Dead battery, flat tire, locked out, out of gas. We come to you.

The four roadside calls we get every day

Roadside assistance in Phoenix isn't a generic service. The Valley climate produces a specific failure pattern, and the volume is concentrated around four problems: dead batteries (especially summer), flat tires (especially summer), in- town lockouts (especially apartment complexes and mall lots), and runs out of gas (everywhere). We dispatch a roadside van with the right gear for each one.

1. Dead batteries

The Valley climate is the harshest in the country on lead-acid batteries. The heat speeds up the chemical degradation inside the cell, and after two summers most batteries will fail without warning. We see the highest call volume in July and August, especially in Tempe (ASU students with cars sitting unused during summer), Sun City (older drivers, longer-tenured batteries), and downtown Phoenix (vehicles in unshaded surface lots).

Our roadside van carries common Group 24, 35, 48, 65, 78, and H6 sizes. If your battery jumpstarts but won't hold a charge to drive, we'll quote a replacement on the spot for $145 to $215 installed depending on the size and cold-cranking amps.

2. Flat tires

Phoenix pavement temperatures regularly exceed 160°F in summer. That heat shreds tires that have weak sidewalls, low pressure, or hidden interior damage. We carry a tire iron, a torque wrench, and the lugnut sockets for almost every passenger vehicle made after 2010 (including the security-key sockets common on BMW, Mini, and Audi).

We change your spare on the spot if the location is safe. The Valley freeway shoulders are the most common dangerous spot, the I-10 stack downtown, the inside lane of Loop 101 between Pima and Hayden, and the I-17 just north of Thomas where the median is narrow. In those cases we tow you off at the next exit and change in a parking lot.

3. Lockouts

Phoenix lockouts come in two flavors. The first is the parking-lot lockout at a mall or restaurant, Scottsdale Fashion Square, Tempe Marketplace, Chandler Fashion Center, Westgate. We average 18 to 25 minutes to those locations because they're on our regular dispatch routes. The second is the apartment-complex lockout, especially the Mill Avenue corridor in Tempe (ASU students), the Camelback corridor (young professionals), and the Sky Harbor airport area (travelers who left keys in the car).

We don't break windows. We carry the modern key-loop tools that work on vehicles built after 2018 with anti-pry door seals, and we carry the older slim-jim and air-bag kits for vehicles before that. If your vehicle has a non- standard lock that requires a locksmith (a small percentage of European cars and some specialty vehicles), we'll tell you on the call before we dispatch.

4. Fuel delivery

Running out of gas in the Valley happens most often on the long stretches: I-10 west between 75th Avenue and Goodyear (no gas stations for miles), I-17 north between Anthem and Black Canyon City, and US-60 east between Apache Junction and Florence Junction. We deliver up to five gallons of regular unleaded for $35 plus fuel cost. That's typically enough to get you to the next station.

Bundled roadside vs. paying per call

Most of our roadside customers either pay per call or are using their auto- insurance roadside benefit. We bill direct to most major insurers (State Farm, GEICO, Allstate, Progressive, Farmers, USAA) and also accept AAA, Better World Club, and Allstate Motor Club memberships. Tell the dispatcher up front which applies and we'll handle the paperwork while the driver is on the way.

We don't sell our own roadside membership. Memberships are profitable for the company that sells them and not always profitable for the customer. If you use roadside service less than three times a year, paying per call is almost always cheaper than carrying a membership.