24/7 towing and roadside help

Towing and Roadside Help in Illinois

Broken down in Illinois? Call 1-888-TOW-1213. We lock your price by text, send the nearest available partner tow company and stay with you until help arrives.

If anyone is hurt or you're stopped in a live lane, call 911 first.

Call 1-888-TOW-1213 Find help near you

How it works in Illinois. Sentinel Towing is a network, not a tow company. A vetted local partner near you does the job. We stay with you by text and hold them to your locked price.

Towing by City in Illinois

Roadside guides for Illinois

Nearly 400 miles, north to south

More Interstates Than Any Other State

Illinois stretches nearly 400 miles from its northern line to its southern tip, and 13 primary Interstates pass through it, more than any other state. I-55 runs 294 miles from the East St. Louis area to Chicago, by way of Springfield, Bloomington and Joliet. I-57 heads south out of Chicago toward Missouri, following the old Illinois Central rail line for much of the way. I-80, I-88 and I-90 cross the north, where the Illinois Tollway runs its toll roads.

The weather changes as you go south. Most of Illinois has hot, humid summers and cold winters. From about Carbondale south, winters turn milder. Normal snowfall tops 38 inches in the Chicago area but stays under 14 inches in the far south, and thunderstorms roll through about 51 days a year statewide.

So the trouble changes too. Up north, one frozen night can leave your car needing a jump start. On a long rural stretch downstate, a flat tire or a car that has to be towed can leave you well short of the next exit.

Common questions

Before You Call From an Illinois Highway

Do you only cover the Chicago area?

No. We work through local partners statewide. What decides it is whether a partner is near the spot where you stopped. If none can reach you yet, we'll say so on the call and not leave you guessing.

I'm between towns on I-57 and can't tell where I am.

Look for the nearest mile marker or the last exit number, and note which way you were heading. That's all we need to place you and find a partner.

Scott's Law covers the tow truck too

Illinois' Scott's Law, 625 ILCS 5/11-907(c), tells drivers to slow down for a stopped emergency vehicle showing flashing lights, and to change lanes away from it on a highway with four or more lanes when it's safe. In that section, the term takes in any vehicle allowed to carry those lights while on duty, and state law lets tow trucks carry amber flashers at a crash or breakdown.

For closures and conditions, use IDOT's Getting Around Illinois map.

Roadside help in Illinois

Towing and Roadside Services Across Illinois

Sentinel is a 24-hour towing and roadside assistance network across Illinois. Tell us where you are, and we send a vetted local towing company near you with a truck suited to the job: a tow truck for a car that can't be driven (a flatbed where the vehicle needs one), or a service truck for a jump start, lockout, flat tire, fuel delivery or winch-out.