The Complete Esurance Roadside Assistance Review

Esurance — a subsidiary of Allstate — offers complimentary roadside assistance benefits to drivers who purchase physical damage coverage in a handful of states. Even if you don’t qualify for free coverage, Esurance roadside assistance can still be a cost-effective way to bundle your auto insurance policy with coverage for most basic roadside support services, including towing and jumpstarts.

Continue reading our Esurance roadside assistance review to learn what it covers, how you can access it and more.

On This Page

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  Esurance Roadside Assistance Overview

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  Our Thoughts on Esurance Roadside Assistance

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  Esurance Roadside Assistance Cost

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  Esurance Roadside Assistance Coverage

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  How To Request Esurance Roadside Assistance

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  How To Add Esurance Roadside Assistance

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  Pros and Cons of Esurance Roadside Assistance

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  Esurance Roadside Assistance vs. the Competition

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  Esurance Roadside Assistance Review FAQs

Esurance Roadside Assistance Overview

Our Thoughts on Esurance Roadside Assistance

Roadside assistance from Esurance may leave some customers wanting, as it is not available in every state and provides somewhat limited coverage compared to many other roadside assistance plans. Nevertheless, it is free for certain drivers in a few states, and it can make for an affordable addition to any existing Esurance car insurance policy.

When you access roadside support, Esurance may contribute the first $75 to $100 toward whatever service you receive — after which, you will have to pay the rest of the bill out of pocket. Coverage is capped at three to six service calls — or a total of $450 worth of covered services — per coverage period, depending on your location.^[1][2]

Esurance Roadside Assistance Cost

Esurance roadside assistance usually costs between $14 and $30 per vehicle per year, according to Michael Benoit, the founder of California Contractor Bond & Insurance Services — who has sold Esurance roadside assistance car insurance add-ons throughout his time as a property and casualty (P&C) insurance broker.

“I have seen it priced at $18 in California for standard vehicles, but it may push up closer to $25 in urban areas, like New York or Chicago,” Benoit said in an email to SmartFinancial. “For pickup trucks or larger vehicles used in commercial contracting, the price tends to increase slightly, though not dramatically. The base coverage itself is pretty modest in cost.”

Meanwhile, Esurance policyholders in Kansas, Minnesota and Missouri can get roadside assistance for free if they have comprehensive and collision coverage.^[3]

Lenders often require comprehensive and collision insurance, so odds are you will need to purchase them anyway if you plan on financing your vehicle purchase. However, it costs nearly $2,000 per year on average to add these two physical damage coverage types to your Esurance policy, so it may not be the most economical roadside assistance option if you are allowed and would prefer to settle for minimum coverage.^[4]

Esurance Roadside Assistance Coverage

Esurance’s roadside assistance coverage is relatively limited, but it should still cover most of the basic services you would expect from a roadside assistance company.

What's Included?

Esurance covers the following emergency services in the event that your car breaks down within 100 feet of a roadway:^[2]

• Towing: Esurance can send a tow truck to your location and help cover the costs of towing your car to a nearby repair shop or other location.
• Battery services: If your car battery has died and there are no other cars nearby or you don’t have access to jumper cables, you can contact Esurance to get someone to jumpstart your battery.
• Tire changes: Roadside assistance from Esurance can come in handy if you pop a tire and don’t know how to install your spare. Keep in mind that roadside support technicians may not provide a new tire for you, so you may simply need to request a tow truck if you don’t already have a spare tire.
• Lockout assistance: After losing your keys during a trip or locking them inside your car, you can reach out to Esurance to request a locksmith who may be able to unlock your vehicle for you.
• Resource delivery: Like many other roadside service providers, Esurance can send a technician to bring fuel to you if you run out of gasoline before you can get to a gas station. However, Esurance can also deliver other resources — such as motor oil and water — which separates it from many of its competitors.
• Trip interruption: The optional trip interruption benefit allows you to secure a payout if you experience a mechanical breakdown or a loss covered by your physical damage insurance when traveling more than 100 miles from home. While your car is at a repair shop, Esurance can pay out up to $100 per day for lodging and $50 per day for each of food and transportation — up to the overall limit of $500 per incident.

What Isn't Included?

The following exclusions generally apply to your Esurance roadside assistance coverage:^[5]

• Winching: Although winching is covered by many other roadside assistance providers, it is not among the benefits covered by Esurance. As a result, you may have to pay for winching on your own anytime you get stuck in mud, snow or a ditch.
• Trailers: The roadside assistance coverage for the vehicles you drive does not extend to any trailers that are attached to your vehicles.
• Routine maintenance: If you have to make multiple service calls because you fail to conduct routine maintenance or other basic car repairs, Esurance may eventually reject your roadside support requests.
• Unrelated labor: While your roadside assistance plan covers some types of onsite labor, it won’t cover any repairs that are not immediately related to a mechanical breakdown. This includes labor performed at a repair shop after the breakdown.

How To Request Esurance Roadside Assistance

You can download the Esurance Mobile app to request roadside assistance from Esurance, or you can call the company at 1-800-ESURANCE (1-800-378-7262).^[1][6] Esurance’s roadside assistance services are available 24/7, and you may be able to track your tow truck’s location using GPS technology — at the very least, Esurance will send you the driver’s name and estimated time of arrival.^[3]

How To Add Esurance Roadside Assistance

In general, Esurance policyholders can update their auto insurance coverage details — including adding roadside assistance — by calling 1-800-378-7262 or editing their coverage in Esurance’s online policy management portal.^[6] If you live in Kansas, Minnesota or Missouri and have had an Esurance policy since before September 23, 2015, free roadside assistance should have been added for eligible vehicles on your policy automatically.^[3]

Pros and Cons of Esurance Roadside Assistance

In the following sections, you’ll see overviews of the main benefits and drawbacks to keep in mind when evaluating a roadside assistance endorsement from Esurance.

Pros

Esurance roadside assistance members can enjoy notable benefits like these:^{[1][3][5][7][8]}

• Free for certain policyholders: Although free coverage is limited to a select few states, Esurance is one of only a small number of roadside assistance providers to offer complimentary benefits. It also helps that the only prerequisite for this free roadside assistance is buying comprehensive coverage and collision coverage, which are already required for most people with a car loan.
• Several covered service calls: Esurance covers a maximum of six annual service calls in some locations, which is more than many other service providers will cover. Even Esurance’s parent company — Allstate — only covers a maximum of five service calls per year, and that’s only if you pay extra to add multiple family members to your plan.
• Nonowned vehicles may be covered: If you experience a breakdown while driving a vehicle you don’t own — such as a rental car — Esurance may provide roadside assistance benefits equal to the broadest level of coverage for a car that is expressly listed on your policy.
• Available for rideshare policies: Professional rideshare drivers can add towing and labor coverage to their auto insurance through Esurance, which may remain active during certain parts of their job, like when they are on the way to pick up a rider they have matched with.

Cons

Conversely, some downsides to Esurance roadside assistance that you should keep in mind include the following:^[1][9][10]

• Not all cars on your policy are automatically covered: Despite the fact that your roadside assistance coverage may automatically extend to nonowned cars, the same is not true for vehicles you do own. Instead, you must individually add coverage to — and pay for — each of your cars; otherwise, you could have to pay out of pocket if you experience a breakdown in a vehicle that is covered by your car insurance policy but not your roadside assistance.
• Limited availability: Esurance is not licensed to sell insurance products in Alaska, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Vermont or Wyoming.
• Doesn’t fully cover the average tow: The average cost to tow a car is $109, which is more than Esurance will contribute toward any single tow. As a result, you are likely to incur out-of-pocket costs for medium-to-long-distance tows.

Esurance Roadside Assistance vs. the Competition

See the following table to get an idea of how Esurance compares to other popular companies that offer roadside assistance.