How Does Roadside Assistance Work in Arkansas?
Most people are not sure whether they have it, and almost nobody has been told what using it does to the claim record. Both answers are short, and the second one is the important half.
Short Answer
It is optional coverage, usually called towing and labor, and the declarations page settles whether you have it. The part nobody mentions: a roadside call is generally not a chargeable claim, but it is still a claim, and claim frequency is something carriers weigh at renewal and when deciding whether to write you at all.
Roadside assistance is the coverage people are least certain about. They are not sure whether they have it, not sure what it includes, and not sure whether calling it costs them something later. The first two are easy. The third is the one worth reading.
What It Is on the Policy
On most auto policies this is not called roadside assistance at all. Look on the declarations page for towing and labor, which is the traditional coverage name, sometimes alongside a separately named roadside or emergency service package. If neither appears, you did not buy it, and nothing about the rest of your policy changes that.
When you use it, the mechanism is straightforward: you call the number on the policy, the insurer dispatches a provider it has contracted with, and the insurer pays that provider directly up to whatever the coverage allows. What falls outside the allowance — a tow past the covered distance is the usual one — comes back to you. Those distance and dollar allowances differ by company and by tier within the same company, which is why they belong on your own declarations page rather than in an article.
You may be paying for this three times over
Roadside cover reaches people through at least four channels: the auto policy, an auto club membership, a credit card benefit, and a manufacturer’s program that often runs for several years from the date a new vehicle was sold. Plenty of households hold two or three of these simultaneously and know about one.
It is worth a few minutes to find out which you actually have, because the answer changes which number you should be calling — and, as the next section explains, that choice is not neutral.
The Part Nobody Tells You: Chargeable Versus Countable
Here is the distinction that matters, and it is not in any of the pages currently ranking for this question.
A towing or roadside call on an auto policy is generally not a chargeable claim. It does not surcharge your premium the way an at-fault accident does, and in that narrow sense using it is not “held against you.”
But it is still a claim. It is recorded as one, and it counts toward claim frequency — how many claims a household has made in a given period. Frequency is used at two different moments: when your current carrier decides whether to renew you, and when a different carrier decides whether to write you at all. A household can be non-renewed on frequency, or declined by the next company, without a single one of those calls ever having raised a premium.
Which is the honest answer to the question people are really asking when they search whether a battery jump counts. It counts. It did not surcharge you. Those are two different things, and only knowing the first half leads people badly astray in both directions — some avoiding coverage they paid for, others using it casually for small things and finding out at renewal.
The Arkansas provision that does not help here
There is an Arkansas statute that sounds like it should cover this and does not. Ark. Code § 23-63-110 bars an insurer from canceling a policy or increasing premium solely because of claims that do not result in a loss to the insurer — a genuinely useful protection, and our post on being dropped by your home insurance company covers how it works.
It does not reach roadside calls, for a simple reason: the insurer paid the provider. That payment is a loss to the insurer, so the claim sits outside the protection. The statute helps with the claim that cost the carrier nothing. A tow is not that claim. This is general information rather than legal advice.
None of which is an argument against using coverage you bought. It is an argument for knowing what the mechanism is, so that a decision about a twenty-minute wait for a jump start is made with the full picture rather than half of it. Where the frequency line sits for a particular company is underwriting appetite rather than a published rule, and it moves.
The Tow You Call For and the Tow That Happens to You
Arkansas draws a line here that almost nobody knows about, and it decides what protections apply.
A consent tow is done with the permission of the owner or the person in charge of the vehicle. That is what happens when you place a roadside call: you chose it, and the terms are between you, your insurer and the provider they dispatched.
A non-consent tow covers an unattended or abandoned vehicle, or a disabled or inoperative vehicle where owner preference is waived. That is frequently what happens after a crash — the vehicle leaves on a truck you did not choose, arranged by someone else, to a yard you did not pick.
What the Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board requires
The Board sits under the Department of Labor and Licensing and is created by Ark. Code § 27-50-1203, which directs it to regulate the towing industry and, specifically, to establish a procedure to accept and investigate complaints from a consumer who claims to have been overcharged for non-consent towing, recovery, storage or vehicle immobilization.
Under the Board’s rules, a licensed operator must keep a current maximum rate schedule on file with the Board and posted conspicuously where the public can read it, and must provide itemized billing explaining how towing and storage charges were calculated. The Board can determine and sanction excessive or unnecessary non-consensual towing, recovery and storage fees.
So if a bill arrives that looks wrong after a non-consent tow, there are two concrete things to ask for before anything else: the posted rate schedule, and the itemization. Both are supposed to exist. This is general information rather than legal advice, and the Board is the authority on its own current rules.
What the Coverage Typically Does and Does Not Do
| Situation | Usually included | Worth checking |
|---|---|---|
| Flat tire | Changing to your spare | Whether anything is covered if there is no usable spare |
| Dead battery | Jump start on the roadside | Whether a replacement battery is a service or a purchase |
| Locked out | Lockout service | Whether the cost of a replacement key is separate |
| Out of fuel | Delivery of fuel to the vehicle | Whether the fuel itself is included or billed |
| Will not start, needs a shop | Tow to a repair facility | The covered distance, and who chooses the destination |
| Stuck off the roadway | Sometimes, as extrication | Often limited or excluded; this is where surprise bills come from |
| Vehicle towed after a crash | Handled under the claim, not roadside | Where the vehicle went and who is being billed for storage |
Sorting It Out Before You Need It
- Find out whether you have it at all. Look for towing and labor on the declarations page. Two minutes, and most people are guessing.
- Check what else already covers you. Auto club, credit card, manufacturer program. Duplicated coverage is common and one of them is usually free of any claim record.
- Note the covered distance. It is the single term most likely to produce a bill you did not expect, particularly if the shop you want is not the nearest one.
- Decide in advance which number you call. Making that decision on the shoulder of the road, at night, is how the choice gets made for you.
- After a non-consent tow, ask for the rate schedule and the itemization. Both are required to exist, and asking early is easier than disputing later while storage accrues.
- If you have used it several times recently, tell us before your renewal. Frequency is visible to your carrier whether or not it is visible to you, and it is better to know where you stand ahead of the renewal than after it.
Ask Cribby about your coverage
Whether you carry it, and how your company treats service calls, are both answerable now rather than at the roadside:
Frequently Asked Questions
How does roadside assistance work on an auto policy?
It is optional coverage, often shown on the declarations page as towing and labor rather than as roadside assistance. When you use it, you call the number on the policy, the insurer dispatches a contracted provider, and the insurer pays the provider directly up to whatever the coverage allows. Anything beyond the allowance, such as a tow past the covered distance, comes back to you.
Does using roadside assistance count as a claim?
Yes, and this is the part people are not told. A roadside or towing call is generally not a chargeable claim, meaning it does not surcharge your premium the way an at-fault accident does. It is still a claim, it goes in the claim record, and it counts toward claim frequency. Frequency is something carriers weigh at renewal and when deciding whether to write a new policy, so a run of small calls can matter even though none of them raised your rate.
Does battery service count as a roadside call?
If the insurer paid a provider to come out, yes. A jump start, a lockout, fuel delivery, a tire change and a tow are all service calls under the coverage, and each one that the insurer pays for is recorded. The size of the payment is not what determines whether it counts. This is why a household that uses the coverage casually for small things can accumulate a frequency pattern without realizing it.
Does Arkansas law protect me if a claim did not cost the insurer anything?
There is a provision along those lines, and it does not reach roadside calls. Ark. Code section 23-63-110 bars an insurer from canceling or increasing premium solely because of claims that do not result in a loss to the insurer. A roadside call the insurer paid for is a loss to the insurer, so it falls outside that protection. This is general information rather than legal advice.
What is the difference between a consent tow and a non-consent tow in Arkansas?
A consent tow is done with the permission of the owner or the person in charge of the vehicle, which is what happens when you call for one. A non-consent tow covers an unattended or abandoned vehicle, or a disabled or inoperative vehicle where owner preference is waived, which is often what happens after a crash. The distinction matters because the Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board’s rate posting, itemized billing and overcharging complaint procedures attach to non-consent towing.
Can I dispute a towing bill in Arkansas?
There is a route for it. The Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board is created under Ark. Code section 27-50-1203 and is directed to establish a procedure to accept and investigate complaints from consumers who claim they were overcharged for non-consent towing, recovery or storage. Board rules also require licensees to keep a current maximum rate schedule on file with the Board and posted where the public can see it, and to provide itemized billing showing how charges were calculated. Asking for the rate schedule and the itemization is the sensible first step.
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Send us the declarations page. We will tell you whether towing and labor is on it, how far it will tow you, and whether the service calls already on your record are shaping how your renewal is going to look. That last one is the conversation worth having before the renewal rather than after it.
Disclaimer: This article is general information and is not insurance, legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for the terms of your own agreements or policies. References to Ark. Code § 23-63-110 and § 27-50-1203, and to the rules of the Arkansas Towing and Recovery Board, are provided as general information about publicly available law and regulation and are not legal advice or an opinion about any particular situation; the Board is the authority on its own current rules and those rules change. Whether any particular claim is treated as chargeable, how claims are recorded, and how claim frequency is weighed at renewal or in new business underwriting are determined by each insurance company under its own filings and underwriting rules and vary between companies. Nothing here is a recommendation to use or to refrain from using coverage you have purchased. Service lists, distance allowances and per-call limits vary by company and by plan. Coverage is set by the insurance company and is subject to the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued to you, which controls in every case. Cribb Insurance Group Inc is an independent insurance agency licensed in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Texas. Reviewed 2026-08-16; insurance law, regulations and carrier filings change, and this article may not describe the current position after that date. Cribb Insurance Group Inc, 1601 SW Regional Airport Blvd, Bentonville, AR 72713 · (479) 286-1066 · service@cribbinsurance.com.