Patent ID: 8805603

Claim:
A computer-assisted method comprising: determining that a user's membership level does not include a roadside assistance service; generating as deactivated an icon at a mobile apparatus of the user; receiving, at the mobile apparatus, an activation of the roadside assistance service, wherein the receiving includes accessing pre-registration information associated with the user; displaying the icon as activated at the mobile apparatus of the user to indicate that the user's membership level includes roadside assistance service; transmitting, by a wireless component in the mobile apparatus at a location of an occurrence of a roadside event to a vehicle, relevant information to a remote server, the relevant information comprising a selected service, user identification information, and vehicle location information; receiving, at the apparatus, information about a selected service provider to remedy the roadside event to the vehicle, where the selected service provider was selected by a remote server using an acceptance message comprising at least one of a price quote and an estimated time of arrival by the selected service provider at the vehicle, and where the information about a selected service provider includes a name of the selected service provider and the estimated time of arrival by the selected service provider at the vehicle; and receiving, at the apparatus, updates from the remote server about the estimated time of arrival by the selected service provider at the vehicle.