AAA Office Moves to Larger Location

In an effort to better serve its customers, the Manchester AAA office recently relocated to a larger location at 1500G Pleasant Valley Rd.

“It had a lot to do with the space—we’re a little bit bigger here and we feel we can better meet the needs of our members in this location,” said Office Manager Nadine Romay. “It’s a slightly bigger location.”

The office, formerly located at the Plaza at Burr Corners on Tolland Turnpike, made a seamless transition at the end of February. “We closed business in the old location on Saturday, February 26 and reopened here [at the new location] on Monday morning [February 28] at 8:30 without skipping a beat,” said Romay.

Despite the change in scenery, AAA emphasized it will continue to offer its members the same automotive and travel services. “The AAA Manchester office will continue to meet consumers’ automotive, travel, insurance needs and more at this new office,” said a press release from AAA.

The new location also has a closer proximity to the highway, noted Romay. “That’s a part of the move as well—we’re very convenient to our members,” stated Romay. “We’re so close to the highways—we’re right by I-84, and I-291 is right around the corner. You know AAA—we’re all about our members; we’re all about taking care of our members’ needs.”

Like they could at the old office, Connecticut drivers may renew their driver’s license, pick up TripTik routings and TourBook guides before traveling, and purchase discounted movie tickets and discounted area attraction passes (such as Six Flags) at the new site.

In addition, travelers looking for trip ideas and discount vacation packages can meet with a travel agent who can help find deals that fit their budgets, said AAA. Consumers can also meet with an AAA insurance agent to get a free rate quote for their home, automobile and more.

Also relocating to the new digs is the AAA Driving School, which will be served well as a result of a larger space. “Being that it’s slightly bigger we’ve also found that we have more ability to accommodate our driving school students … they have their own entrance and it’s been nicer to accommodate that business line as well,” observed Romay. “It’s a pretty busy driving school. It’s one of the best and I’m not just saying that because I work for AAA.”

According to Jacklyn Ghergurovich, Public Affairs Coordinator for AAA, the driving school at the new Manchester AAA office can hold up to 30 students in the classroom per session; the old office, on the other hand, could only seat up to 24.

“They run two teen driving school education classes concurrently—one on Mondays/Wednesdays and the other on a Tuesday/Thursday schedule,” she explained. “They also run an adult eight-hour program twice a month.”

In the 2010 calendar year, 175 teens went through AAA driver’s education program, and about 220 adults went through the eight-hour class.

According to Ghergurovich, the Manchester office is one of the busiest in the area. “They service a lot of license renewals as well as AAA members throughout the day,” said Ghergurovich, who noted there are other AAA district offices in West Hartford, Plainville, Avon, Enfield, Cromwell, Waterford and Old Saybrook.

Romay said she feels people often forget that AAA renews Connecticut licenses—making it possible for customers to avoid an often frustrating trip to a DMV office. “It’s like the best kept secret,” said Romay.

Romay also spoke of the services offered by AAA’s financial services division. “The financial services division is based in West Hartford but we are kind of like a liaison with them. We do an awful lot …we open CDs for customers; we do loan closings and have some of the best refinance rates for auto loans. We also do reverse mortgage seminars,” she noted.

The new location has made it possible for the Manchester office to double its amount of insurance agents. Explained Romay, “We only had two insurance agents in the old location and now we’re going to have four because our insurance division is one of the fastest growing divisions—as well as our travel division. We also have more travel agents in this new location because those business lines are increasing.” In all, the new office has 18 employees.

Customers and employees have reacted positively to the new location. “Everybody’s really liking the brightness; it’s shiny and new. It’s a bigger space and it’s open—there’s a lot of windows. Who doesn’t enjoy everything being shiny and new?” observed Romay.

The new Manchester AAA office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information about AAA, members and non-members can visit AAA.com or call (860) 236-3261.