AAA club mergers double size of AAA tire network

WILMINGTON, Del. — The growth of a AAA-badged tire retail and auto service network skewed upward rapidly in the past year, as AAA Allied Group — which also operates the AAA/Bob Sumerel Tire network in Ohio — took over responsibility for 40 AAA Tire & Service locations along the Eastern Seaboard.

The growth will continue into 2019 as an enlarged AAA Allied Group Inc. — the Cincinnati-based group that took over the Bob Sumerel retail store network in 2009 — moves to open AAA Tire & Automotive stores in Connecticut and Oklahoma.

More recently, the group acquired Smitty's Automotive & RV Repair in Toledo, Ohio, and is converting Smitty's two locations to the AAA Tire & Auto name. The conversion should be completed in early 2019, doubling the number of AAA Tire stores in northwest Ohio.

The impetus for the rapid growth was the merger in 2016 of AAA Allied Group and AAA Mid-Atlantic Inc., to form the legally incorporated AAA Club Alliance Inc. — the third largest AAA motor club in the U.S. — headquartered in Wilmington.

That merger opened the door to aligning under one roof 78 retail tire and auto service centers in 10 states, most doing business as AAA Car Care, Insurance and Travel Centers.

The upshot is that Craig Sumerel, president of Cincinnati-based AAA Tire & Auto Service, now oversees a business twice the size of the one he led just a year ago, with stores stretching from New Jersey to Oklahoma.

Car care services are an integral part of a growth strategy for AAA Club Alliance Inc., which serves more than 6 million members in 13 states and the District of Columbia, according to Tom Wiedemann, CEO of AAA Club Alliance since June 1.

"We want to build on the legacy that is AAA, which means helping our members get where they need to go as we continue our legendary roadside assistance and offer new ways of meeting members' mobility and lifestyle needs," he said.

Prior to taking the reins at AAA Club Alliance, Mr. Wiedemann was president and COO of AAA Allied Group and is a former president of AAA Southern West Virginia. He has a 29-year career with AAA clubs.

For now, AAA Club Alliance has 52 AAA Car Care, Insurance and Travel Center locations in seven states — Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania – plus 19 AAA/Bob Sumerel Tire & Service locations in southwestern Ohio/northern Kentucky and four AAA Tire & Auto locations in and around Dayton and Toledo, Ohio.

AAA Club Alliance is in the process of opening its first AAA Car Care, Insurance and Travel Center in Oklahoma — in Oklahoma City — later this year with at least one more planned for 2019. This expansion is in line with the Automobile Club of Oklahoma's merger with AAA Club Alliance in November 2016.

Plans are also under way to open AAA Car Care, Insurance and Travel locations in Enfield and Southington, Conn., and Troy, Ohio, next year, the company said, along with four to five locations in Maryland and New Jersey.

AAA Car Care, Insurance and Travel locations offer auto repair, insurance, travel and membership services under one roof, while AAA Tire & Auto locations offer auto repair services but not travel and insurance.

The headquarters for AAA Club Alliance is in Wilmington but the AAA Tire & Auto and AAA/Bob Sumerel Tire & Service teams continue to be based in Cincinnati.

With 78 locations, AAA Club Alliance is considered the 16th largest independent tire retailer/auto service provider in the U.S.