What happens when you work for CAA, and end up needing roadside assistance? Read on to find out!

When work for CAA, you’re bound to be your own client at some point. That’s what happened to Keri Fraser, Managing Director–Sales and Marketing for CAA North & East Ontario, one frigid morning last winter. “My partner went out to warm up my vehicle for me (hah, chivalry is not dead!), when he noticed that my driver’s side back tire was flat,” she says. “Like rim on the pavement flat.”

She had recently purchased Pirelli snow tires through the CAA Rewards® program and received a rebate for their top-of-the-line series, so she was shocked that one had already lost air. Her partner got out his electric pump and attempted to inflate it. As he did, he could hear a hissing noise – which sounded, unfortunately, like air leaking from a small hole.

He searched for the location and soon found a glinting piece of metal just barely visible between the grooves of the tire pattern. He assumed it was either a nail or a screw that somehow punctured the rubber, so he got to work yanking it out with a sturdy pair of pliers. After several minutes and much tugging and pulling, it came loose – but it wasn’t at all what they expected.

“What he pulled out was a seven-inch rough piece of metal that appears to have broken off the front of a snow plow!” says Fraser. “We realized that the tire would not hold air and we needed help. Luckily, I work with the best in the biz – CAA!”

Fraser called the number she knew by heart, and a CAA truck was dispatched. “This is where things got fun for me,” she says, “because I got to experience CAA’s world-renown Emergency Roadside Service program – not as someone in management, but as a Member.”

CAA’s Service Tracker immediately sent her a text to let her know that a driver was on the way, and provided an estimated arrival time. She then received a second text to let her know which driver to expect, followed quickly by a final text to say that the driver was arriving and that she should meet him outside.

“I was surprised how fast the driver was able to change my flat tire to my spare,” she says. “It took only a few minutes and I was ready to get back on the road.”

With a Plus Membership that comes in at under $140 a year, Fraser says she’s glad she could count on CAA’s roadside assistance when she needed it most.

“If I had had to call an independent tow truck, just that one service call would have cost far more than my annual CAA Membership,” she says.

In fact, with just the CAA Rewards rebate she received on her Pirelli winter tires, she saved $125 – almost the complete cost of her annual Membership. “Plus, I save all year long at hotels and restaurants, get a discount on my home and auto insurance with CAA, and much more.”

While the whole ordeal took place months ago, in the middle of last winter, it’s an experience Fraser won’t soon forget.

“I realized then what an essential service it is that CAA provides,” she says, before adding, without missing a beat, “ – and not to drive over snow plow tines!”