I’ve been a member of the NZ Automobile Assn for many decades. While I don’t always agree with their policies in some areas, I appreciate the support when my car has broken down (could probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve needed it), the interesting reading in their quarterly magazine, and the various discounts I can get from them or various other suppliers.
A few years ago, AA broke new ground by introducing a new service to assist members with e-bikes that had broken down. At the time I thought it was a bit odd that it was only focused on electric bikes and not other ones. Now that omission has been rectified with AA’s new road service for any members’ bikes.
As per usual, you can contact AA on 0800 500 222 (or *222 on your mobile) for assistance, or use their mobile app to register a service request. AA Roadservice for bicycles will include tyre tube repair or replacement. They might also be able to help with other little repair details like e-bike electrics, or adjustments to other bike bits. For anything that can’t be dealt with on site they’ll provide a bike recovery service to get you home or to your local bike store.
This sounds like another great initiative by the AA to broaden their member offerings. Judging by one early Facebook post experience (above), it sounds like it’s taking a little while to get everyone in the organisation up to speed about this new offering but hopefully that is a minor teething issue…
Have you tried the new AA bike breakdown service yet?
This would have been awesome on the day I ripped my derailleur off in Halswell and had a 6 hour walk to Rolleston. Single-speeding a derailleur bike is harder than it looks.
Though I’ve also called AA when my older car had weird noises and the guy who arrived said “there’s a lot going on here” and left me to it. Was in Rangiora and my AA membership didn’t cover a tow that distance home or even back to Christchurch. YMMV.
My AA subscription includes transport to home or preferred place of repair.
I wonder how the AA intends to transport bikes, especially ebikes. The latter generally requires a platform rather than a hang-on rack.
For one of my ebikes I have an extendable pole that has twistable eyes at each end so that any bike can be hung onto a rack. The eyelets go under the seat and under the middle of the handlebars by the front forks. But AA roadside vehicles would need to be so equipped. I think that the AA vehicles would be high enough with a high enough bike rack so that nothing drags on the road.
I’ve rung twice in the past 3 weeks. 1st time the AA person said it was their first query and after much tooíng and froíng and speaking to others he said they could uplift me and the bike and take it to a repair shop.
Tried again today-and was told yes, could help, someone would be there within 15-60 mins. 60 mins later I get a text to say technician 46 mins away. 3 mins later a call to say they can’t help with repair onsite-not supposed to do that as they don’t want to damage an e-bike but they could “tow me to a repair shop”. (I rang a repair shop the first time and they said that wouldn’t work as you need to book in advance and it could be 7-10 days before they can help). AA website info needs to be updated as they say “In most cases we’ll fix the problem at roadside and have you safely on your way. We’ll provide you with expert advice and, if extra support is needed, we’ll arrange for you and your bicycle or eBike to get to the nearest place of safety or repair”.