IHOP.  Overall, the night could have gone a lot worse.

So the moral of my story?  BUY AAA!  I actually have no idea what it costs, because my parents still pay for it, but when you find yourself stuck in the middle of the city, or the middle of nowhere, with a big white death trap on wheels that smells like burning rubber, it comes in quite handy.

SIDENOTE:  During the point in our evening when we were running around trying to figure out what road we were on, a limo pulled up and parallel parked behind us.  Unfortunately, George Clooney was not inside to lend a helping hand.