AAA and Me: Giving Young Drivers all the Help They Can Get

[former_member185064]

I am the father of two young drivers.

As a result, I get to experience high insurance bills and more than my share of restless nights. I know there is only so much I can do to protect my kids while they are behind the wheel.

Still, I try my best.

So whenever my son or daughter is driving, I like to point out every conceivable traffic hazard. And I am lightning-fast on the imaginary brake. Yeah, I’m not sure how much the kids enjoy driving with dear old dad.

Driving Assistance Teenagers Can Really Use

But seriously, we all know the first few years of driving are particularly hazardous for young people. That’s why I also enroll my family in AAA (the American Automobile Association). That way I know there is always help available if they get a flat tire, need a tow, or require other roadside assistance.

I’m not alone. AAA has more than 53 million members across the U. S. and Canada – it is North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization. In addition to 24-hour emergency assistance, AAA also provides travel, insurance, financial, and a host of automotive-related services.

AAA has been helping motorists since 1902. Of course, back then, according to the association there were only 23,000 cars in operation in the U.S. – compared with 17 million horses – and you started them with a hand crank. The cars, that is.

Analytics Help Identify Member Needs

These days, both the automobiles and AAA are definitely more high-tech.

For example, AAA uses next-generation predictive analytics to build and refresh 2000 models daily to forecast how many trucks they need in the field for service calls.

The national office of the association established a centralized “action center” driven by the SAP InfiniteInsight solution to provide such strategic insight to its regional motor clubs. AAA is actually a nationwide federation of 44 individual motor clubs with over 1,000 locations.

This action center is also designed to provide better insight into member needs and to optimize marketing across the customer lifecycle. AAA can analyze more than 2,500 customer attributes to better understand which members are most likely to benefit from the association’s wide range of products and services. Through this predictive analysis, AAA can offer travel, insurance, and financial services customized to the interests and needs of each member. As Daniel Mathieux, Director of Member Insights and E-Business at AAA, explains, “It helps us put the right products and services in front of members at the right time.”

And let’s face it; there are a lot of different interests and needs among 53 million drivers.

My wife and I, for instance, hope to avail ourselves of more travel services someday. But at the moment, I’m much more likely to use AAA resources like Keys2Drive – a guide to teen driving safety. It provides a full range of tools to help teenagers and their parents throughout the whole learning-to-drive process.

And this driving advice is offered more calmly than mine.

You can learn more about AAA’s journey with predictive analysis and how the association has been recognized as a silver winner in the Gartner & 1to1 Media CRM Excellence Awards in the category for customer analytics. Click here to find out more about the SAP InfiniteInsight solution.

And please join me on Twitter at @JohnGWard3.