An Alternative Auto Club to AAA
Better World Club has Environmentally Friendly Assistance Program
Auto clubs provide insurance, travel assistance, and hotel discounts. AAA uses funds to lobby against higher fuel standards, while the Better World Club is eco-friendly.
When you think of the American Automobile Association, what images come to mind? Maybe grandfatherly guys in sweaters, handing out maps and providing jumper cables...Well, roadside assistance obviously is a big part of AAA, but what many don't know is that another major element of the AAA agenda is lobbying in Washington. Lobbying for what? More highways (and the sprawl that goes hand-and-hand with them), less fuel efficiency, and other anti-environment, pro-auto related legislation (Sierra Club, 2003). The environmentally aware car owner does have a better option, however. Better World Club offers everything that AAA does, albeit from a "green" standpoint.
Tom and Ray, NPR's Car Talk commentators, have noted the striking difference between the Better World Club and AAA, saying that they "like Better World Club because, unlike AAA, it doesn't use your membership money to lobby for roadways and against mass transit." The NPR Car Talk guys have long been trustworthy resources for all things automobile related; this endorsement is valid. Mitchell Rofsky, the President of Better World Club, sat down in Southern California to talk with Suite 101 about his green automobile club.
Suite 101: Explain, please, how Better World Club is different from AAA.
Rofsky: Better World Club is not part of the highway lobby. AAA is. We balance environmental responsibility with goals of service to our customers. Better World Club provides our clients with high quality, good value, and environmentally sensitive products and services. Unlike AAA, we support alternate modes of transportation than just cars.
Suite 101: Most people rely on AAA for roadside assistance - is your reach as big as AAA's?
Rofsky: Yes. We contract with the same network of roadside assistance providers as the Automobile Association of America. Our reach is growing, and we're the fastest-growing auto club in the United States. We can't offer all the same discounts at hotels, but Better World Club does offer travel and hotel discounts. Our there major services are roadside assistance, travel products and services, and insurance products and services.
Suite 101: What else might potential customers want to know about your auto club?
Rofsky: They would want to know that we advocate on behalf of the consumer and show our environmental commitment by donating 1% of our annual revenues toward environmental cleanup and advocacy. We provide unique, eco-friendly travel alternatives.
Suite 101: Better World Club is the United States' only environmentally friendly auto club - what else does that mean, compared to AAA?
Rofsky: AAA claim to have great service, and their public image is great - but they don't readily explain that to support their business, they use income from membership fees to lobby against measures that could reduce global warming. AAA lobbies against measures that regulate cars to improve fuel consumption and pollution standards. Not only do we work towards reducing global warming, we also offer all the standard roadside assistance you'd expect from a reliable auto club.
Better World Club provides an eco-friendly auto club alternative to AAA. This club offers:
- Discounts on biodiesel and hybrid rental cars
- The nations' only bicycle roadside assistance
- A Carbon Offset program for travelers that fights global warming
- Unique discounts on green hotels and eco-travel
- Membership fee discounts for new members driving biodiesel and hybrid cars
- All the standard roadside assistance services, nationwide
- The standard discounts and benefits of other auto clubs; hotels, restaurants, rental cars, etc.
- Gas rebate coupons
- Unique policy agenda: Supporting state attempts to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
It may be hard to think about giving up membership in the American Automobile Association. Those kindly sweater-wearing men have always seemed so helpful! But awareness that membership fees are used by AAA to lobby against pro-environmental legislation makes it clear: Those guys just do not have our, or our planet's, best interest in mind. The Better World Club is a highly recommended alternative to AAA.
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