AAA Emergency Roadside Assistance Responds to First Cold-Snap of the Year

AURORA, Ill., Jan. 6 -- AAA Chicago's Emergency Roadside Assistance crews have been especially busy as a result of the first extremely cold weather conditions of the year. On Jan. 5, 2004, the customer care advocates in the Aurora Call Center answered nearly 3,000 calls from motorists needing assistance in Illinois and Northwest Indiana.

Currently, AAA Chicago has more than 300 towing service providers under contract, and placed more than 1,000 vehicles on the road to assist members.

"Normally during such freezing cold temperatures, the highest percentage of calls are for 'won't starts' and there is also an increase in 'flat tire' calls," said David Bufka, senior vice president of member and automotive services.

On average, AAA Chicago fields more than 33,000 emergency road service calls a month. In 2003, the club responded to more than 383,000 ERS calls.

The club reminds motorists that car batteries four or five years old should be replaced or load tested to make sure they could handle these extreme cold temperatures. As the temperature drops, so does your battery's starting power. At 32 degrees, a car's battery loses 35 percent of its power. At zero degrees, a car's battery is 60 percent weaker. Also, as a battery ages, it loses the cranking power it had when it was new.

AAA Chicago offers automotive, travel, insurance and financial services. It is part of The Auto Club Group (ACG), the largest affiliation of AAA clubs in the Midwest, with 4.1 million members in eight states. ACG clubs belong to the national AAA federation, a not-for-profit organization, with more than 46 million members in the United States and Canada.