Give the Gift of Peace of Mind

This December, AAA Members John and Joni Kippe will drive from their home in Swartz Creek, Michigan, to Frankenmuth to celebrate Christmas with their family and extended families. After dinner at the AAA Approved Bavarian Inn, John, Joni and their family will return to Swartz Creek for presents and a party.

This holiday celebration is well-planned because, except for last year, the Kippe family has undertaken this festive pilgrimage every holiday season for nearly 60 years—even longer than John and Joni have been married.

And for the past dozen years, John and Joni have maintained another tradition: covering the cost of AAA Memberships for their three sons and their families—a total of 17 drivers. The reason for this tradition? The peace of mind that comes with knowing when family members are on the road, they’re protected.

“When people say, ‘What do you do with all your kids? What do you get them for Christmas?’ we say we’ve gotten them AAA ever since our grandson Joel was 18,” says Joni.

Roadside assistance is the family’s go-to AAA service. Occasionally a grandchild will call and tell Joni that they used their Christmas gift. “We want our family to be safe,” she says.

The practice of giving AAA Memberships began when Joel went off to college and got a job delivering pizzas. “I was kind of nervous about his car in the winter,” says Joni. “I said, ‘We need to get him some kind of service, so if he has some trouble on icy roads and he’s alone at night, he can have some help.’” And when Joel slid off the road on one of his deliveries, AAA was there to pull him out.

That rescue was the first of many over the years:

• John’s car wouldn’t start at his grandson’s hockey game in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, because the temperature had dropped to minus 30 degrees.

• A trailer John was towing came unhitched while he was driving and got wedged under his truck’s back bumper.

• A grandchild’s car needed a 200-mile tow.