Jump start service in Detroit, MI.

A roadside jump start in Detroit runs about $50 to $90. That covers the drive to you, the boost, and a quick test of the battery and the alternator so you know whether the problem will come back. If the battery fails the test, a replacement can be fitted on the same visit.

The range is mostly about where you are and when. A car in a Dearborn driveway at noon is the bottom; a car on the I-75 shoulder at 3 a.m. in January is the top. The truck uses a lithium booster pack rather than cables from a running vehicle, which is safer for the electronics in a newer car and strong enough for a diesel pickup. After the car starts, the driver puts a tester on the battery and reads the charging voltage. A battery that cranks the car but fails the load test will strand you again, often the next cold morning, so you get that information while the truck is still there and the decision is yours.

Cold cuts a battery's cranking power roughly in half at zero degrees, while thick oil makes the engine harder to turn, and short trips never fully recharge it. A three-year-old battery that was fine in October fails on the first week of single-digit mornings.

Lead-acid batteries lose capacity as the temperature drops, and a Michigan January asks more of them than a Michigan July. Add short drives across town, heated seats, the defroster and a phone charger, and the alternator never gets the battery back to full. The result is a slow decline you do not notice until the morning it will not crank. Batteries in Detroit tend to last three to five years, less in a vehicle that sits outside. If yours is past four winters, a jump is a warning, not a fix. The driver's tester reads the state of health in a minute, and the honest answer is sometimes that a new battery is cheaper than a second call next week.

If the car dies as soon as the booster comes off, the alternator is not charging and a second jump will not help; the car needs a shop. If it runs but dies after a short drive, the battery is not holding a charge and should be replaced.

A healthy car runs on the alternator once it is started; the battery only starts it. So a car that stalls the moment the pack is disconnected has a charging problem, and no amount of jumping fixes that. The driver can read the alternator output on the spot, and if it is low, he tells you, and you can decide between driving straight to a shop on the battery's remaining charge or arranging a tow. A car that starts, idles fine and then will not restart after a stop at the gas station has a battery that cannot hold what the alternator gives it. That one is a replacement, which the truck can usually do on the same visit.

Yes. Hybrids have a 12-volt battery that starts the electronics and can be boosted; diesels take a stronger pack, which the truck carries; push-button cars are jumped at the engine bay terminals like any other. Tell dispatch what you drive.

A Prius or a hybrid Escape does not crank an engine, but it still needs its small 12-volt battery to wake the computer that engages the high-voltage pack. When that 12-volt is dead the car is as stranded as any other, and a boost at the under-hood jump point brings it back. Diesel pickups need more current to turn over in the cold, and a weak booster will just click; the truck's pack is rated for them. Cars with the battery in the trunk, under the rear seat or in the wheel well all have a jump post under the hood for exactly this reason, and the driver knows where to find it. Fully electric cars have a 12-volt too, and it can be boosted, though a dead traction pack cannot.

Usually. A battery replacement at the roadside runs about $60 to $120 for the labor plus the battery, and the old one is taken for recycling. The truck carries common group sizes; for an unusual size, dispatch tells you before sending a truck.

Most cars and light trucks on Detroit roads take one of a handful of battery sizes, and the truck stocks those. The driver tests first, so you only buy a battery if yours actually failed. The swap takes a few minutes on a car with the battery under the hood, and longer on one where it lives in the trunk or under a seat. On newer vehicles the new battery may need to be registered to the car's computer, which the driver can do on most makes, and he tells you if yours is one he cannot. See the battery replacement page for what the truck carries and what it does not. The core is taken with the driver, so there is no trip to the parts store. If the car has been sitting for more than a couple of weeks, say so on the call. A battery that drained from sitting may recover after a long drive, while one that died overnight in use usually has a cell gone, and the driver's advice changes with that detail.