Illinois drivers can find roadside assistance benefits from auto clubs, credit cards, or as additional coverage on their car insurance
policies. The Illinois Department of Transportation also makes emergency roadside assistance available in the state’s high-traffic areas. When car troubles leave you in a bind, roadside assistance providers can offer you services like battery jumpstarts, tire changes, fuel delivery, and towing when you need it the most. And if you have all the necessary contact info on hand, you won’t have to scramble to find nearby services at the last minute.
Here are some of the roadside assistance options at your disposal in Illinois.
4.7/5 rating on the App Store | Trusted by 5+ million customers and 7 million cars4.7/5 app rating | Trusted by 5M+ drivers How to get roadside assistance in Illinois
The best time to find out your roadside assistance options in Illinois is before you need it. Whether you get roadside assistance through AAA, your insurance provider, your credit card, or somewhere else, they tend to be pretty affordable options that can give you peace of mind when you need it most.
Roadside assistance clubs in Illinois
One option for getting roadside assistance is through an auto club like AAA
, Allstate Motor Club, or Better World Club. With average costs of $50 to $165 per year, these options tend to run on the more expensive side, but the additional benefits can make your membership worth it
. Take AAA, for example. A standard AAA membership will get you the following roadside assistance benefits:
Mobile battery and jumpstart
services Vehicle lockout
services (with $60 toward locksmith parts and labor)Emergency fuel delivery (delivery is free, but you’ll pay fuel costs)
Towing services up to seven miles or back to the service provider’s location (4x per year)
Hertz Gold membership, plus car rental rewards
For a top-tier Premier AAA plan, you can get towing services up to 200 miles, up to $150 toward locksmith parts and labor for lockout services, and a one-day complimentary car rental, plus additional perks like discounted airline ticket fees.
If you like to prepare for the worst, or you have a vehicle prone to breakdowns, the benefits from an auto club membership could end up paying for themselves.
MORE: How to join AAA and make sure you have roadside assistance coverage
Manufacturers that offer roadside assistance
You might also be able to get roadside assistance through your vehicle’s manufacturer for a certain period of time if you buy your car new. Here’s what these ranges look like among major car manufacturers:
Ford:
Five years or 60,000 milesNissan
: Three years or 36,000 milesHyundai
: Five years, unlimited milesToyota
: Two years with unlimited mileage Kia
: Five years or 60,000 miles (three years for EV6)Honda: Three years or 36,000 miles for 2015 and newer vehicles, three years or unlimited miles for clarity fuel cell and electric car owners
Tesla:
Four years or 50,000 miles
Credit card companies that offer roadside assistance
Even if you didn’t buy your car new and decided not to go for that auto club membership, there’s a chance your credit card company might offer roadside assistance benefits. Most major credit card companies have card options that come with roadside assistance, including:
For those cards that do offer roadside assistance, you’ll want to know whether the benefits will come with any added fees if you end up using them—and how to request the service when you need it—so read your credit card terms closely.
MORE: Why your car breaks down and how to avoid it
Insurance companies that offer roadside assistance
Roadside assistance can often be most affordable—and reliable—when it comes from your own car insurance provider. It’s possible your insurance company might also refer to this as “towing and labor coverage
.” Most major car insurance providers offer roadside assistance coverage options, including:
Adding roadside assistance to your insurance plan can commonly add only $10 to $20 per year to a full coverage premium, making it an extremely affordable option.
Many of the core benefits offered by this coverage will overlap: dead battery jumpstarts, lockout services, fuel delivery
, and so on. However, there can be slight variances and conditions from policy to policy, so it’s worth comparing different providers’ offerings if roadside assistance is a priority for you. How to find free roadside assistance in Illinois
Car breakdowns, especially on busy roadways, can create serious traffic hazards. That’s why the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the IDOT Chicago area Emergency Traffic Patrol (ETP), and Metro-East area Emergency Patrol Vehicle (EPV) all have response teams—often referred to as the “Minutemen”—for accidents and vehicle breakdowns in some of the state’s most high-traffic areas.
If you’re in an emergency breakdown situation, you can call 911 for help.
On the Illinois Tollway, there’s also the white and red H.E.L.P. trucks, which operate Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., but zero-weather patrols are also on duty during extremely cold weather conditions. If you need assistance on the tollway, you can dial *999. During active hours, you can track H.E.L.P. trucks
on the Illinois Tollway website. The primary goal with these services is to get you and your vehicle out of harm’s way, but responders may be able to give you some resources to sort out next steps after a car breakdown.
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