Companies rolling out roadside assistance deals

It only takes one flat tire in a pounding rain to make you swear never to go without emergency road service again. And if you're on a highway hundreds of miles from home, that toll-free help number can be a lifesaver.

Still, if you could get that road service to come and help you out for free, you'd probably be even happier.

A membership with AAA, the big name in emergency road help, runs between $50 and $85 a year, depending on what services you select. However, if you play your credit cards right, you may be able to shrink your road-service costs to zero.

And even if you can't get it entirely free from your credit card, your cell-phone provider, car dealer or insurer can probably beat AAA's price.

Free road service?
American Express offers the Global Assist Plus program, which includes free road service if you're more than 100 miles from home, to holders of rewards cards.

For people who travel often, it's a great, unexpected freebie.

The lucky cards are the Rewards Green Card, the Preferred Rewards Green Card, Rewards Gold Card, Preferred Rewards Gold Card, and Rewards Plus Gold Card.

Global Assist Plus kicks in when you're more than 100 miles away from home. Once you've passed that 100-mile mark, if your car breaks down, you find yourself out of gas or you lock yourself out of your car, Global Assist Plus will help you out -- for free.

Jump starts, changing a flat tire and towing to the nearest adequate repair facility, if it's within 10 miles, are also included free of charge.

In an added sweetener, Global Assist Plus includes some extra coverage for your baggage when you fly. Carry-ons are insured up to $1,250 and checked baggage is insured up to $500.

If you are less than 100 miles from home, you'll pay per service. Current rates are $88 for a tow, and $75 for a lockout. It might be a gamble to go without complete service, but you may come out ahead over, say, a three-year period with no payments to AAA.

Road-service deal for large families
If that's too risky for you, American Express offers its card members a comprehensive program called Drivers Premiere, for $84.95 per year, per family. So even if you have six cars and six drivers, including four teenagers, all are covered for that price.

That can mean savings for larger families.

Drivers Premiere is valid everywhere, and includes towing up to 100 miles, plus the usual flat tire, lockout, jump-start and fuel delivery coverage. It has some interesting benefits, such as "trip interruption."

Trip interruption means that if you break down more than 100 miles from home, and need to pay for hotels and food, the Drivers Premiere program will reimburse you at a rate of $100 a day -- up to $500.

The program also offers "emergency turn by turn," which is turn-by-turn direction assistance. So if you're stuck in downtown Boston, trying to navigate one-way streets, the service will help you get where you need to go -- fast.

The other Drivers Premiere benefits include some you'll hope you never use. Bail bondsman payment is included, but as for bail itself, you're on your own.

Actual service -- or just a referral?
The big question with road assistance from credit cards is what "road assistance" means to that particular company.

Sometimes "road assistance" means that your MasterCard has a pre-negotiated -- and presumably lower -- rate for various services, but nothing is included except for a referral to the service. You pay for the towing.

MBNA's Platinum Mastercard, for instance, has a road plan that only involves a customer-service representative calling a local towing company for you. That's pretty much worth the annual cost of zero dollars.

When you're shopping, ask if towing is included, and if a tire change and emergency fuel delivery are covered.

Another point to clarify is if you have to be a certain distance from home for the service to kick in, or if all 50 states are covered. Some plans cover only cars you are driving, and some also include cars in which you are a passenger.

Generally, the higher your credit line and the more pristine your credit, the better the chance that you can get complete road service for free.

It's worth rifling through your credit cards and calling customer service to see if that extra perk is already there on any of your cards, or if it can be added, before applying for a new card that includes it.