What to Do if Your Car Breaks Down
Be prepared- like the saying: “stay ready and you never have to get ready”. This article is for that. We’re discussing a list of considerations for someone dealing with a car breakdown situation. No matter the reason for the car breakdown, it’s never fun and it will pose a challenge. With these tips, the goal is to make the situation more manageable.
Stay put and do not drive the car:
Moving your broken-down car out of harm’s way is reasonable but, attempting to push the car to get you to point B, not a good idea. If the car has broken down, it means something is broken, and pushing it to go on can cause much more harm.
Activate the emergency brake:
You want to make sure that your car doesn’t roll into traffic while broken down.
Turn your wheels away from the road:
this will help ensure that your car doesn’t slide down a slope/hill.
Warn others that you are experiencing an issue:
Emergency blinkers/ hazard lights should be turned on immediately when the breakdown occurs. If those don’t work, try flares and/or emergency cones. Something else if none of these is an option, place something white, like a cloth or t-shirt, in the driver’s door window as a sign of trouble.
Do you know what’s wrong?:
Sometimes an issue is known or known to become. Other times, car breakdowns happen out of nowhere. If it’s safe, check to see if you can tell what’s wrong- like the lights on the dashboard or an obvious flat tire.
Call for help:
Check the law where you are because some places require that officials (police/highway patrol) be called when a car breakdown happens. In some cases, they can help with things like flat tires and gas. Most times, roadside assistance is the first call but, check your insurance coverage because if you have that coverage on your insurance policy, the insurance company can usually dispatch help that meets the company’s requirements.
All help isn’t good help:
There are still good people in the world but sometimes, help can create unintentional trouble. Someone helping with a tire is generally ok. Someone coming to help push the vehicle out of harm’s way is good too. But someone trying to help with mechanical issues probably shouldn’t. This could cause more damage if they aren’t professional in auto repair.
In the end, we never think that things can happen to us but, life has a funny way of making us experience things. It’s important to be prepared for the unexpected when on the road. Most important- don’t drive a broken-down car. You don’t want to cause harm or threats to others on the road.
