AAA Care Center

[Pete]

AAA to open new comprehensive center on N. May


Dot Wo Garden Chinese restaurant will be demolished to make way for an expansive and all-encompassing AAA facility, plus a new Del Taco location.

Plans have been filed to rework the current Dot Wo property at 6161 N. May Avenue by removing the restaurant structure and replacing with AAA in the middle and Del Taco on the south portion.

The AAA Car Care Center will be the first of its kind in Oklahoma, offering everything from car maintenance and repair to travel assistance, insurance and financial services.

AAA Oklahoma in based in Oklahoma City and currently operates 53 offices in the state, mainly centered around its insurance products.

The American Automobile Association (AAA) is a federation of 42 regional clubs throughout North America, and the clubs in turn own AAA. It is a non-profit member service organization with 55 million members in the United States and Canada. National headquarters are in Heathrow, Florida.

Best known for its roadside assistance service, AAA is quickly expanding into a new market with the addition of vehicle repair and maintenance services available to both members and nonmembers.

Although the auto repair and service field is highly competitive, AAA’s main selling point is its brand, of particularly high value in an industry where consumer trust is a key factor.

The Oklahoma City facility will feature 8 auto bays where customers can watch repairs and maintenance in a waiting lounge separated by a large glass wall.

There will also be a retail area featuring travel items, a travel information counter as well as office space devoted to insurance and other services.

The 10,700 square foot Dot Wo building was constructed in 1992 as a Golden Corral Buffet.

Del Taco recently entered the Central Oklahoma market and currently operates locations in Edmond, Moore and West Oklahoma City.

As of this writing, Dot Wo Garden is still open for business.

[barrettd]

Del Taco! Haven't even seen one since I moved back to OKC from LA ten years ago. Can't even remember if I liked them...

[shawnw]

I'm excited about a closer Del Taco to work (there's one on Reno)

Does this replace the AAA location on 39th?

[Pete]

The AAA on 39th (and everywhere else in OK) are mainly insurance offices.

This is completely different... Much larger with a full car-care center and all their financial services.

[terryinokc]

Is Dot Wo moving to another building? It's one of my favorite Chinese restaurants.

[Roger S]

Is Dot Wo moving to another building? It's one of my favorite Chinese restaurants.

Hope so.... It's one of the better sit down Chinese options in town.

[Zuplar]

I kind of thought AAA wasn't really a thing anymore, in that I mean I figured hardly anyone used them, so there wasn't much brand loyalty anymore.

Couple of recent experiences, one directly and one indirectly, have led to that belief. Two weeks ago good friend of mine was driving I95 from Richmond to Orlando and had a blow out. Company pays for AAA and when he called they stated over 2 hours before someone could be there. Pretty ridiculous because he wasn't that far from a town, less than 7 miles. At the time I remember thinking that's a ridiculous time frame being on a major interstate. He told me that any more was pretty common experience for him when calling AAA, and that there are better companies to use for roadside that he had been trying to convince his employer to switch too.

Second experience with the insurance was me directly. Homeowners went up like it always does and a year ago I called AAA wanting to see about a quote. Give them all my info and then they send me a quote that's like almost triple what it was at the time. I really just figured they were high, but they called me back and I said this is a ridiculously high quote, I'm not interested at all. They said well normally we are fairly competitive, what's one of the other quotes so I tell them and they start to tell me there is no way it's right, I must not be covered properly. Okay fair enough there may be some differences, but after going through it with them, it was comparable. So they proceed to tell me that it's because my house is so far from the fire department. This baffled me because I'm 2 miles from the fire department. I tell the lady this and she is like we show you are 10+ miles. Again, nope, if we go out 10 miles from my place there are 2 more fire stations. She starts getting hateful at this point acting like I'm making this up, telling me they update their databases every so many months, there is no way. I told her I wasn't in the mood to argue, I wouldn't use them at this point, especially her office, but just for the heck of it I said go on google maps, put in my address, then search fire station and see how many come up. She did this and I can hear the sigh coming out of her mouth, like oh yeah, I know I'm right. So then she proceeds to say well we can still help you, I just need you to go down to the fire station and get a signed letter stating they are so far from you and they are the responding fire station. I said not gonna happen. I'm not going to do your job and help you update your records.

Needless to say it seems as though their tech is very dated and they are behind in the times. Maybe they are attempting to make a push with this, but while I'd hear another agent out in the future to get a quote, I just don't see how they can be competitive with the way it appears as though it's ran.

[dankrutka]

I have AAA and, historically, I've always had good experiences. But I will say that when I had my last tire blow out about 3 years ago near Ardmore, a teenage showed up with like three tools. I'd never seen that before.

[FighttheGoodFight]

I kind of thought AAA wasn't really a thing anymore, in that I mean I figured hardly anyone used them, so there wasn't much brand loyalty anymore.

Couple of recent experiences, one directly and one indirectly, have led to that belief. Two weeks ago good friend of mine was driving I95 from Richmond to Orlando and had a blow out. Company pays for AAA and when he called they stated over 2 hours before someone could be there. Pretty ridiculous because he wasn't that far from a town, less than 7 miles. At the time I remember thinking that's a ridiculous time frame being on a major interstate. He told me that any more was pretty common experience for him when calling AAA, and that there are better companies to use for roadside that he had been trying to convince his employer to switch too.

Second experience with the insurance was me directly. Homeowners went up like it always does and a year ago I called AAA wanting to see about a quote. Give them all my info and then they send me a quote that's like almost triple what it was at the time. I really just figured they were high, but they called me back and I said this is a ridiculously high quote, I'm not interested at all. They said well normally we are fairly competitive, what's one of the other quotes so I tell them and they start to tell me there is no way it's right, I must not be covered properly. Okay fair enough there may be some differences, but after going through it with them, it was comparable. So they proceed to tell me that it's because my house is so far from the fire department. This baffled me because I'm 2 miles from the fire department. I tell the lady this and she is like we show you are 10+ miles. Again, nope, if we go out 10 miles from my place there are 2 more fire stations. She starts getting hateful at this point acting like I'm making this up, telling me they update their databases every so many months, there is no way. I told her I wasn't in the mood to argue, I wouldn't use them at this point, especially her office, but just for the heck of it I said go on google maps, put in my address, then search fire station and see how many come up. She did this and I can hear the sigh coming out of her mouth, like oh yeah, I know I'm right. So then she proceeds to say well we can still help you, I just need you to go down to the fire station and get a signed letter stating they are so far from you and they are the responding fire station. I said not gonna happen. I'm not going to do your job and help you update your records.

Needless to say it seems as though their tech is very dated and they are behind in the times. Maybe they are attempting to make a push with this, but while I'd hear another agent out in the future to get a quote, I just don't see how they can be competitive with the way it appears as though it's ran.

My experience is completely the opposite. I have used AAA in about 4 tire flattening and they are there always within 30 minutes sometimes less.

I also have car and home with them and my insurance compared to Statefarm, Allstate and Liberty Mutal were substantially less.

[Zuplar]

My experience is completely the opposite. I have used AAA in about 4 tire flattening and they are there always within 30 minutes sometimes less.

I also have car and home with them and my insurance compared to Statefarm, Allstate and Liberty Mutal were substantially less.

My friend said he has much better experiences when he's in around town, but has stated numerous times out on the highway they can take their sweet time.

As far as insurance goes, I'm sure if they recognized fire stations built after the 80's they'd have been able to give me a competitive rate. But I'm sorry asking me to get a letter from the fire station isn't even remotely acceptable. She should have apologized for the error and attempted to find out why their databases were so out of date.

[shawnw]

Have always had good experiences with AAA, saved my bacon on many occasions. Pay for it for my young adult children as well, has saved them, too. One kid lost her only car key in a river, 99 miles away from home, they got in the car, towed it and her home, and made her a new key on the spot [new key was a charge, the rest was included]). Another time after an accident, they towed my kid's disabled car to our body shop, which turned out to be inaccessible (gate closed), but they held the car over night and then towed it back in the morning and it wasn't extra since the service call was in the middle of the night and they had space.

It's cheaper than Netflix or Spotify and totally worth it.

[SoonerQueen]

I absolutely love Dot Wo Garden's. It is close to my house and the food is delicious. We have eaten there for years. I hope they will relocate close to our neighborhood. I am so disappointed they are demolishing the building. I have many good memories.

[Pete]

On the Dot Wo Facebook page, they make reference to a "big announcement" set for October.

I suspect they'll announce a relocation at that time.

[Pete]

[shawnw]

is this a big national push, these AAA centers? hadn't heard of them before that first one we got

[brianinok]

I think they just built one of these on Broadway in Edmond too.

[Pete]

Work will be starting soon on a new AAA Car Care center between Whataburger and Del Taco on N. Penn near Memorial.

[FighttheGoodFight]

One of these also going in Norman in the old Indian Motorcycles shop on Lindsey Street.