I'm highly disappointed with the AAA service. My family has been a loyal customer for over 15 years and when something actually happens where we need them, they are not able to fulfill their end of the bargain. Last Tuesday around 5:00 PM my mother's car was totaled by another driver to the point where all the windows were broken and two doors (including the driver's door) couldn't be opened. We called AAA right away for towing service and was told they would arrive around 7:00 PM which is already quite a long wait. When they didn't show up at the appointed time, we called again, and was told the tow truck would arrive at 8:00 PM. At 8:00 PM, they didn't show (surprise), and we gave a third call to them. They told us they would be there at 9:00 PM. Not only was it bad enough that they delayed our service 3 times, but they never even apologized for their incompetence. On top of that, it was raining heavily the whole day. It was very cold out and my mother had just gotten off work. The fact that it took them 4 hours to get to us was already infuriating--but there's more. The representative who arrived to help us DID NOT even help us tow the car in the end. He climbed into the driver's seat from another door and started the car, drove it around a little bit to make sure it was okay, and then told us to DRIVE IT OURSELVES to its destination. UNBELIEVABLE!!! We paid for this service and we expect nothing less from such a large corporation. However, after this experience we will be switching our service to another company. Waiting in the pouring rain and the freezing cold for such a long period of time for a service that was never executed is UNACCEPTABLE. If we could, we wouldn't even give them this 1 star. Terrible terrible terrible. read more

I absolutely love this place. I've been coming to this location for over ten years. I was a little skeptical when they reconfigured the office space, but low and behold, they proved that they could respond to customer needs more effectively with the new configuration. [Stay clear of the half-as-good triple A office in El Cerrito (located at the Lucky Market in El Cerrito Shopping Center. They only offer partial service and one staff person I dealt with was UNCHARACTERISTICALLY unfriendly. read more

What usually would take 5 years - standing in a ridiculous line, dealing with people who hate their jobs, and learning patience is a virtue at a DMV - takes 5 minutes at a DMV window in AAA, if you have membership. Thank God for AAA membership. I probably would have curled into a ball and cried if I had to deal with the DMV. I'm so avoidant of an actual visit that I'd rather renew my driver's license of a Nga 30lbs. heavier and risk "is this a fake?" than to go in and snap a new photo. Note: I believe taking your photo is not a service they offer at the AAA's DMV window. Though, they will deal with your transfer of car ownership, registration and appreciation for not taking forever. This particular location recently underwent a renovation. Before the makeover, it felt like a time-warp, employees and space included. read more

And I didn't think it could get worse. After the ordeal at the branch the first time, I get a letter in the mail from DMV notifying me that the registration was done incorrectly. I go into the AAA branch, luckily it wasn't the same person and was advised that it was a "slip" up from whoever helped me last. He was pleasant to work with, but I shouldn't have to come back. The rep that responded to my last review said he would contact me private and I'm still waiting. Maybe this branch should visit the SoCal branches to brush up on their training and customer service skills. They get paid to make mistakes, correct them, and not be worried about the customer service all the meanwhile, I'm not getting paid or reimbursed my membership fees and time having to deal with their crap. Pretty epic if you ask me. read more

I was at the Berkeley office (1775 University Ave) and was helped by Lillian Quintero. She was wonderful!!! She answered all my questions and gave me new information that another office I was in didn't mention. She spent a lot of time with me. I really appreciated her patience and great customer service. read more

I walked in shortly after they opened. Register my new car, insured the same car, and got some other insurance issues resolved all in 20 minutes. Made my morning. read more

Michael Elie was a huge help today. Highly skilled professional with good sense of humor makes me wanna continue doing business with AAA. Thanks again mate read more

I purchase AAA from Michael Elie, great agent, extremely helpful , listens to you and helps you find the correct policy, , very kind and knowledgeable with his work, I would give Michael more stars if I could, Please ask for Michael if you want great service, , read more

Beware people......once you get your insurance through AAA they don't care anymore.. well not surprising it's Insurance business.. but this office is particularly awful to deal with. If you have a choice - go someplace else. I have all insurances with them and am seriously thinking and moving everything to another insurance carrier. read more

This is not about the Berkeley Branch but AAA in general. They are completely mired in bureaucracy... I am transferred from one place to another, put on hold, calls dropped, have to start over, all for a simple thing. read more

Needed to transfer my custom license plates to my new car and was told at the dealer's that I could do this at AAA. My nearest AAA office is in Pinole but after seeing the Yelp reviews for that office I decided to go to Berkeley instead. I was in and out of the Berkeley office in less than half an hour with mission accomplished! The staff was friendly, courteous, and helpful! read more

The worst AAA in the area. Some of the reps are awful people with no customer service ability. The computers go down on the previous visit... I then come back a couple days later and as I am waiting in line as the only one left they tell me to leave because they are closed, as the clock turns 6p. Unreal. I was already in the building and the only one left. I then recieved attitude from the two people there as they talked to me like I was stealing someone's lunch. Might as well just go to DMV. Screw AAA. As a plus member its not worth the extra cost. read more

Lillian Quintero is da bomb. I recommend her service to anyone who enters the University Avenue office in Berkeley. She is professional, friendly and goes the extra mile to help her customers get the best value from their policy. Thanks!!! read more

This is absolutely the worse tow service ever had my car towed from Richmond and messed up my whole entire bumper on my Mercedes Benz I recommend don't deal with triple aaa at all deal with someone who cares about your property not haul everything off like it is a piece of junk read more

Many thanks to Lai, insurance agent at the Berkeley Office, for superior service, along with a can-do-attitude. I relocated to the East Bay from Southern California and she provided exceptional service while completing the transfer paperwork. In fact, I did not know that AAA, Inc. was segmented into regions and that you actually need to establish new auto and membership accounts based on the appropriate region. Thank you Lai for taking care of our family and preserving our long-standing -- relationship with AAA. Mrs. Veronica Alexander and Family, 15 year member! read more

No one from their office contacted me. Not surprised in the least. All PR and no service.

This AAA is the only one I use. Straight up, I'll do just about anything to get out of having to go to the DMV. Anything. First off, it's clear they actually know what they're doing, and you know how beautiful and rare a thing that is. I went to them saying that the plates for my car, which were supposed to have arrived ten days prior at the latest, never arrived. So I was basically driving around illegally, which wasn't working for me. Ten minutes later, I was out in the parking lot putting brand new plates on my car. A fluke, right? Not. Went back again after I'd noticed my registration had lapsed. Didn't want to deal with the DMV if I could help it, and skipping the wait time would be a win-win for me. Just knowing there was going to be a long line of people, I prepared for the worst. Took bottled water, snacks, a tent, a book, notified next of kin...you know the drill. As it turns out, I didn't need any of it. Walked in being greeted by a friendly lady at the door, told the nice young man behind the counter that I had been careless and let my registration lapse. "May I renew it here?" "Of course. Just sign here and swipe your card there." I kid you not. Eight minutes and I was back in my car with my new registration and tags, doing my happy dance. Thanks guys. You're the best. read more

Very nice friendly staff. Smiles all around and very helpful. Will always come here. Wait time was very low, i needed to transfer my name to a car and it was very easy and fast paced read more

God bless AAA especially Fonttenna life savers definitely recommend them very helpful Mandy was amazing as well

When I bought a new vehicle, I let my roadside assistance policy lapse, but reinstated it. The same day, my vehicle stopped. I called for assistance, but was told I had to pay $75.00 for service, since my policy had not been reinstated for 48 hours. I was thanked for my 16 years of membership as I was charged for the roadside service today. AAA told me that my reinstatement was being viewed as a new policy, because I had let it lapse. But thanks for all the money you paid for membership before. I am not sure why I have AAA roadside assistance right now, as I still have to pay. read more

True hidden gem!! Had to renew registration and had no idea I could do this at AAA!! What made this particular office stand out was the great staff!! Everyone was kind , patient and had a genuine interest in helping clients, thank you. During my visit i interacted with Jiyoung, Christian and Xiao who were not only professional, quick and knowledgeable, but also very approachable and polite!!! Thank you for a wonderful visit. read more

I bought a new used car a month ago and it's nice enough that I wanted to add comprehensive coverage (a coverage my old used car didn't warrant). A telephone call to AAA was not helpful. So I went to AAA's offices on University Ave. in Berkeley. I didn't know I needed an appointment. Agent Michael Elie saw me sitting around for 20 minutes or so and invited me to his office to talk about my problem. In no more than 7-10 minutes Michael reviewed my existing coverage; made several good suggestions about changes; corrected my misunderstandings about the cost of comprehensive and collision coverage; and signed me up for expanded coverage I sought at a price I could afford and was willing to pay. He also expressed concern for my personal well being by counseling me to take the Good Drivers course for my own safety (not just to save insurance costs) and recommended a catalytic-converter cage that makes theft difficult when bolted into place. A++ for Michael and AAA for employing the likes of him. read more

Great place to do DMV tasks. Friendly staff, easy parking, hardly never a wait! No extra charge for AAA members, too

My expectations are high for AAA but I have been repeatedly disappointed by my experiences in this office. Today, I contacted them for help with an International Drivers Permit which is required for driving in Europe. They explained that I need two 2"x2" photos but their camera has been broken for awhile and it will be a month or two before it is fixed. I was told to get my own photos. WOW! A few months ago, I went in for help with a DMV title transfer and the computers were down so I had to come back a second time. When I went in to get maps for central Europe, they had only a limited selection and then tried to upsell-me on my membership level. read more

I was transferring a vehicle to a friend of my daughter. Although I'm a long time AAA member, my daughter's friend is not. Nonetheless we were able to obtain this DMV related service at our local AAA office and complete the transfer transaction in less than 20 minutes, a fraction of the time it would take to do so at the DMV. We were accorded friendly, courteous and personalized service. Conducting such DMV services along with the emergency roadside service AAA provides make the annual membership a true bargain. read more

This review is for this office specifically. The employees here are great, but unfortunately I can not say the same about their manager Aubrey. Just from coming here over the course of the last few years, I can see that her personality and dedication to service has deteriorated. The lines here generally aren't too long and once you get to a rep, they tend to handle your issues as if it were their own issue to get it handled in a professional timely fashion. However, from time to time, while I am being helped, you'll sometimes see Aubrey strut around the office thinking she's the sh*t and sometimes if you listen closely enough, you can even hear her talk trash about the customers behind their backs. WOW! Wonder what she's said about me? And then she continues to strut through the office, at times micro managing like the two faced manager she is. Sometimes I hear some of the rudest comments coming out of her mouth and wonder what kind of management training she has gone through. From the many other times I've sat in the lobby and waited for an insurance agent to assist, whenever Aubrey isn't strutting around acting like she's the sh*t and talking trash behind the backs of patrons, she usually just behind her desk, doing her own thing instead of interacting with employees and customers even when the front desk person is swamped and there is a line to be checked in. Sorry you're the manager of a AAA branch whose probably salaried at no more than $130k pretax. You're no better than a retail manager at a Victoria Secret. People sometimes just need to be humbled. Don't let this stop you from coming to this office though, I've had great service from most to all of the insurance agents, and DMV service here has always been made quick and easy for me. For the most part at least. The employees here are great! Just not the main store manager. read more

Worst Customer Service. I went in today, first they have you wait outside without any explanation when you are allowed to be buzzed in cause the doors are locked. When I went inside there was 2 people at the counter, no signs that any of the 2 counters were closed. I asked the White male if they had a DMV station and he just stood there staring at me not answering the question. The Asian lady told me to sit down and she will help me next , first I' m not a dog or a child to tell me to sit down. Have a seat sounds better. Plain rude. All I needed was an answer so I wouldn't waste nobody's time if they didn't have a DMV station. After the Asian lady asked me to come to the counter I notice the white male playing with his phone, so he was too busy playing with his phone than answering a simple question. I have never experienced any rudeness from any other AAA office until I came to this location. I will never come back here and bother anyone cause it's more important to play with your phone while at work than to answer a simple question. read more

walked in and completed DMV registration within two minutes! no credit card transaction fee...AND people were polite! worth the cost of annual membership just to avoid having to deal in person with DMV. read more

The DMV services alone are worth the price of membership. Very friendly and efficient. They can handle most transactions.

Michael Elie consistently made errors throughout the very long, very painful, and ultimately unsuccessful process of trying to get car insurance from him. These were not small errors but things you'd have to really try to get wrong (eg listing my occupation as farmer, stating that my husband has 15+ years of driving experience though I repeatedly told Michael that he's a brand new driver and I only provided a permit number to start!) If I had not caught the latter I would've been driving around with an utterly worthless policy. Because I did catch the error, my quote more than doubled (up $3k+) without so much as an apologetic word from Michael. Save yourself the pain and avoid this whole sorry operation...I wish I had. read more

The Berkeley AAA office has undergone a really nice renovation. I was impressed with the new layout and customer service today as well as the range of standard services offered . Although there was a bit of a lunch-time crowd, it was nice to be able to take care my car registration without the mayhem of the DMV. I was disappointed, however, that they only take cash and check for the otherwise convenient registration and transfer services offered. This caught me by surprise and I had to run downtown to get cash out of the ATM and then come back and stand in line again as I no longer carry my checkbook with me unless I know I'll need it. Other than that, I have been very pleased with AAA. I was particularly amused today by their new vending machine with local maps for members. read more

Watchout! for Chinese lady that works counter very nice to Asian people, sneakily vicious to African americans and latino people. She'll speak cantonese to her people softly and happily, then turn around and ask latinos and African americans to double check their IDs, after she has already seen it, when paying with a credit card. She doesn't ask others. She'll ask for every type of paper work, she can, to make sure your do not complete your transactions, if your black or latino; all the while she puts on a big smile as if she has done something morally righteous by preventing dark people from completing their transactions. Yet she can be observed giving other Chinese and white people a pass. I expect more from AAA. I considered sending friends in there just to document the difference in treatment and start a class action suit! read more

My first bad AAA experience in 15 years -- and all because of one terrible "sales specialist." I've been a AAA member since I turned 16. This was my first negative experience with them -- but also the first time I tried their travel services department. My fiancee and I are planning a honeymoon, and she has used AAA travel services once before to score a deal to a resort. We showed up at 11:30, without an appointment, but were told that the cruise person, Irene Payne (her card calls her a "Vacation Sales Specialist"), was with someone else. We paged through AAA's generous selection of catalogs for about an hour, then stepped across the street for a quick lunch. We got back around 1, then waited for another hour. Finally, around 2pm, we sat down with Irene. We explained that we were interested in a Mediterranean cruise. She quickly brought us several cruise catalogs (including some we'd been looking at while we waited). When we mentioned that it would be our honeymoon, she blinked for a second, processing the idea that two women could take a honeymoon together. (This is the San Francisco area -- you wouldn't think it would be such a shocker.) We noted that some of the prices were out of our budget, and reached for the Princess catalog, because she had earlier indicated that Princess was the cheapest of the big cruise line options. We flipped through and noticed that the prices were in the $2K-$3K range for each of us. Since an hour's online browsing the night before had turned up lots of cruises in the $500-$900 range, we asked about that. She said that $2000 per berth was the cheapest we could expect to find, adding that we could consider backpacking with a Eurail pass if we wanted something cheaper. I was so stunned by the blatantly untrue first statement that I almost missed the sneer on her face as she suggested we spend our honeymoon in hostels. I wanted to leave then, but my fiancee asked about traveling to Kauai, another option we have discussed. Irene went to a travel website and punched in a few things, then rotated her screen to show us the result of her 15 seconds of work. This being the 21st century, I'm well able to search travel websites. I'd gone to AAA in hopes that their relationships with cruise lines could provide deals I can't find myself. We left minutes later, having spent less than 10 minutes with Ms. Payne after our two-hour wait. As we walked out, my fiancee and I talked about how shocked we were at the horrific quality of the service. I mean, this was bad service by anyone's standards, but truly surprising for AAA, where I've never before had a bad experience. My fiancee suggested that this could have been a result of Irene's not wanting to help organize a lesbian honeymoon, but neither of us wanted to believe that theory. Maybe she was angry at having had to work through lunch, or maybe she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed. But the fact that she'd spent so long with her previous clients, and was so rudely dismissive of us, makes us wonder. read more

My annual car insurance is less than $300 (old car). However, AAA or CSAA, however you know it, has instituted a monthly automated charge fee (I pay automatically through bank electronic transfer) of $3 a month, which is over 10 percent of my monthly bill. I think this is ridiculous and outrageous, especially given that automatic transfers cost them nothing to process. I tend to have no respect for business which "rip off" their customers. I'm hoping a class action suit puts an end to this. read more

Hello! I want to write a recommendation for one of your emergency road side technicians. I went to our family cabin in Mi-Wuk, CA last Saturday night. Our family has had this cabin for over 40 years, and I wanted to take my Father up there (he is 86) because he loves it so much! Upon arrival at our cabin it was discovered that the driveway was full of snow so we were unable to pull in the driveway. Since there was snow on the roads, I tried to drive my truck to the right, of our cabin, but every time I hit the gas peddle my truck tires would spin and slide backwards and I began to panic! So I called AAA but of course there was no service up there, so I called 911. The operator was so helpful, and sympatic to my needs I was amazed. So soon the CHP office from Jamestown arrived (can't remember his name but I believe it was OBey, (who lived in Oakdale), and John our AAA roadside technician arrived and they were EVERYTHING!!!!! They both helped us, get out of the situation we were in, and back on the road headed back home in Oakland, CA. Great job, Officer Obey and John of AAA!!~!! I joked with them that night, they had saved four (4) lives, and really wasn't playing. We could have easily been four (4) fatalities, if it wasn't for them. I commend them on their excellent customer service!!!! read more

AAA is an amazing value. Over the years I've used them for towing, when I locked myself out of the car, they brought me gas when I ran out in the Berkeley hills and I recently used their locksmith service. On top of all that, there are DMV services at this office on University Ave which is almost worth the membership fee by itself. There may be a short line, but it's never never as bad as the DMV in Oakland. Just remember to bring cash or checks, they don't take cards of any kind. read more

Walked in without an appointment and got my registration tags and paid my DMV fees in less than 10 minutes. Plus, everyone was super friendly. Thank you, AAA! *The one thing to note is that the registration fees are cash or check only.* read more

and 2 plus hours later, STILL WAITING. 1st I called for a simple tow (common). 2nd the company they sent my tow call too, passed it back to AAA, 1 hr later. Only way I foundout was that I called them. 3rd the AAA operator said the new company should be at my location in 15 min, well thats was not true or accurate. 45 min had passed so I called one more time to check the ETA. Another 30 was stated again. AAA IS A JOKE. I cancelled the call and called "stretch towing and roadside service" 5109783534. now lets see how this AAA reimbursement go? read more

Something is awry at AAA, regarding identity theft protection that is or isn't offered free with membership. A couple weeks ago I posted a review saying that the main AAA website said ProtectMyID subscription was free with AAA membership but that there was no way to sign up for it online, and the local office had never heard of it; I got a quick reply from "social media" saying that this was a Missouri-only offer, and indeed, in fine print at bottom of the webpage it did say Missouri. And since socialmedia said they'd be fixing the AAA website so as not to mislead, I took my review down. Perhaps this was premature; today when I google "protectmyid "free with AAA membership" site:calif.aaa.com" it does return a link to a Calif AAA webpage making the same offer, here's the text&link it returns: AAA - Identity Theft Monitoring ProtectMyID ® Essential is provided by ConsumerInfo.com, Inc., an Experian company. To be eligible to enroll in and receive this free benefit, you must be 18 years of age or older and a current member (membership cancellation will result in cancellation of this service). The (edited) URL is: http://www.calif.aaa.com/home/financial/identity-theft-monitoring.html But when I click on that link, my browser redirects without explanation to a front page. AAA people, does this mean you used to offer this service, but then discontinued it, but didn't want to announce that you'd discontinued it? It would be mighty nice if you still offered it. Or does it mean don't go by the URL? I notice there's both a calstate.aaa.com and a calif.aaa.com. Is this membership perk available in Southern Calif but not in Northern Calif? If so, why do we Northern Calif residents get a lesser deal? read more

If you aren't a AAA member then you need to become one. Partly for the roadside service that they provide and the other part because you can take care of all your DMV needs here. Recently came here to take care of a lost registration sticker. The service was really nice and everyone helped me with what I needed right away. No long lines and no bad service. Everything was very pleasant and I look forward to my next visit here. read more