Roadside Assistance Programs

Despite escalating costs of fuel (gas prices nearly doubled in the first decade of the 21st century), the American transportation network is still defined largely by vehicular travel, and that travel system only works when vehicles are reliable and able to run. In a country with more than 250 million vehicles that travel on more than 4 million miles of roads, the possibility for unanticipated engine failure or catastrophic breakdowns along busy highways or in remote or unfamiliar areas exponentially increases. Given that current American Automobile Association (AAA) data suggest that car owners are now more likely to hold on to older cars in the face of economic uncertainties (the average age of on-road vehicles in the United States is just over 11 years), vehicular breakdowns have become a significant concern and have occasioned, in the era of wireless communication, a wide range of cutting-edge, 24/7 roadside assistance programs designed to not only provide vehicle owners with speedy and reliable repair service but also help maintain unimpeded traffic flow critical to the nation's massive highway system.

The principle behind roadside assistance programs is simple—most car failures are caused by basic problems, many of them the consequence of bad luck or simple carelessness. These programs can be traced to the early 20th century. During the initial automobile craze, car owners, then relatively few, made up a kind of exclusive club in cities. There were few garages and even fewer mechanics. Car owners were often the best equipped to address car problems. As a consequence, they would maintain unofficial networks of close communication neighborhood to neighborhood (long-distance driving was still impractical). Owners would know each other and, should they be near a telephone, could summon help when their cars would suddenly stop or overheat or tires would blow out or if they simply got lost.