69-hour wait for AMA roadside assistance in Edmonton

The Alberta Motor Association (AMA) is seeing high wait times for service due to freezing temperatures and snowfall across Edmonton.

According to the website, as of Wednesday morning there is a 69-hour wait time for full-service towing or winching.

It’s a 38-hour wait for light service, including a battery boost, lockout, a flat tire, or fuel delivery. There is a four-hour wait for a locksmith.

Chad Brinston, a manager of fleet performance with AMA, says they’re “in it.”

“We’re about seven times the amount of usual expected volume for this time of year, that’s in terms of our full service,” Brinston said.

“In terms of our light-service capabilities, we’re about four times the amount in terms of call volume that we would typically see this time here.”

He says the three-day waits are because the AMA is prioritizing people who are stranded on the road and have nowhere safe to go.

“If you’re at home and just require a simple booster, or a tire change, or something like that, that could potentially be up to a couple of days wait before we might be able to get to you,” Brinston said.

There are typical recommendations the AMA makes for the cold and snow, but it changes once the temperatures get to the freezing ones in Alberta right now.

“The most important thing is – once we sort of get below that minus-7 mark – is making sure our block heaters are plugged in, making sure that we keep our fuel tanks up above the half mark,” Brinston said.

“Unfortunately, when temperatures seem to dip this cold, sometimes there’s not a whole lot that we can do in terms of trying to make sure that a vehicle is going to start outside of plugging it in.”

-With files from Alejandro Melgar, Mark Strashok and Tiffany Goodwein