---

28.6 Million Distress Calls Answered by AAA in 1999

8 May 2000

28.6 Million Distress Calls Answered by AAA in 1999

    ORLANDO, Fla., May 8 AAA answered 28.6 million calls for
emergency road service in 1999, North America's largest provider of roadside
assistance reported today.
    AAA said the total represents a decline of more than one million calls
from the previous year, although AAA membership continued to increase during
the same period by more than one million members.
    "Quickly and efficiently responding to the needs of millions of motorists
endangered or inconvenienced by vehicle breakdowns is a big responsibility and
a logistical challenge," said Marshall Doney, vice president, AAA Automotive
Services.
    "AAA's thousands of service vehicle drivers and communication center
personnel can be proud their emergency road service is chosen by drivers in
the United States and Canada year after year, by overwhelming numbers," he
said.
    The decline in emergency road service calls is attributable to milder
weather in 1999 than in 1998, AAA said.  Years in which there are prolonged
extremes of hot or cold weather increase the incident rate for vehicle
breakdowns.
    AAA said fewer than half of the calls received in 1999 -- 41 percent --
resulted in the vehicle being towed for service.  The majority of the stranded
motorists were able to return to the road with AAA's assistance.
    Motorists who were unable to start their vehicles -- usually because of
battery failure -- accounted for 20 percent of the calls.  These vehicles
typically required a battery boost or jump-start.
    Other reasons AAA members required emergency assistance included lockouts,
16 percent; flat tires, 10 percent; extrication and winching,
2 percent; and out of fuel, 2 percent.