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Very disappointed. We were on a road trip in August 2014. Left FL home, up east coast to ME and then over to Syracuse NY and then back to FL. Our first night in Portland ME we were caught in a flash flood. The hotel parking lot had four feet of water. Next morning our car was towed to Lexus. We waited two days for insurance adjuster and dealer to declare it a total. Our trip was definitely interrupted. The next day we rented a car and drove straight back to FL. Remainder of trip cancelled. We submitted all required paperwork and receipts to AAA. The finally responded after 6 weeks and said they would not pay as stated since we had been at a destination. We explained that this was just a stop on our trip, not a final destination. They refused to pay, we appealed, and they refused again. So much for trip interruption insurance. When you lose your car in a flood, have an unplanned stay until a determination is made and your car is totaled, and then you suspend the rest of your trip renting a car to get back home, I mean how can this not be "trip interruption". It's not according to AAA. And we were members since 1993. So much for valuing their customer loyalty. Extremely disappointed.
AAA as part of your membership includes trip interruption insurance. It is supposed to recover expenses for up to 72 hours for hotel, meals, and other if your vehicle trip is interrupted due to a vehicle issue. In the case above, the flash flood destroyed the vehicle. It was declared a total, and the trip was interrupted, in fact cancelled. Expenses were incurred while the damages were assessed, and then for a rental car to return to the original starting point since the covered vehicle no longer existed.
Everything was documented in the claim, but AAA trip interruption chose NOT to deem this a trip interruption and refused the claim. How it was decided by them that this did not qualify is astounding.
Next time think before signing up or renewing your AAA membership. Usually your auto insurance will offer you an option for towing and vehicle lock out for much less than AAA. Since AAA does not stand by the extras that they present, you are better off with a cheaper option,
AAA Trip Interruption is an extra perk for AAA members that AAA promotes in their advertisements to get people to pay much more for towing, lockout, and vehicle road service. The trip interruption is supposed to cover hotel, meals, and incidental expenses if you are more than 100 miles from your starting point, your vehicle breaks down, and you incur expenses while your vehicle is fixed. In this case, the vehicle was over 1, 000 miles from the trip starting point, was destroyed in a flash flood, and expenses were incurred until the car was evaluated by the dealer and insurance adjuster, and when declared a total, a car had to be rented for the return back to home.
All required documentation was submitted for the claim. AAA trip interruption ruled that this did not count as an interruption as this was a stopping point on the trip. Even after appeal we were told they would not consider this.
Most auto insurance policies offer towing and road service at a much lower price. AAA charges more and offers additional services, but they did not stand by their offer when this claim was made .
I am confused... I always thought trip insurance was if something happened to stop you from going on the trip at all... It sounds like the trip was underway and during the trip you had a problem.