Just keep talking. In some sense Aaa is like insurance, which socializes the cost of towing. But their third party relationships offer benefits over and above membership costs. For example, my wife can save the annual membership cost with a single AAA discount book at Woodbury Common. A couple of hotel and travel discounts can do the same. There may be a lot of ways to get these deals, but with AAA, they make the towing and other club benefits free.

I’ve never had a problem with long tows in the NY metro area (that includes an epic recovery from State College,PA), and most of the time I just have it towed to my own driveway.The amount of free mileage depends on the member level you choose. And if you request a flatbed, you get a flatbed. So my experience has been uniformly excellent, but you may live in an alternative universe.