Breaking down on the road can be frightening, especially if you’re on a long stretch of a highway that’s busy or where there are very little signs of life at all. So if you find yourself broken down, here’s what to do.
Pull Off The Road To Somewhere Safe
The first thing that will help make you safer is to pull off the road to somewhere safer. This might be a side street off a highway or upon the verge or mound of grass. The main objective is to get your vehicle as far away from the main road and other cars as possible. With so many vehicles trying at high speed, you don’t want to risk you or your own vehicle getting smashed up by someone going too fast.
Assess Your Vehicle
The reason for why your vehicle might have broken down or was in the process of breaking down could be unclear at first. When you’ve stepped out of your vehicle, assess it from the outside. It could be some sort of failure that you can see for
yourself, or there may be something on your dashboard that’s highlighting the issue. You will know your car best, so be wary of anything out of the ordinary and make a note of this for when the engineer comes out, or the recovery truck comes to collect your vehicle.
Move Yourself Away From The Car
Safety is important, and therefore you should be far away from the car itself when you’re on a main road. When you’re making the relevant calls, ensure that you are somewhere that is safe and away from other cars. Don’t stay in your car as this could be dangerous to you and the passengers in your vehicle. Your main concern at this point is to keep you and your passengers safe.
Ring A Breakdown Service
If you’ve got access to a phone, then the next thing that needs doing is to ring a breakdown service. This is important that you do this asap, especially if you’re phone battery is low. There is normally free phones along main highways anyway so if you run into any trouble with your own mobile device, you can utilise the free phones that are nearby. If that’s not possible, it might be worth leaving your car to go to a nearby service station if it’s within easy walking distance. If not, it might be a case of flagging someone down to help out.
Contact Your Insurers
Once the engineer has come out to your vehicle or a recovery truck has collected it. You’ll need to contact your insurers to double-check that your recovery truck insurance is valid. Your insurance should be able to cover any damages or call out fees and it’s important that you do this as soon as you are able to, whether that’s on the phone there and then or as soon as you’re back home.
The main thing is not to panic if your vehicle breaks down, follow the steps and you’ll be off the road and back to normal in no time.
