Talk:American Automobile Association

message: The organization changed its official name to simply the initials in 1997.
Curious: Is there a reason, then, that this article should not be renamed to simply "AAA"?
--guru 22:05, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There are sources now. I added a 4th source in the place where a "citation needed" tag was placed and removed the "sources needed" tag. There are now more sources in that section than in the whole rest of the article. It's possible the article as a whole needs a "sources needed" tag but it seemes inappropriate to me to leave the sources needed tag on the one section with the MOST sources in the article. Plymouths 21:03, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

text: Also I'm totally confused at your criticism - I checked the history and as of Dec 19th (the day before your comment is dated) there were already THREE references in the criticism section. That's a far cry from "no sources whatsoever". If you're going to criticise the article could you maybe actually READ it before criticising? Plymouths 21:09, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Article name

message: Paragraph should be deleted or rewritten entirely. While AAA could certainly warrant criticism, it needs to be factual and NPOV.
"AAA still lobbies the American federal government and state governments for increased spending on roads and automobile safety, and against gas taxes and emissions regulations."  Sweeping generalization & unsourced.
"For example, AAA lobbied against the 1990 Clean Air Act and various California emissions laws"  Statement is not correct (AAA did and does support the Clean Air Act but not all facets of the proposed legislation), and citation does not contain verifiable source.  Various emissions laws?  Which ones?
"Their opponents argue that the AAA does not tell prospective members that it is a lobby group, and that the members join in order to have emergency towing privileges, not because they agree with the political positions of the organization, and that the AAA exploits their members' ignorance."  Unsourced, inaccurate & inflammatory rhetoric
The pargraph is basically an unsourced soapbox rant with an advertisement to an alternate auto club.24.27.202.53 20:57, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There are sources now. I added a 4th source in the place where a "citation needed" tag was placed and removed the "sources needed" tag. There are now more sources in that section than in the whole rest of the article. It's possible the article as a whole needs a "sources needed" tag but it seemes inappropriate to me to leave the sources needed tag on the one section with the MOST sources in the article. Plymouths 21:03, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

text: Also I'm totally confused at your criticism - I checked the history and as of Dec 19th (the day before your comment is dated) there were already THREE references in the criticism section. That's a far cry from "no sources whatsoever". If you're going to criticise the article could you maybe actually READ it before criticising? Plymouths 21:09, 18 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Criticism Paragraph is Soapbox Material

message: Mantill Williams, Director of Washington Public Affairs, 202-942-2050, < http://aaanewsroom.net >, has been a major, the major, representative, for some ten years, possibly more. I am, personally, not exactly pleased with this agency.  As a matter of fact, when I had been a member, I found their service to be less than advertized.  However, Mr. Williams has presented a large amount of fascinating info., in a variety of interviews.
Thank You.
Hopiakuta 14:30, 25 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Give a sentence?  

message: I've done a bunch of editing to the benefits section, including taking out a LOT of the listed benefits (leaving what I think are the basics), turning it into sentence form, and taking out all of the hyperbole. Do people think it is now sufficiently neutral to remove the "sounds like an ad" tag? Plymouths
:Well if I don't get a response in a few days I'm going to go ahead and remove it. If someone disagrees they can put the tag back. Plymouths 22:37, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Since I got no comments I went ahead and removed the tag. Plymouths 01:04, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Ok to remove tag?

message: "besides opposing environmental restrictions on automobiles, often supports widening highways as a way to reduce pollution when smart growth would be a more effective strategy"
i deleted that because it gives off the idea that all road widening could be prevented by "smart growth" there are too many factors involved in widening a road to say they could all be avoided by "smart growth"
===Added Criticism===
I came to this page for the sole purpose of reading the criticism section.  (I had heard there was an environmentally friendly AAA alternative, and was looking for its name.)  I was disappointed to find the section missing, and was only able to find the information I wanted in this discussion page.
I've added a short, well-referenced criticism section using neutral language. Jim 04:32, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism 

message: I came to this page for the sole purpose of reading the criticism section.  (I had heard there was an environmentally friendly AAA alternative, and was looking for its name.)  I was disappointed to find the section missing, and was only able to find the information I wanted in this discussion page.
I've added a short, well-referenced criticism section using neutral language. Jim 04:32, 3 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Added Criticism

message: This article was recently reverted to a version from June 2006 per the guidelines in Wikipedia:Copyright problems (see talk above).  This has likely resulted in the deletion of some legitimate content.  If you have previously contributed non-copyrighted content into this article, feel free to retrieve it from the page history and re-insert it. Jim 04:31, 17 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Request for expansion

message: The article says that the AAA is a nonprofit but that the state clubs own the master AAA organization.
That makes little sense. The Texas AAA club is organized as an LLC, which as far as I understand is a for-profit business type. Would it make sense for for-profit state organizations to own a nonprofit master organization? Or does the master organization own the state ones?
Nova SS (talk) 03:25, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who owns AAA state clubs? Is AAA a true nonprofit? 

message: What is the relationship between the AAA and the FIA?129.173.208.252 (talk) 17:27, 14 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: AAA used to sanction races with IndyCars, Stock Cars, Midgets, motorcycles, etc before the United States Auto Club (USAC) took over sanction in the 1950s. AAA began sanctioning in the early 1900s. Royalbroil 03:10, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  AAA and the FIA 

message: Would be interesting. German ADAC has about 16 million, or a fifth of Germany's population.-- Matthead  Discuß   22:33, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Total number of members? 

message: The organization's official name is "AAA." To conform with the association's name, I propose two solutions. 1) Move the article to "AAA" and move the AAA disambiguation page to "AAA (disambiguation." 2) Move the article to "AAA" with something in parentheses, such as "AAA (American Automobile Association)," or generally anything to set it apart. Then, of course, put notices at the top of pages as necessary to redirect readers to the appropriate article.
What do people think? Jesuschex (talk) 18:56, 17 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Technically, that would be correct, but I think this is a case in which we should WP:IAR and let the expanded acronym serve to disambiguate.  Powers T 13:27, 21 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with Powers, and I have trouble believing that AAA was the official name. Except if you can provide a reliable source.... Royalbroil 03:12, 5 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Business Name: 	THE AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION, INC.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.207.14.199 (talk) 23:24, 2 July 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Can't argue with the state of CT www.concord-sots.ct.gov/CONCORD/PublicInquiry?eid=9744&businessID=0068703 as your link shows that's their official name, but ... they seem to have been the first to widely and consistently use AAA.  As we give the spelling ties to the "person(s)" British / or American person that wrote the article so it should go here... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AAA&oldid=436042 ... it seems it was originally a list of AAA and number 1 on the list is " AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION "  so newbie here thinks, fir what little it matters, that it should stay as is, no moving to " AAA ". Sorry triple aaa, but i can't support the move. JSo9-10 (talk) 04:18, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move to "AAA"? 

message: Content in AAA and the Environment has been lifted directly from the AAA Public Affairs website. See sentence starting "In addition to encouraging fuel efficiency..."  and "In 1992, AAA launched a popular ecotourism promotion". 66.167.171.249 (talk) 23:39, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Copyright Issues 

message: This list has changed (at least for Massachusetts) since October 2011. AAA Merrimack Valley merged with AAA Southern New England and the article needs to be edited accordingly.
Macious (talk) 21:27, 2 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Cite your source and change it.  JSo9-10 (talk) 05:49, 7 July 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of AAA Regional Clubs 

message: :Feel free to state your position on the renaming proposal by beginning a new line in this section with *Support or *Oppose, then sign your comment with ~~~~. Since polling is not a substitute for discussion, please explain your reasons, taking into account Wikipedia's policy on article titles.
* Move to American Automobile Association. I'll first repeat what I wrote in the previous discussion: Although the company is now commonly known as "AAA", the original title was more concise (per WP:CRITERIA) and presented a sufficient natural disambiguation when compared to the other articles listed on the AAA disambiguation page. Furthermore, I should point out that WP:COMMONNAME also lists several exceptions in which the most common name may not be the best option, and "when there is no single obvious term ... editors should reach a consensus as to which title is best by considering [WP:CRITERIA]". Zzyzx11 (talk) 06:12, 4 September 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Survey

message: This 'article' tells me almost nothing about this organization that I would like to know. What are its annual revenues? Where does this money come from? How is it allocated? What is the organizational structure? Etc. Benefac (talk) 15:50, 21 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Revenues? Budget? Funding? 

message: One of the key things anyone will look for is how many members an association has and this page doesn't have that information. Maybe AAA doesn't want to reveal that?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vineet thakur15 (talk • contribs) 17:14, 12 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Membership Stats 

message: So there are various minor things which I have questions which it's not clear what is the appropriate way to handle them.
The very beginning of this article lists AAA membership count as of 2010, with a footnote to the 2010 version of the AAA Fact Sheet.  The link itself doesn't work (it displays a "404" page, at least for me), and the saved copies from archive.org also display a 404 page.  However, the footnote itself includes a working link to an archived copy of the 2010 Fact sheet.
Rather than have a link (working or not) to an old stale AAA Fact Sheet, wouldn't it be better for this to link to the current AAA Fact Sheet?  The archived link can still be there to support the 2010 membership claim.
But that raises another niggling point, which is what's the right thing to do about the membership count?  It's of interest to have an idea of how prevalent membership is, but there's nothing special about the count as of 2010, that's just an arbitrary point in the relatively recent past.  Perhaps rather than try to give a "precise" membership count, giving a general idea of the number would serve just as well, e.g. "There are currently around 50 million AAA members" (along with the footnote to the Fact Sheet).
OK, well just some rambling thoughts.  Your comments are of course welcome. Fabrickator (talk) 04:31, 25 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  membership numbers and AAA fact sheet 

message: Why are various AAA clubs charging differen fees such as $20 more for add on when the clubs are only about 15 to 20 miles apart and are supposed to be a non-profit? Also why can't one sign up at any club if the benefits cross?199.96.255.30 (talk) 12:34, 5 June 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  The AAA clubs charge different fees 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Here are two links regarding "Catalytic Con Job":
* The full article is linked at a third-party site: http://junksciencearchive.com/dec98/catcon.html
* This article largely restates the points made in the original article, and cites the original article: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=12705
In the first case, I'm not sure if it's okay to reference such an article from a third-party site; the second case is different from the original article.  So in each of these cases, I'm unsure whether a citation to the link would be consistent with Wikipedia policies.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fabrickator (talk • contribs) 23:55, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Reslved: Six years later, I have updated to use the link on the junksciencearchive.com site. Fabrickator (talk) 23:18, 20 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  External link found for "Catalytic Con Job" 

message: The question is raised (by virtue of a recent edit) as to whether the AAA ever restricted membership based on race.
Owing to the fact that AAA was formed as a federation of motor clubs, membership policy (at least in its early days) would generally have been established by the individual motor clubs rather than by a national policy.  If any one of the affiliated organizations had such membership restrictions, then it can at least be said that there's "something" to such a claim.
Though there's the occasional reference making a statement to this effect, finding a "good" citation for this can be challenging.  For instance, a collection titled Papers of the NAACP exists, but the online content (if you can figure out how to view the text within the PDF, which turns out to be a technical challenge) is limited to a listing of the items in the collection, one of which is identified as American Automobile Association membership policy.
There's also at least one reference available online about one of the member clubs having a membership restriction based on religion.
In any case, I have identified the following article from the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper dated April 26, 1955:
: The board of governors of the Automobile Club of Maryland, an affiliate of the [AAA], voted Monday to open membership to all.  ... A year ago, the board scrapped a bylaw provision which restricted membership to white only.  Monday's action ... was a followup of this by-law change.
: Applications from colored automobile owners ... will be accepted if offered in person at the AAA office, Cathedral St., and Mt. Royal Ave.
It seems that we are left to guess about what restrictions were being removed by the current action. Fabrickator (talk) 04:49, 1 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  references for discrimination 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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I have just modified  on American Automobile Association. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Mutual Automobile Association should be part of the Article, see advert 
--Velocipedus (talk) 21:04, 18 December 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mutual Automobile Association (1920) 

message: I removed the list of regional clubs from the article. The section was almost entirely unsourced, and contains a list of trivial and excessively detailed information that's best left to AAA's own website. FuriouslySerene (talk) 01:39, 9 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm inclined to see this information restored. The problem is that there isn't a "AAA's own website." It's an association of associations and the list of regional clubs is one of the few easily accessible resources that outlines the interwoven groups that make up AAA. I'd also disagree that it lacked sourcing; the URL for each club is present in the table, which is a primary source for the information included. Due to the way AAA clubs redirect web visits based upon the visitors location, it's a less than perfect source, but it was better than most other sources. It doesn't seem to me to run afoul of WP:DIRECTORY or WP:PLOT, especially when placed within the context of the AAA article. Carter (talk) 03:24, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  I hadn't said anything about the deletion of the club list because, to me, it was another example of Wikipedia dysfunctionality.  Random people, presumably abiding by Wikipedia policy, harm Wikipedia.  But I don't advocate one way or the other, I just watch, looking for the evidence that Wikipedia is crumbling.  Do as you will.  Fabrickator (talk) 06:45, 11 February 2017 (UTC)

text:   Based on WP:Content_removal#Unsourced_information, it appears that removal for content being unsourced should only occur if there is a belief that no source exists.  Nor does there seem to be an exception in the case that a section is "almost entirely unsourced."  Do you feel that I'm misinterpreting this policy? Fabrickator (talk) 05:51, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  The AAA list of local media contacts gives a rough breakdown of which clubs are associated with which states/regions -- http://newsroom.aaa.com/for-media/local-media-contacts/ . I think between that and the link to each club's website, it cannot be said that the list is unsourced and it should be restored. Carter (talk) 15:44, 13 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I concur with FuriouslySerene's removal of the table as containing too much trivia and excessive detail, but I also believe that some of that information should stay in the article.  Perhaps one compromise would be to have a lead paragraph saying that AAA has X number of clubs, of which the following are notable ones, and then a bulleted list with links only to those clubs that are notable enough to warrant full-length Wikipedia articles like the Auto Club and CSAA. --Coolcaesar (talk) 18:04, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

text: Sorry, I don't agree with you . The table I removed had 6 columns of information, which for only some clubs had a link directly to the club in question. For many, the only link was simply aaa.com. The link did not support the information in the the other columns in the table. Per WP:VERIFIABILITY: "All quotations, and any material whose verifiability has been challenged or is likely to be challenged, must include an inline citation that directly supports the material." There was no inline citation for any of the material that I removed. I supposed you could find citations for each clubs, its headquarters, the date it was founded, its territory, and its insurance (assuming the info provided was accurate, which has not been established), and then add that to the page. However, that sourcing was not included on the table. Even if such sourcing can be found, my position is that this is excessive and intricate detail that does not belong on the page. I'd be open to an RfC, but the info definitely should not be restored unless it's properly sourced. FuriouslySerene (talk) 17:41, 15 February 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  First, A correction to your statement that "for many, the only link was simply aaa.com".  While many links were displayed as "aaa.com", the actual link in each case (or at least, in virtually every case) was something more specific than "aaa.com".  I've added back the list of regional clubs, and added an inline reference to the media contacts list, which substantially supports the content in the table.  Notwithstanding WP:VERIFIABILITY, WP:Content_removal#Unsourced_information supports such removal only when there's a belief that a source is not available.  If you think that sourcing needs improvement, the solution should be to improve the sourcing, not to remove valid, verifiable content. Fabrickator (talk) 05:08, 18 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: WP:Content_removal is an essay, while WP:VERIFIABILITY is policy. Essays are the opinion of an editor, have no official status, and don't speak for the Wikipedia community as a whole. Per WP:UNSOURCED, which is WP policy (and is not an essay), "The burden to demonstrate verifiability lies with the editor who adds or restores material, and is satisfied by providing a citation to a reliable source that directly supports the contribution." That means the burden is on you, which you haven't done by restoring unsourced content. FuriouslySerene (talk) 15:39, 18 March 2017 (UTC)

text:  Per WP:VERIFIABILITY, "When ... removing material for lacking an inline citation, please state your concern that it may not be possible to find a published reliable source for the content... If you think the material is verifiable, you are encouraged to provide an inline citation yourself..."  So it seems to me that the statement in WP:UNSOURCED is actually in the spirit of the policy, while your removal, even when there is no inline citation, is contrary to that spirit.  However, you have actually gone ahead and removed content for which a valid citation was present.  Hopefully you will not repeat this behavior. Fabrickator (talk) 04:31, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: No, you've got it the wrong way around. The burden under WP core policies is always on the editor justifying inclusion to get a reliable source. The much bigger problem, though, is that the entire table is a giant violation of WP:NOT and WP:NOR.  For whatever reason, AAA has chosen to obscure the federation's complex structure---probably because it's an illogical train wreck that makes no sense now that the Rust Belt has been so badly depopulated and doesn't need so many itty-bitty local motor clubs. Trying to put Humpty Dumpty together again in a table in this article is first publication of original research in violation of WP:NOR.  This is particularly obvious with the citations to the CSAA Insurance Group's Web site, since CSAA itself on that Web page does not assert that it is the official AAA-affiliated insurer corresponding to particular AAA clubs, only particular counties. --Coolcaesar (talk) 21:50, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Your "rust belt" comment is kind of off the wall; I would suggest you look at the original formation of the AAA to understand the structure, which has been transforming, in steps, to reflect more modern business practices.  That aside, I didn't write WP:VERIFIABILITY, I just read it: "If you think the material is verifiable, you are encouraged to provide an inline citation yourself before considering whether to remove or tag it."  But the issue here isn't about unsourced stuff being removed, it's that "sourced" content was removed.  Did I miss the rule that allows for removal of content because "other" content is unsourced?  I note that at the top of the regional clubs list is a suggestion for people to add any missing entries.  How ironic it would if someone adds an entry which happens to include some unsourced content, and that is then used to  justify deleting the whole table.  As for the "insurance" column (which had been added relatively recently, in January 2016), if there is consensus on removing this, I would be happy to see it go. That addresses your WP:NOR objection, I think your WP:NOT is without justification.  Fabrickator (talk) 23:31, 19 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with Fabrickator, and would say that the WP:NOR is a total red herring. It's research in that the information was tracked down for each club; this is directly related to the article and draws no implications that are out of line with the article or the sources. And your WP:NOT statement is meaningless unless you'd like to narrow down your objection. The list is relevant, although I agree if could probably be less detailed, and verifiable. Carter (talk) 16:31, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Go back and read WP:NOR again, especially "Synthesis of published material".  First, the table is poorly sourced (at a bare minimum, there needs to be a footnote on every row establishing that so-and-so entity is part of AAA and is responsible for those particular states or counties), and second, it's indefensible synthesis. For whatever reason, AAA has never published on its main Web site a simple table of all their member clubs and respective geographical responsibility (which they presumably have on file somewhere) with links to their respective Web sites.  Instead, AAA has always insisted on their annoying geolocation redirects and ZIP code lookup scheme that enables them to obfuscate their unnecessarily complex corporate structure. Unless you can cite to a third-party published reliable source that has already published a coherent and comprehensive description of AAA's member clubs, the table is a first publication of the statement that all those separate entities are part of AAA.  That is original research and unacceptable under WP:NOR. It's also a violation of WP:NOT as I previously mentioned, specifically section 2.6, "Wikipedia is not a directory." --Coolcaesar (talk) 21:17, 20 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: You're misreading WP:NOR/WP:SYNTH,  which says "Do not combine material from multiple sources to reach or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by any of the sources. Similarly, do not combine different parts of one source to reach or imply a conclusion not explicitly stated by the source." It is not making conclusions that are not in the source. The list of media contacts on AAA's site provides confirmation of the different clubs, their affiliation with AAA, and their regions. I can see why you'd make a WP:NOTDIR objection if the article was List of AAA Regional Clubs. Within the context of the American Automobile Association article, however, the list expands the depth and value of the article. Could it be improved and edited? Yes. Should it be blanked? No. Carter (talk) 18:25, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of regional clubs 

message: Should the "List of AAA regional clubs" section (link here) be included in the article? FuriouslySerene (talk) 02:33, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: To be clear, the RfC is worded as a proposal to "include" the list of regional clubs.  This seems to me as a backwards way of stating things, since the list of clubs is currently present in the article.  By advocating for withdrawal of the RfC, I am advocating that the article continue to include the list of clubs. Fabrickator (talk) 18:16, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

text: The directory objection does not really apply.  The entries in WP:DIRECTORY that most closely resemble this are items 3 ("White or Yellow Pages") and 7 ("Simple listings"), but their correspondence to the AAA list is about the same as to a list of teams in the NFL or countries in NATO.  Only people who don't appreciate the structure of AAA would say otherwise. Fabrickator (talk) 20:21, 9 April 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  I concur with Fabrickator's comment about WP:DIRECTORY and the list of clubs. Carter (talk) 02:06, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

text: The difference between a list of regional AAA clubs and NFL teams or countries in NATO is that the latter have considerable reliable coverage, while this has no identified independent reliable source coverage. FuriouslySerene (talk) 00:46, 14 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: RfC on list of AAA regional clubs

message: *No. Besides the fact that most of the content is unsourced and contains WP:OR, the information is a WP:DIRECTORY of information that is excessively detailed and not helpful to readers of the article. FuriouslySerene (talk) 02:33, 21 March 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: To be clear, the RfC is worded as a proposal to "include" the list of regional clubs.  This seems to me as a backwards way of stating things, since the list of clubs is currently present in the article.  By advocating for withdrawal of the RfC, I am advocating that the article continue to include the list of clubs. Fabrickator (talk) 18:16, 23 March 2017 (UTC)

text: The directory objection does not really apply.  The entries in WP:DIRECTORY that most closely resemble this are items 3 ("White or Yellow Pages") and 7 ("Simple listings"), but their correspondence to the AAA list is about the same as to a list of teams in the NFL or countries in NATO.  Only people who don't appreciate the structure of AAA would say otherwise. Fabrickator (talk) 20:21, 9 April 2017 (UTC)
replies: text:  I concur with Fabrickator's comment about WP:DIRECTORY and the list of clubs. Carter (talk) 02:06, 10 April 2017 (UTC)

text: The difference between a list of regional AAA clubs and NFL teams or countries in NATO is that the latter have considerable reliable coverage, while this has no identified independent reliable source coverage. FuriouslySerene (talk) 00:46, 14 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Survey

message: Some points about the "early history" are omitted from the article.
As per American Motor League, when American Motor League merged with the AAA, it became the American Motor Association.  So far, I haven't found a source indicating when the name reverted to American Automobile Association.
Some other details about the formation of the AAA are on the AAA website at
http://exchange.aaa.com/about-aaa/aaa-timeline or http://newsroom.aaa.com/about-aaa/aaa-timeline/ .  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fabrickator (talk • contribs) 01:44, 5 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  founding and early history 

message: Is the content in the article unbiased and referenced enough to warrant the removal of one or more of the maintenance templates at the top of the page? HapHaxion (talk / contribs) 03:58, 13 May 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Maintenance templates 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on American Automobile Association. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added  tag to http://www.wbaltv.com/news/politics/State-House-committee-hears-speed-cameras-scrutiny/-/9379266/19190870/-/r5l800z/-/index.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160303222224/http://media.aaachicago.com/images/9059/speedbill2013.pdf to http://media.aaachicago.com/images/9059/speedbill2013.pdf
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on American Automobile Association. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://newsroom.aaa.com/about-aaa/aaa-fact-sheet/
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101124092053/http://gbc.org/news/1339/ to http://www.gbc.org/news/1339/
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 21:18, 9 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Currently, Trip Tik and Triptik redirect to American Automobile Association#Rating System.
Setting aside the fact that while "triptik" is present on the page but "trip tik" is not, it's going to be a surprise for many people that this redirects to the section titled "Rating System".
To my mind (admittedly based on the "flip-book" TripTiks of bygone times), a TripTik  is a set of driving directions, which really is unrelated to a "rating system".
FWIW, AAA still claims to offer paper TripTiks (see https://magazine.northeast.aaa.com/daily/travel/road-trips/paper-maps-triptiks-still/), though it's not clear how closely this resembles the TripTik classic format.
But bottom line, there's a problem with these redirects going to a section titled "Rating System". Fabrickator (talk) 16:13, 24 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Trip Tik 

message: :
The following edit Revision as of 00:00, 19 September 2019 created a lot of archive links that just don't work.  I realize that this wasn't your fault (aside from relying on a tool that's evidently not so reliable), but the bottom line is that this created a mess that's in need of a lot of cleanup.
<rant alert>
The AAA web sites have always been a huge pain ... or at least, since the AAA folks learned to insert javascript to force the user to enter a zip code, resulting in a redirect to a page that's completely unrelated to the original page.  But my preference for the AAA wikipedia article would be to replace it with a notice explaining that the AAA web sites are wikipedia-hostile, and stating that due to this, the Wikipedia AAA article is not available.</rant alert>
That's probably not going to happen, after all, why punish the public for the bad acts of AAA?  But in any case, this is certainly most annoying.  As long as we have the AAA page, though, these archive links need to be reviewed and either removed or repaired. BTW, I have noticed that (at least in some cases), the archives created by archive.today work well (i.e. it seems like javascript is disabled for the archive.today captures).  In that case, setting "url-status" to "unfit" would be appropriate,  converting the citation to use , if necessary. Fabrickator (talk) 22:16, 18 February 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  numerous bad archive links inserted by IAbot session 

message: An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect .aaa. Please participate in the redirect discussion if you wish to do so.  1234qwer1234qwer4 (talk) 11:10, 15 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  ".aaa" listed at [[Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion|Redirects for discussion]] 

message: The following edit Revision as of 05:26, 15 June 2020 changes the value of "type" to reciprocal inter-insurance exchange.
To be sure, it's not unreasonable to suggest that AAA is essentially a business association that provides the member insurance companies/brokerages with the opportunity to obtain prospects, under the guise of a consumer cooperative organization, which in the process, actually generates revenues to support the primary purpose of acquiring further consumer member/prospects.
But what does that have to do with a reciprocal inter-insurance exchange (which sounds like a mutual insurance company, but the definition differentiates by it not being a corporation)?
According to the definition, in this type of organization, there would be members who are exchanging contracts of indemnity with each other.  Please indicate which members are exchanging these contracts of indemnity.  I don't get it.  Fabrickator (talk) 07:51, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  question about change to {{em|type}} 

message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CqMli-0GzM
Just wondering, since this commercial parodies Mayhem from Allstate. 2600:8801:E00:760:5104:6036:3F10:DC0E (talk) 06:52, 11 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Does AAA sell insurance? 

message: This is for the discussion of the  tag in the "History" section, regarding AAA's participation in drafting the "Motor Vehicle Safety Act" and the "Highway Safety Act".  Speaking generally, I think this claim is overstated.  Here are the specific isssues:
* There were in fact two distinct acts, both designed to improve safety for motorists and the general public, but it strikes me as pointless wordiness to have a separate sentence for each act.
* It appears that AAA's role was to comment on these proposed laws.  Naturally, this would include expressions of various concerns.  Claiming that they thereby "helped to draft" seems like it may be overstating AAA's actual role.
* Enumerating each of eight or so different areas in which they responded seems rather excessive.
At least one person has expressed concern that the article "sounds like an ad". The narrative that comprises the "History" section seems like a major contributor to that concern. Cutting this particular item back would address that concern, even if only in a small way. Fabrickator (talk) 23:08, 6 April 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Drafting of safety acts 

message: Some of the AAA-published lists of the clubs that joined AAA at the initial meeting have become inaccessible (e.g. due to the requirement to disable javascript).  Here are working links from AAA sources as well as contemporaneous newspaper stories:
* AAA Timeline: 1902-1909
* AAA Colorado "Our History"
* A National Automobile Association (Indianapolis Journal, 3/5/1902, col 5)
* Automobile Association: A National Body Composed of Clubs Formed at a Convention of Delegates (Abilene Weekly Reflector, 3/6/1902, col 2)
* Birth of the American Automobile Association (Motor Age, 3/6/1902, pp. 36-43)
* Automobile Topics: With Rival Organizations Trouble Is In Sight (New-York Tribune, 3/7/1902, col 4)
* The Automobile: National Automobile Club (Electrical World and Engineer, 3/8/1902, p. 458)
* Good Roads Needed (Waterbury Democrat, 3/17/1902, col 1)
* Sports and Pastimes (Morris County chronicle, 5/16/1902, col 3) (names of clubs and designated AAA officials) 
==== American Motor League ====
* It Is Now the A.M.A. (Motor Age, 4/7/1904) 
* Big Merger Formed by Auto Interests (Saint Paul Globe, 4/6/1904, col 4)
* Auto Associations to Unite (The Sun, 4/6/1904, col 3)
* End to Auto Strife (Daily Kennebec Journal, 4/8/1904, col 2)]
* Association and Auto League Combine for Good of Sport (The Providence News, 4/11/904, col 1)
* Auto Bodies Will Merge (The Sun, 5/4/1904, col 6)
* Hitch in Auto Merger (The Sun, 6/8/1904, col 6)
* Renewal of Auto Fight (The Sun, 6/19/1904, col 1)
* Motor League Busy (The Sun, 11/29/1904, col 2)
* Motor League Busy (Waterbury Evening Democrat, 12/2/1904, col 5)
==== Automobile Club of America ====
* Motor Clubs (Evening Star, 1/23/1932, col 2) (closure of Automobile Club of America)
* Untitled (The Waterbury Democrat, 1/23/1932, col 3) (closure of Automobile Club of America)
* Sparks from Detroit: A Landmark Passes (Automotive Daily News, 1/28/1932)
* Automobile Club of America is Revived (Automotive Daily News, 1/28/1933)
==== Compendia ====
* International Motor Cyclopaedia: Sport, Industry and Trade ... Yearbook March 1908 to March 1909 (This has a comprehensive list of automobile clubs, including formation details for many clubs. Evidently the only issue ever published.)
* The American: Almanac Year-Book, Cyclopaedia and Atlas 1904
The following nine clubs(with year of formation) participated in the March 4, 1902 meeting forming the AAA:
* Automobile Club of America (1899)
* Chicago Automobile Club (1900)
* Automobile Club of New Jersey (1900)
* Long Island Automobile Club (1900)
* Rhode Island Automobile Club (1900)
* Philadelphia Automobile Club (1900)
* Princeton University Automobile Club (1901)
* Automobile Club of Utica (1901)
* Grand Rapids Automobile Club (1902)
At the time, the U.S. had around 50 localized motor clubs, according to the AAA Newsroom History page.
Fabrickator (talk) 18:35, 9 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  References for initial AAA member clubs and extant auto clubs 

message: * International Motor Cyclopaedia: Sport, Industry and Trade ... Yearbook March 1908 to March 1909 (This has a comprehensive list of automobile clubs, including formation details for many clubs. Evidently the only issue ever published.)
* The American: Almanac Year-Book, Cyclopaedia and Atlas 1904
The following nine clubs(with year of formation) participated in the March 4, 1902 meeting forming the AAA:
* Automobile Club of America (1899)
* Chicago Automobile Club (1900)
* Automobile Club of New Jersey (1900)
* Long Island Automobile Club (1900)
* Rhode Island Automobile Club (1900)
* Philadelphia Automobile Club (1900)
* Princeton University Automobile Club (1901)
* Automobile Club of Utica (1901)
* Grand Rapids Automobile Club (1902)
At the time, the U.S. had around 50 localized motor clubs, according to the AAA Newsroom History page.
Fabrickator (talk) 18:35, 9 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Compendia 

message: In 1922, a splinter group of AAA-affiliated auto clubs switched their affiliation to form the National Motorists Association (not to be confused with the U.K. organization of that name nor the U.S. organization that began life as Citizens’ Coalition for Rational Traffic Law).
During the period of their co-existence, lots of stories were published (check Chronicling America as well as Internet Archive Digital Library), each organization just trying to keep its name in the public eye.  As just one example, see Motorist Bureau Started in Buffalo.
Although they eventually managed to resolve their differences (re-uniting in 1924), this period of competition between the two organizations probably benefited all participants by spurring some degree of innovation.  In any case, this is really an untold story (insofar as either the AAA website or WP article goes) which likely contains a fair amount of Wikipedia-worthy material. Fabrickator (talk) 07:39, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  No mention of 1922 splinter group 

message: === founding of the AAA ===
There is a citation for the founding of the AAA ("Automobile Men Organize". Minneapolis Daily Times. March 5, 1902. p. 6.).  This had linked to a clipping on newspapers.com, but that link no longer provides a legible clipping.  There is probably some way to get it refreshed, but we should try to avoid links that "expire" in this manner.  I found some other good newspaper stories on the NYS Historic Newspapers] site, but I couldn't figure out how to get a url which would be convenient to use.  As an alternative, I suggest this link from the Providence News.  Story is in the second column, titled "Rhode Island In It".  I'll note that this story makes the claim that the AAA "will assume national jurisdiction over road and track racing ...", which (if I recall correctly) contradicts some other sources stating that AAA did not aspire to this role until some time later. Fabrickator (talk) 22:54, 13 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  updating citations 2024 

message: There is a citation for the founding of the AAA ("Automobile Men Organize". Minneapolis Daily Times. March 5, 1902. p. 6.).  This had linked to a clipping on newspapers.com, but that link no longer provides a legible clipping.  There is probably some way to get it refreshed, but we should try to avoid links that "expire" in this manner.  I found some other good newspaper stories on the NYS Historic Newspapers] site, but I couldn't figure out how to get a url which would be convenient to use.  As an alternative, I suggest this link from the Providence News.  Story is in the second column, titled "Rhode Island In It".  I'll note that this story makes the claim that the AAA "will assume national jurisdiction over road and track racing ...", which (if I recall correctly) contradicts some other sources stating that AAA did not aspire to this role until some time later. Fabrickator (talk) 22:54, 13 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  founding of the AAA