Department of Transportation has a Safety Patrol Program that monitors some of Colorado’s highways, delivering assistance to broken-down drivers. But if you want roadside assistance for when you’re driving anywhere else, you’ll have to purchase a roadside assistance plan.

How to get roadside assistance in Colorado

If you get a roadside assistance plan before you get out on the road, you’ll be well-prepared to avoid exorbitant emergency towing and labor costs. You can acquire roadside assistance from your

auto insurance

company, clubs like AAA, many credit card companies, and even some vehicle manufacturers—often at a very acceptable rate.

Roadside assistance clubs in Colorado

AAA

is a very popular choice in the U.S. for roadside assistance, but it’s usually more expensive than other options since it comes with lots of little perks and extras.

Most notably, a basic AAA membership will give you access to:

Car lockout

services

Dead battery services

Flat tire services

Towing services up to seven miles (4x per year)

More expensive AAA membership plans will usually extend towing mileage, and could also include things like trip disruption coverage and even free car rental, great for road trips! Getting a membership with this kind of club is often a good choice for people with older cars, especially if you have very basic insurance and your car is starting to feel its age.

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Is AAA Membership Worth It?

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Manufacturers that offer roadside assistance

However, if you have a new car, you might have access to manufacturer-provided roadside assistance. Here’s how long some automakers will offer roadside assistance for a new car:

Ford:

Five years or 60,000 miles

Honda

: Three years or 36,000 miles

Hyundai

: Five years with unlimited mileage

Kia

: Five years or 60,000 miles

Nissan

: Three years or 36,000 miles

Tesla:

Four years of 50,000 miles

Toyota

: Two years with unlimited mileage

MORE:

How does Lexus roadside assistance work?

Credit card companies that offer roadside assistance

It’s also possible that you have a roadside assistance plan through your credit card provider. Here are some of the companies known to offer this kind of add-on to your credit card policy:

Bank of America

Capital One

Chase

Citi

Wells Fargo

U.S. Bank

Visa offers their customers 24/7 roadside assistance via their Visa Roadside Dispatch program, but you are required to pay $69.95 per service call. Terms might be quite different surrounding roadside assistance with a different credit card provider. Before you purchase roadside through another source, check your credit card agreement to see what sorts of options you’re eligible for.

Insurance companies that offer roadside assistance

If you already have

full-coverage

car insurance for your vehicle, getting roadside assistance coverage through your car insurance provider might be the most affordable option.

Companies such as

Nationwide

Allstate

, and

Progressive

have roadside assistance plans that can be chosen as additional coverage options. This type of insurance product is often called “

towing and labor coverage

.” Added onto a full-coverage policy, towing and labor will cost an extra $10 to $20 per year on average.

How to find free roadside assistance in Colorado

CDOT’s

Safety Patrol sponsored by GEICO

is a limited roadside assistance plan available to drivers on certain stretches of the Interstate 25 highway and many of Denver’s main highways.

The areas patrolled include a portion of the I-25 south of

Fort Collins

, a portion north of

Denver

, and the entire stretch of the I-25 from Denver to

Colorado Springs

. The entire stretch of the Colorado E470 around the city of Denver is also patrolled by the CDOT Safety Patrol, as well as a short stretch of the I-76 northwest of Denver. Patrols are limited on weekends and are only out during the daytime.