On Mother's Day, 2005, Matt Gouig and his fiancée Laura Spradlin set out from Matt's home in Fort Bragg, CA, in his 1999 Ford Ranger pickup to visit his mother in the Bay Area.

With Laura at the wheel, the couple joined hundreds of other motorists rolling along Highway 101 in drenching weather. As they passed Petaluma, Laura glanced down to check that her seatbelt was tightly fastened-and in that instant traffic stopped. Looking up, Laura hit the brakes. The Ranger hydroplaned and slammed into the next car ahead. With the front end of the truck shattered, the couple slowly drove home and called AAA.

Dealing with the aftermath of an accident-even one in which no one is injured, as was the case for Matt and Laura-can be stressful and time-consuming. "Under the best circumstances," Matt says, "these situations are a huge hassle. But everybody involved at AAA, and at the repair shop they recommended, made this particular incident as painless as it could have been."

Matt was happily surprised from the moment he phoned AAA. "Making the claim was easy. They were really helpful, really understanding. They immediately offered us a rental car and asked where we wanted the truck repaired. They talked to Laura to get her story and were so pleasant with what could have been a daunting experience. We never felt uncomfortable."

Since Matt didn't have a preference for repair shops, AAA offered Matt a list of AAA Direct Repair Network shops in his area. "One of them, Accu-Tech Auto Body, is five minutes away from me, so I thought I'd try them. They contacted me less than an hour later and had the rental car delivered to the shop." Accu-Tech subsequently restored Matt's beloved pickup and had him back on the road in short order.

Matt's experience has made him a AAA booster. "Very few companies these days give you the feeling that they're on your side, that they're really going to help you, or even that you're going to get your money's worth from their services," he says. "But that's absolutely what you get with AAA Insurance."