What Roadside Assistance in Buffalo, NY, Actually Covers, What It Does Not, and How It Compares to a Membership

Roadside assistance is the family of calls where the car does not go anywhere. A jump start for a dead battery. A lockout when the keys are inside. A tire change when there is a spare. Fuel delivery when the tank is dry. Battery replacement when the jump did not hold. Every one is a flat price with the booking fee included: Jump start $129, car lockout $129, flat tire change $169, fuel delivery $129 plus the fuel, battery replacement $199 plus the battery — flat prices, booking fee included, no mileage. None of them involve the $110 hook-up fee or the $7-a-mile charge, because there is no hook and no miles.

Where it stops: the alternator that dies again after the jump, the lost key that no lockout can help, the car with no spare, the diesel that will not prime. Each of those becomes a tow, at $160 before mileage, and we will say so on the spot rather than sell you a second roadside call. We do not cut keys or carry tires, and we do not work highways, expressways or bridges.

Whether a membership beats paying per call depends on one number: how often you call. Once a year, pay-per-call wins. Four times a winter with an old battery, a membership may. Plenty of drivers keep one for the long trips and call us direct in town, where the formula is cheap and the truck is ours. The membership comparison is honest about both sides.