Progressive Roadside Assistance: Worth It?

Progressive roadside assistance covers services including towing, emergency roadside maintenance, and fuel delivery if your vehicle breaks down. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what Progressive roadside assistance includes, and we’ll compare it to coverage from the best car insurance companies.

Key Points:

• Progressive roadside coverage can help get your car back on the road if it has a mechanical or electrical breakdown.
• Roadside assistance an optional add-on available to policyholders with full-coverage insurance.
• Agero is the service provider for Progressive roadside assistance.

What Does Progressive Roadside Assistance Cover?

Progressive roadside assistance is offered as additional coverage, which means you buy it on top of your existing Progressive car insurance policy. It can’t be bought independently from a Progressive policy. This coverage can be used for a car, RV, motorcycle, or boat.

You can even purchase a similar policy that provides assistance for boats when they’re on the water. The company also offers heavy-truck roadside assistance for some large commercial vehicles.

Here are some of the details of what Progressive roadside assistance covers:

• Towing: Progressive will arrange to tow your vehicle anywhere within a 15-mile radius or to the nearest qualified repair shop. You’ll have to pay for mileage if you choose to get towed to a shop that isn’t the closest one.
• Winching service: Progressive will arrange to pull your car from a ditch, snowbank, or sand within 100 feet of a road.
• Battery jump-starts: If your car has a dead battery, Progressive has you covered.
• Fuel delivery: You’ll need to pay for the cost of fuel, but Progressive will cover the delivery fee if you run out of gas.
• Battery charge for electric cars: Progressive will pay to tow your car up to 15 miles or to the nearest qualified charging facility. You’ll need to pay to charge your vehicle.
• Lockout service: If you lock your keys in your car or lose them, Progressive can send a locksmith. There’s an additional charge for replacement keys.
• Flat-tire change: Someone will remove the flat and put your spare tire on.
• On-scene labor: Progressive will pay for up to one hour of professional roadside maintenance. If more than an hour is required, you can pay additional costs or be towed to the nearest qualified shop.

Progressive Roadside Assistance Policy

There’s a limit to the number of roadside events your policy will cover in a year. Check your policy limits–some services may vary from state to state. Price may also vary, but we found rates around $30 to $60 a year on top of an existing Progressive insurance premium. The roadside assistance plan is only available to Progressive customers who’ve purchased full-coverage auto insurance policies.

In the case of an emergency, you have two choices with Progressive towing service coverage. You can either reach out to Progressive, which will dispatch a local towing company on your behalf, or you can call the towing service directly and Progressive will reimburse the cost.

Progressive Roadside Assistance Mailing Address

Reimbursement requests can be handled online, or you can mail your receipt to Progressive’s roadside assistance office in Massachusetts:

Progressive Reimbursements
PO Box 9147
Medford, MA 02155

How Much Does Progressive Roadside Assistance Cost?

Like car insurance rates, roadside assistance prices aren’t the same for everyone. The costs listed below may vary from what you can expect to pay.

How Progressive Roadside Assistance Compares

*Amount of time varies by policy.

Most insurance providers don’t offer stand-alone roadside assistance services, so you can’t get this type of coverage from Progressive without a traditional policy. Roadside assistance costs are added to your existing premium.

While some companies may offer lower rates for roadside assistance, you could end up paying a higher insurance premium overall depending on your driving record and other factors.

Progressive Roadside Assistance Reviews

Progressive roadside assistance is one of the more costly roadside assistance programs compared to other insurers. However, it’s only slightly more expensive than some competitors. You could pay less for coverage overall if your Progressive car insurance policy is cheaper than competitors’ coverage.

We think this is a quality policy add-on for customers who already insure their vehicles with Progressive, but it may not be worth switching to Progressive just to receive these services.

Progressive Roadside Assistance: Conclusion

Roadside assistance coverage isn’t very expensive and can easily pay for itself. Think about how often you’ve had to use a towing, winching, or locksmith service in the past. If it’s at least once every few years, a roadside assistance add-on may be worth it.

While the Progressive roadside assistance program compares well with competitors’ programs, we don’t recommend choosing a car insurance provider based on its emergency roadside assistance alone. Decide which types of car insurance you need and go from there. You can compare quotes from top auto insurance companies online or by contacting insurance agents.

Best Roadside Assistance Companies

We think Progressive, Geico, and AAA have some of the best roadside assistance options. We’ve also rated each of these companies highly in our review of car insurance providers. The ratings below are on a 5.0 scale.

Geico: 4.6 Stars

Geico has some of the lowest average rates in the industry and consistently earns high marks in customer satisfaction. Its roadside assistance program has many of the standard features, including towing, winching, and lockout service. Plus, the Geico Mobile app makes it easy to get help on the road.

As the second largest insurer in the nation, Geico has extensive options for coverage. One that stands out is mechanical breakdown insurance, which could complement a policy that has roadside assistance.

Progressive: 4.3 Stars

Progressive coverage is typically affordable and offers a number of valuable add-ons, like rental car reimbursement, custom parts and equipment value, and roadside assistance. While its roadside assistance tends to be more expensive than other providers’ programs, we think most customers will be satisfied with Progressive’s towing service.

We also like Progressive for its policies for high-risk drivers, including drivers in their 20s and those with DUIs on their driving record.

AAA: 4.0 Stars

AAA is known for its roadside assistance services. While many insurance providers require you to be a policyholder to be eligible for their roadside assistance program, AAA simply requires a AAA membership. Depending on which tier of coverage you choose, a AAA membership may cost $50 to $125 per year.

On top of towing, jump-starts, tire changes, and lockout services, AAA also offers fuel delivery, winching, and extractions.

Progressive Roadside Assistance: FAQ

How We Rate Insurers

Our review process aims to deliver consistent and unbiased assessments of car insurance providers. While there are multiple qualities that make a car insurance company successful, our review team focuses on those we believe are the most important for consumers:

• Cost: Cost can be difficult to compare between insurers because so many factors impact annual premiums. The cheapest insurer for one driver may not be the cheapest for another. To determine our cost score, we look at insurance rate estimates generated by Quadrant Information Services, discount opportunities, and consumer reports.
• Coverage: To determine our coverage score, we look at the number of coverage options available as well as coverage limits and deductible options. Our ratings also take into account additional services and benefits like roadside assistance.
• Reliability: It’s important that an auto insurer is able to meet its claims obligations. Companies with a strong financial strength rating from AM Best score best in this category. Established insurers with a long history of reliable service also receive positive marks.
• Service: We comb through customer reviews on sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to learn about customer experiences. Insurers with a low volume of complaints score well in this area. We also consider the claims process, giving higher ratings to car insurance providers that offer easy-to-use claims apps.

*Data accurate at time of publication.