For Cameron, a CAA card isn’t just a piece of plastic that sits in your wallet to be used only on the rare occasion you need it. It offers peace-of-mind each and every time you’re in a car, anywhere in Canada.
When it comes to driving long distances, a CAA Membership is a small price to pay for peace of mind – just ask CAA Premier Member Cameron Clark. The Ottawa native and third-year engineering student at Nova Scotia’s Acadia University was making his way back to the east coast for school recently when he learned the true value of being a CAA Member.
It was the start of the fall semester and Cameron and his friend, fellow student Andrew Best (also of Ottawa), were driving back to Nova Scotia after a summer spent at home in Ontario. They’d done the 16-hour trek a handful times, and decided to leave a bit earlier – anticipating delays due to interprovincial COVID19 travel regulations and construction along their route.
As they made their way across Quebec, hunger pangs struck – so the boys stopped in at McDonalds to grab a bite. They had just ordered from the touchscreens and sat down, about to tuck in, when it dawned on Andrew that the keys to his car weren’t on him. “There we were in the middle of nowhere in Quebec, far from anyone we know that could’ve helped us, and no one around us could speak English,” says Cameron.
Andrew quickly realized that the keys weren’t lost, just locked in the vehicle. But how were they going to get help when neither of them could speak French well? “It wouldn’t have been easy to find a locksmith in such a small town, let alone in a different language,” he says.
Fortunately, Cameron could rely on his CAA Premier Membership. “I wasn’t sure at first if they could help, since we were in a different province and nowhere close to a city, but I thought it was worth a try,” he explains. “So I called and was surprised when the agent said ‘no problem’… she was very friendly.”
The agent reassured Cameron that help was on the way; she was dispatching a CAA Emergency Roadside Service vehicle and it would be there in 40 minutes or less.
“The CAA truck came in 15 minutes,” Cameron remembers. “The (technician) couldn’t speak much English but his smile spoke for him. He took out his tools, messed around with it for a bit, and five minutes later we were back out on the road continuing our trip.”
For Cameron, a CAA card isn’t just a piece of plastic that sits in your wallet to be used only on the rare occasion you need it. It offers peace-of-mind each and every time you’re in a car, anywhere in Canada (and the United States)…and even if you’re just the passenger. That’s because CAA covers the Member, and not just their car.
“It was lunch time when this happened, but it could have happened anytime, anywhere… a CAA Membership is totally worth it.” - Cameron