American Automobile Association
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The AAA (usually read triple-A, or sometimes three As), formerly known as the American Automobile Association, is an American not-for-profit automobile lobby group and service organization, with their national headquarters based in Lake Mary, Florida. The organization changed its official name to simply the initials in 1997.
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[edit] History
The American Automobile Association was founded on March 4, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio as a response to a lack of roads and highways suitable for autos. The organization originally had 1000 charter members, and these original members were generally of an auto enthusiast demographic. AAA’s membership base is and was formed from a number of local and regional motor clubs, and these auto clubs combined forces to create a more powerful organization. Today one in five Americans is an AAA member.
The association expanded its scope of services as years progressed. The first AAA road maps were published in 1905, and AAA began printing hotel guides in 1917. AAA began its School Safety Patrol Program in 1920, and many driver safety programs followed in the decades to come. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which conducts a large volume of studies regarding motorist safety, was established as separate entity in 1947.
AAA was a sanctioning organization for automobile racing in the United States until 1956. It sanctioned many races, including the Indianapolis 500. After the Le Mans 1955 disaster, AAA decided that auto racing distracted from its primary goals, and the United States Automobile Club was formed to take over the race sanctioning/officiating.
[edit] Current operations
Members belong to an individual club (such as the California State Auto Association, Automobile Club of Southern California, AAA Texas or Auto Club South, for example) and the clubs in turn own AAA. The member clubs have arranged a reciprocal service system so that members of any participating club are able to receive member services from any other affiliate club. Member dues finance all club services as well as the operations of the national organization.
From the standpoint of the consumer, AAA clubs primarily provide emergency road services to members. These services, which include everything from lockouts, winching, tire changes, automotive first aid, and towing are handled by private local towing companies contracted by a state AAA club. Many AAA clubs have an automotive fleet division serving large metro areas, while private towing companies cover the surplus call volume by area. And recently certain state clubs have implemented an "on the go" diagnostic/installation automotive battery program, which offers members an additional service to an ever more demanding commute. Clubs also distribute road maps and travel publications, and rate restaurants and hotels according to a "diamond" scale (one to five). Many offices sell automobile liability insurance, provide travel agency, auto-registration and notary services. AAA also offers member discounts at over 100 partners including many hotels, Amtrak, Hertz rental cars, Jiffy Lube, LensCrafters, and Payless ShoeSource through its "Show Your Card & Save" program.
[edit] International affiliates
The AAA has reciprocal arrangements with a range of international affiliates. In general, members of affiliates are offered the same benefits as members of the AAA while traveling in the United States, whilst AAA members are offered equivalent benefits whilst traveling in the territory of the affiliate.
International affiliates include:
- The Automobile Association in the United Kingdom.
- The Canadian Automobile Association in Canada (Tourbooks and maps of Canadian places are published by AAA, and are distributed by AAA and CAA clubs using both AAA and CAA logos).
- The ADAC in Germany.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- AAA.com AAA's official Web site
- AAA.mobi AAA's official Mobile site
- AAA's Five Diamond Restaurants (Word File)
- AAA's Five Diamond Hotels (Word File)
- AAA's Public Service Web site
- AAA's Media Resource
- AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Reportfr:Association des Automobiles Américaines
no:American Automobile Association sv:American Automobile Association
