Chase Roadside Assistance

Multiple Chase cards offer roadside assistance as one of their benefits. This benefit differs depending on the card you have. For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve's roadside assistance covers you up to $50 per service call, up to 4 times in a year. Meanwhile, the Chase Sapphire Preferred's roadside dispatch is based on a pre-negotiated fee per service call. I recently locked myself out of my car far away from home–for journalistic purposes, of course–and found myself having to use Chase roadside assistance. The process was pretty easy, so read along in case you ever find yourself in need of this benefit.

How To Contact Chase Roadside Assitance

To request service:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders can call 800-847-2869
• Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can dial 866-860-7978.

If you dial the number on the back of your card, Chase reps can patch you through to the service as well. Services under the Chase roadside assistance are provided by Cross Country Motor Club.

What The Sapphire Preferred Offers

The Chase Sapphire Preferred's roadside dispatch benefits offers a pre-negotiated rate for the following services:

• Standard towing – up to 5 miles included
• Tire changing – must have good, inflated spare
• Jump start
• Lockout service – not including key replacement
• Fuel delivery – up to 5 gallons, where permissible, plus the
  fuel cost
• Standard winching

For additional information about the Chase Sapphire Preferred's roadside dispatch, including terms and conditions, consult the card's benefits guide.

What The Sapphire Reserve Offers

The Chase Sapphire Reserve's roadside assistance benefit covers up to the first $50 for each service event, for up to 4 events per year. The services covered are the same as those that are discounted for the Sapphire Preferred's roadside dispatch program.

• Standard towing
• Tire changing
• Jump start
• Lockout service
• Fuel delivery
• Standard winching

For additional information about Chase Sapphire Reserve's roadside assistance benefit, including terms and conditions, consult the card's benefits guide.

Calling Chase Roadside Assistance

When you call the number, the agent will ask for some basic information like your name, phone number, vehicle make and model, and your location. Of course, they will also ask about what service(s) you need.

After I provided all of this information, the agent said I would receive a text message with a quote for the service and a payment form. I asked for an ETA on when I could expect the service to arrive and was told I would only learn that after submitting the payment. This was really annoying since depending on the situation, I could be willing to pay a higher price elsewhere for faster service.

Payment & Booking Process

The Chase roadside assistance text message took close to 5 minutes to arrive. In the meantime, I decided to call around for a locksmith. This was a Sunday, so no one gave me an ETA of under an hour, and prices were all around $100. When I received the text message with the quote, it was for $70. I paid and immediately received another text message indicating that the service was dispatched and would arrive in between 45 and 75 minutes.

I then received another text message with a link to track the dispatch's location. The map showed the dispatch's real-time location and had a more accurate arrival estimate. The dispatch was only about 15 minutes away!

The Locksmith Arrives

Indeed the dispatch arrived a little over 15 minutes later and unlocked my car within a couple of minutes. He asked for my driver's license but did not ask for the car title or any ownership information or documentation.

I asked the locksmith how much he would have charged if I had called his number directly, and he said it would have been $60. A little frustrating that the Chase roadside assistance “pre-negotiated fee” was actually more expensive than calling this locksmith directly. But at the same time, Chase's rate was still cheaper than all of the other locksmiths I called in the area.

Chase Roadside Assistance: ToP Thoughts

Calling Chase roadside assistance was a straightforward experience for the most part. With my Chase Sapphire Preferred's roadside dispatch benefit, I paid a decent rate to have a locksmith come unlock my car. The rate was well under the estimates I received from other local providers. But it was still higher than what the actual locksmith that showed up would have charged me if I had called them directly. My favorite part of this perk, though, was having access to the dispatch's real-time location and being able to follow along as he got closer to my location.

Have you used the Chase roadside assistance benefit? Come share your experience in our Facebook group.