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In many instances, your credit card can come to your rescue if your vehicle breaks down on the roadside. Credit cards with roadside assistance coverage would give a great deal of confidence and security should your car broke down unexpectedly. However, this service won’t come free, unless you have certain premium cards.
Compared to AAA membership that requires you to pay a flat fee annually for roadside assistance that you may not make use of eventually, a credit card with roadside assistance allows you to pay only for the service when needed.
If you’re using American Express card, Visa Signature or Visa TravelMoney (prepaid) card, you will enjoy the service automatically.
Major card issuers like Citi, Chase, Capital One ,Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank are already offering roadside assistance on their Visas and Mastercards. It should be noted, however, that you can’t assume the roadside assistance feature is on your card until you confirm it. You need to verify its availability, given the fact that Mastercard has dropped roadside assistance as a “core benefit” on its card since 2014. So, it is now an optional benefit that requires your instructions before it can be added.
Cards from retail card issuers such as Discover and Synchrony do not come with roadside assistance.
If you’re using a Visa card, you can call a toll-free number to make a request for assistance. The assistance will be sent to your location and you will be charged $69.95 per call. The services you can get via Visa cards are: vehicle towing, changing of a flat tire, delivering of a couple of gallons of gasoline and getting your car jump-started. Your Visa card will be debited with the cost.
In case you’re carrying a Mastercard with roadside assistance, you can call the toll-free number to request for assistance. With Mastercard, you will have to pre-negotiate prices for services such as: car towing and changing of flat tires, as the costs are not provided upfront.
The operation of American Express is similar to that of Mastercard. Here, you also call a toll-free number and the company sends assistance to your location. The costs for the services are also not stated upfront. Some of the services you can get via American Express include: towing, changing of flat tires, or jump-starting of cars.
The primary benefit of credit cards’ roadside assistance is that it gives you the confidence that you have someone to call upon for assistance in the event of your car breaking down unexpectedly, whether you’re at home or down the road at the middle of the night. The beauty of it all is that the services come at an affordable price.
A research conducted by CreditCards.com reveals the average costs of various common roadside services as follows:
However, with premium cards like American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card and American Express Platinum Card, you can receive assistance up to four times a year without incurring additional costs.
AAA operates different models and has over 58 million members in the United States and Canada. All you need to do is to pay an annual membership fee. Then, you can start enjoying roadside assistance benefits as well as hotel and amusement park discounts from AAA.
AAA prices vary according to geographic regions. While you will be charged $89-$100 in cities within the mid-Atlantic region (Washington, D.C.) for a classic membership that includes five miles of free towing and locksmith service, same membership in Miami will attract $66.
Obtaining memberships such as AAA Plus membership (costs $100 per year) and AAA Premier membership (costs $130 per year) attracts additional roadside assistance services from your local AAA service provider.
What makes AAA more attractive is that you can enjoy most of the services over and over again during the year only with a single annual membership fee.
Meanwhile, AAA and Credit card benefits aren’t the only roadside assistance options out there. Other service providers include AARP and auto insurers.
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