24/7 towing and roadside help

Towing and Roadside Help in Ontario

Broken down in Ontario? 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 Ontario. 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 Ontario

Roadside guides for Ontario

South and north

The 401 Corridor and the Long Roads North

About 94% of Ontarians live in the south, where the 400-series highways form the main road network. Highway 401 runs 828 km from the Gordie Howe International Bridge at Windsor to the Quebec border, and its Toronto stretch is the busiest highway in North America. Northern Ontario is the opposite: about 87% of the province's land, thinly settled, heavily forested and cold in winter. Highways 11 and 17, both parts of the Trans-Canada Highway, run across it.

Snow ties the two halves together. Much of southern Ontario sits in the lee of the Great Lakes, and some of it gets heavy lake-effect snow. Along the eastern shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron, squalls can push a winter's total past 3 m in places. The province warns that winter can start early in the north, and vehicles registered in Northern Ontario may run studded tires.

Deep cold is hard on batteries, and that's when a jump start helps. A slide into a snowbank calls for a winch-out, and anything that can't be driven gets a tow to a nearby shop. Check Ontario 511 for road conditions before a long drive.

Greater Toronto and Hamilton

Ontario's 15 Restricted Tow Zones

On busy provincial highways around Toronto and Hamilton, only tow companies under contract with the Ministry of Transportation may remove a vehicle. No other company can work there, and that includes ours. The zones cover:

Highway 401 from Highway 6 South all the way east to Highway 412
Highway 400 from the 401 north to Highway 9
Highway 404 from the 401 to Major Mackenzie Drive
Highway 427 from the QEW to Major Mackenzie Drive, plus Highway 409
Highway 410 from the 401 to Hurontario Street, and Highway 403 from the QEW to the 401
The QEW from Highway 427 to Fifty Road, including the 403 to Highway 6 North

Stuck in a zone? Call 911 in an emergency or if you're stranded in a live lane. If you're safe on the shoulder, call 511 and pick the Tow Zone Program option. Don't try to fix the car or change a flat there. Once your car is outside the zone, you choose the next tow company and where the car goes, unless police direct otherwise. Everywhere else in Ontario, the province says to call a towing company directly, not 511. The tow zone program page has the details, and the 511 map shows each zone.

Towing and Storage Safety and Enforcement Act

Your Rights When You Get a Tow in Ontario

Unless police or another authorized official ordered the tow, the operator needs your consent. The province's towing rights page spells out the rest:

You choose the tow company, except in a restricted zone, and where the car goes.
Before the car moves, you get their maximum rates and a list of your rights.
You see an itemized invoice before you're asked to pay, and you can pay by credit, debit or cash.
No charge above the posted maximum, and no fuel surcharge.
The driver must show a tow driver certificate if you ask.

With us, the price is locked by text before the partner heads out, on top of those rights.

Slow down, move over

Under Highway Traffic Act s. 159, drivers passing a stopped tow truck with flashing amber lights must slow down and use caution. On a highway with two or more lanes their way, they must also move over a lane when it's safe.

Tows stay in Canada

Our tows never cross the border. Break down near the Ambassador Bridge, the Blue Water Bridge or the Peace Bridge, and a partner takes your car to a shop on the Ontario side.

Ontario Questions

I'm on the 401 near Toronto. Can you send a truck?

Not while you're inside a restricted tow zone. Call 511 if you're safe on the shoulder, or 911 if it's an emergency. Once the zone tow has you off that stretch, call us for the next leg.

Can you tow my car from Sudbury to Toronto?

No. We handle local tows only, so your car goes to a shop near the place it stopped. That matters in the north, where towns can be far apart, so ask us on the call about shops close by.

Roadside help in Ontario

Towing and Roadside Services Across Ontario

Sentinel is a 24-hour towing and roadside assistance network across Ontario. 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.