Here is a great article from TowTimes Magazine April of 2002. Michael McGovern, the author of this article is a partner in the law firm of Ayres & Parkey in Knoxville Tenn.
The Truth about AAA
Isn't it price fixin' or something?" He was a AAA contractor and had telephoned me to complain about the low rates he is paid for towing and service calls he performs for the world's largest motor club.
In an attempt to show how AAA pricing does not constitute a violation of the Anti-Trust laws, I told him about the time I was presenting a legal seminar at the annual convention of a statewide towing association in a Midwestern state. My presentation was early in the morning. Later that day, four of the towing association members, who were also AAA contracted tow operators, approached me.
"We've scheduled a meeting this afternoon with the AAA road service manager at AAA's regional office down the street. We want an increase in our service call and tow rates," they said "Could you go with us?"
I told them I'd be happy to attend the meeting but, because I was completely unfamiliar with the particulates of their AAA contracts or their costs of operation, I could not speak on their behalf. They said they would like me to go with them anyway, so I tagged along.
We arrived at the AAA office and were escorted to the back of the building where the road service manager had a tiny office. He greeted us warmly, pulled five more chairs into his office and offered us coffee. The extra seating took up all the floor space. Without being introduced, I squeezed around the desk and quietly sat off to the side while the four tow operators sat directly in front, their knees touching the front of the manager's desk. The man in charge of the AAA contractors propped his feet up on his desk, leaned back in his chair with his fingers laced behind his head, smiled broadly and asked "Now, what can I do for you boys today?"
The tow operators, hats in their hands, told the service manager how their costs of operation had increased over the last several years. They compared their current insurance and fuel costs with those of two or three year's prior. They adequately explained the need for newer, safer, but more expensive towing equipment, and they told him how they were spending money to properly train their drivers in towing safety.
The man, still reared back in his chair, listened intently with his brow furrowed, nodding from time to time in apparent concern for their financial woes. The towmen then complained that despite the rapid increases in their costs of operation, the AAA contract rates had not increased. I recall that the rate was surprisingly low. They finished their spiel by asking for a rate increase. The room went quiet for what seemed like ten minutes but was probably only 15 or 20 seconds.
"You boys finished?" asked The Man, they all nodded silently.The front legs of The Man's chair slammed down onto the concrete floor with a loud bang, startling everybody, including me. He leaned forward across his desk, the big smile draining from his face.
"Let me tell you boys something. This ain't no f____ing marriage. If you don't like what I'm paying you - Quit!" he said bluntly. With his left hand he reached down and pulled a yellow legal pad out of one of the drawers of his desk and tossed it toward the now wide-eyed tow operators. The names and phone numbers of a dozen or so towing companies were handwritten in a list on the top of the pad.
"See that list? Those are all the towing companies that want your contracts and are willing to tow for me at the same rates that I'm paying you now." The Man started at the towmen for a few seconds, then he leaned back in his chair, smiling broadly again. "So, is there anything else I can do for you boys today?"
Shortly thereafter in the parking lot outside that AAA office, those tow operators were understandably angry. "What an SOB!" they fumed. "The nerve of that guy!" They turned to me. "What do you think of that?"
I agreed that the manager was a jerk, however I told them "I suppose he's right," They didn't care for my answer, but it was the stark truth. AAA is not engaged in price-fixing. So-called "vertical price fixing" occurs when a vendor is obligated by contract to purchase from one supplier and that supplier attempts to regulate the resale price, for example, an oil distributor setting the retail price for the gasoline it wholesales to it's gas station retailers. But a AAA service contract does not present a vertical price fixing situation because the tow operator is not charging fees to a third-party consumer at a rate fixed by AAA - AAA, acting on behalf of it's members, is the customer.
A towing service contract is a basic "arms length" independent contractor agreement. No tow operator is obligated to perform towing services for AAA and it's members. Every towing contractor serving the motor club does so voluntarily. And, as I explained to the AAA contractor who telephoned me recently, AAA tow rates are not determined by an illegal price setting scheme. They are set according to the length of the list on the yellow legal pad in the road service manager's desk drawer. 
I remember this slogan that was used during my days in Elementary School Days.
"Just say NO to drugs" I just continued to include motorclubs..
Devin
You out west should be happy that AAA is not doing to you what they are here in the Northeast.They are one in area after another putting their own Fleet trucks in service and in doing so are taking the work right out from under the very Towmen and familys who for the last 100 years made AAA what it is today.Great way to pay us back for years of minimum payment for there members needs.I know what most say is just go and do other work,But when a company like mine has worked for years depending on a volume of calls from AAA to make ends meet and they just do this Fleet trip it is border line criminal. Maybe Mike McGovern should look into this part of the AAA monopoly. 
You would be pleased to know that some AAA buys houses for their some of theiir top brass and they pay their Board of directors as much as $40,000 per year to come to meetings and dinners ( it varies per club).
In addition if you look at the names of who who runs the clubs you will see many of the same last names because of rampant nepotism.
They always shout out they are "not for profit" organization but that is far from truth. They screw the contractors and try like hell to not provide service for their members
You people thing that you are gonna get better service bypurtching road side assistance from your cell phone company or insurance company? What you dont realize is that AAA is gonna dispatch the call any way so you are going through AAA and not knowing it. AAA even does the road side assistance for new cars. Also you people pay like $100 for plus member ship which comes with four 100 mile tows. Just one 100 mile tow is more than $200 if u were to go directly to the garage yourself. So stop your complaining. The problem is that they dont pay there gar enough cuz your memberships fees are so low. So they cant contract with every towing garage in the areas that they are in. Also the garages take there time or are over worked because they arnt getting paid alot. You get what you pay for. If you want to pay the same amount for ur mem as one tow then you can get fast prompt service if you want 4 calls for the price of one tow then you get slow service.