American Automobile Association (AAA) Reviews

I have been working at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for less than a year

Pros – The company has very high standards on how they want customers treated

Cons – The company does not support employees in order to reach those high standards. Schedules are terrible and not very flexible. You have to wait six months to be considered for day shift.

Advice to Senior Management – Fix the computers, they crash wayyy too often. Also, rather than just setting up a recommendations box, actually put some of those recommendations in place.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good experience learning the basics of towing,jump starts, lock outs and winch outs. And the company name is good resume builder. Everyone knows who AAA is.

Cons – Poor hours, Horrid pay for the risk you take(ever lay down on the white line of a highway at night?) No official scheduling, Upper management does not have a clue about anything that is going on. Limited opportunities to take your vacation.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay your employees a bit more.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for less than a year

Pros – Very professional work environment. Both high producers and hard workers alike had the chance of being rewarded, making it a fair place to work, and felt as if there was opportunity available.

Cons – Hours could become very over bearing if you weren't producing well making family time scarce. This was something that was not accurately described during the interview process. Training was a full 3 months (classroom), which also made you feel a bit disconnected from the job - also a bit like school verses like an employee.

Advice to Senior Management – Do not micro-manage team members to be carbon copies of yourself because you were successful, not everyone can replicate the exact same methods.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Great benefits, great co-workers, supervisors always treated me with respect and listened to what I had to say.

Cons – Company kept changing policies, lost my job there twice due to layoffs and department closings.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than a year

Pros – lots of sales training. Supportive trainers. Great name recognition. the Membership people LOVE as it is the best in the emergency roadside business. Still offers a pension plan. Managers are approachable. Central location. Free Gym Membership. Complicated pay plan, but if you learn how to maximize it it pays off. Employees treated with respect, no shouting or cursing at from management. The top manager of sales actually cares about his staff. no tolerance for anyone unethical.

Cons – Computers that still use DOS. Managers have great job security as they are the few who still remember how to use the old software to do everything. Pension, but no residuals. End-Of-the -month-itis, everything goes nuts at the end of the month scrambling to make goal. Everyone has to work all weekend. Commissioned sales, but you still have to clock in and out. Advertisements talk about lower price yet AAA is usually higher. (though AAA has more to offer, its hard to explain to general public).

Advice to Senior Management – Time with family is important too.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Good people to work with. Starting pay is ok.

Cons – Angry "members" all the time, no opportunity to move up within company. Helping 80+ people on Saturdays with little staff doesn't allow employees to devote detailed attention to the project at hand.

Advice to Senior Management – There needs to be more equality between the company as a whole. Not district offices VS Costa Mesa. Better pay and a more relaxed dress code should apply to everyone. Also, a management program would't hurt for those looking to move up within the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I worked at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for less than a year

Pros – Travel benefits, health insurance, paid time off.

Cons – Little oppoprtunity to advance, management yells at you to answer phone faster, odd requirements for customer service. Zero autonomy. Micro managed. Work on Saturdays, late hours. Low pay and total commissioned sales. Inferior computer equipment. You are "encourged" actually forced to attend a weekend seminar called "Super Bowl" where they keep you over a weekend so they don't have to pay you to educate you about product lines and cross selling. They have evening events you must attend which really appeal to the lowest common denominator in society. Tacky is an understatement.

Advice to Senior Management – Respect and value your employees. Give them opportunities to showcase their best qualities and stop making them compete against your own website.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – This AAA conglomerate of several clubs under the ACG name has its headquarters in Dearborn, MI with a variety of corporate depts, positions, and experiences, yet is small enough to be a manageable company to run. If you like the corporate world but don't want to be completely lost in a sea of thousands of employees in a massive corporation, this is a good middle ground.

Most employees are good folks, intelligent, and tend to become like extended family over time. Benefits are decent. Vacation time allotment appears to be above-average (that's one major way they get people to stay--"where am I going to go and get 6 wks vacation time?") Pay can be reasonable but depends on how you play your cards when you join the company. Once you're in, pay policies are rigid and you have to leave the company to make financial traction in your career (promotions do not equate to meaningful increases in pay.)

Cons – Morale is extremely poor and has worsened over the years since the last CEO came on board. Old-timers will all say it used to be a fun, family company but it's not like that anymore. There is little incentive to be a high performer because working your tail off for that "exceeds expectations" rating is only going to get you 1% more in terms of an annual raise (when they're giving them out) than the waste of space in the next cubicle who surfs the net and does personal business all day long.

There is a palpable negative energy in the work environment and it's become an "every man for himself" culture. Very political esp. in higher ranks and survival depends on how well the game is played, not on how well the job is executed. Middle-mgmt is not willing to go too far out on a limb for subordinates because they're always worried first about their own jobs (Massive JE's have occurred on an almost biannual basis since CEO arrived.) Over the span of a dozen years since the CEO took over, there was this sense that dark clouds were moving in and they just settled over the company. The CEO in one decade has changed his executive leadership team so many times, you can't keep it straight. There appears to be no strategy or well-thought out plan. It just changes with the wind. (Thank goodness the CEO provided copies of "Who Moved My Cheese" to all management to prepare everyone for all these changes.)

HR Sr. VP was quoted in a town hall meeting as saying (in response to negative comments about pay/benefits issues): "If you don't like it here, you can find another job elsewhere." It's easy to say that when the unemployment rate is high but what happens when it turns around and then your most talented people hightail it out of there for being undervalued and treated as dispensable?

Finally, ACG is OLD school, run by old (typically white) men. Things like work/life balance, telecommuting, and flexible work schedules are virtually non-existent. More progressive, forward-thinking companies recognize the numerous benefits of offering these programs: employee satisfaction, decreased real-estate expenses, increased productivity and employee loyalty. Even our country's leaders have put legislation into place that encourages this because it just makes good sense (..."if all U.S. white-collar workers teleworked only two days a week, the country would conserve over 233 million gallons of fuel each week..."). ACG is always 10 steps (or more) behind everyone else with policies, products, innovation, and just basic business practices.

Advice to Senior Management – Time to retire CHP. You've made your mark, let someone else take the reins and give employees a reason to WANT to come into work each day. Would be nice if the Board recognized that there is more to running a good company than how many AAA clubs can be acquired in one decade. AAA is becoming irrelevant and not keeping pace with changing times. Younger, talented fresh blood is needed to help reinvent and reinvigorate this company.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great company that has been around for more than 100 years. No layoffs during my entire tenure with the company.

Cons – Management is slow to respond to some employee issues. Managment's intentions are very good, however; AAA is a tradition based company that is not starting to move in to the 21st century.

Advice to Senior Management – Take a more proactive approach to employee morale and issues.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at American Automobile Association (AAA) full-time for more than a year

Pros – reasonable base salary, differential added to salary for working unstandard hours, very easy job

Cons – they do not utilize employees educational background, they promote by popularity not by qualification, rules and procedures are not standard accross the nation each area club has its own, It is hard to change or adjust your schedule and when taking time off you don't know if you will get the days until about 2 days before hand.

Advice to Senior Management – Look at the education of many of your lower level people, most are there because times are hard right now and came to you well educated, take advantage of them and their ideas instead of ignoring them. Health insurance package is almost so expensive, almost unaffordable if you have a family.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company