To remind people to have a breakdown bag in their car?

[JustWantCoffee]

This is a seriously un-smug post, as I do have a breakdown bag in my car, but today I have broken down in a vehicle that is not my car, and I do not have my breakdown bag.

I have therefore been shivering by the side of a motorway for nearly 2hrs getting colder and colder wishing I had my breakdown bag.

so if you don’t have one, I would thoroughly recommend making one. Mine has a hat, gloves, warm jumper, waterproof mac, small towel, water, biscuits, torch and a phone battery in it.

Never have I wanted that old hat and pair of gloves so much, and am trying to work out at what point the risk of hypothermia overtakes the risk of sitting in the vehicle…

My two experiences with the RAC in the past three years have been awful. First one as sole female with children in the car, luckily a summer night, and we limped into a service station - car had lost all power, lights off etc. so it was scary but we were not "in a bad place", toilets etc.. and we could stay in the car safely enough. Car got repatriated we went on by Taxi to destination (family funeral), but 12 hours in total as we were not priority. (fair enough) Latest (diff vehicle) I was alone, 7 hours wait, they do not want to sort the problem at the roadside, they just send a contractor to put it on a flatbed and take it home. Thank you for posting this though, it has reminded me to get our stuff sorted (and for my sons and daughters) with an emergency bag. Don't let your phone die is the other comment that I have found really helpful. Hope you are safe and warm now OP xx

I broken down on the motorway a couple of weeks ago. I had emptied my car of everything the day before as we were swapping it the next day.

Broke down, called the RAC. I was a lone female. There were brambles all on the verge next to the hard shoulder. I was top priority for the RAC, but it took them 3 hours to get to me. In the meantime I counted 5 AA vans going past, so I will never be with the RAC again. I called the Highways Agency who came and gave me a foil blanket. Then scared me about dodgy people on the motorway and to get in my car and lock the doors if I was left of my own.

I have put together a breakdown bag since my experience. We usually had one just for winter, but now this is a permanent bag.

In addition to lots of suggestions above, I have also put on a bag of cat litter, as my North American husband always has some for getting the car out when stuck in mud, snow or ice. The cat litter helps with traction.

Also bought one of those tools that is a torch, seatbelt cutter and window smasher.

Reminder to anyone on medication or with family on meds. Keep a 24 hour supply of meds in the car too.

I think the idea of an emergency bag in the boot is brilliant, but can I suggest you put a high viz jacket or tabard ( they fold up small) for yourself in the glove compartment. That way it is what you put on before you get out of the car

For those of you thinking about getting an additional battery pack, you might want to look at a combined USB handwarmer / power pack like one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rechargeable-10000mAh-Warmers-Electronic-Portable/dp/B09CGQDNJJ/ I've got a slightly lower power one, and it comes in really useful in the winter. It's also got a small LED torch, which isn't massively strong but should at least help you see where you're putting your feet. The one thing you do need to be careful of is not leaving it at the bottom of the bag, as it can get accidentally switched on if there's a lot of stuff on top of it.

Some really good advice and you've reminded me to update my kit, it's not all in one bag and that's a good idea. After a bad experience in heavy snow when it took me hours to get home I used to keep mini chocolate bars in the glove box but I just ended up eating them all 😝 so now I don't carry any food. Nuts would be good but need swapping regularly as they'll go rancid.

In winter I carry an old coffee jar with some road salt in (wrap it in a carrier bag as it's really corrosive) - a surprisingly small amount can get you out of trouble if your drive wheels are spinning on ice. I've only used it once after I drove down a cul de sac that had packed snow but I have sometimes had to make home visits to people on uncleared roads.

Very good thinking about having a breakdown bag of supplies. Our old car was terrible for breaking down.

Thankfully have a newer(ish) second hand car now but after a few miserable occasions of 5+ hours waiting to be recovered I definitely started keeping a breakdown bag. I need to check ours is still stocked as husband is in the habit of not nicking the battery pack and not replacing it. 🙄

For those wanting a handy list for their own breakdown bag.

Essential Stuff -
Emergency foil blankets
Fluorescent vests
Heat activated hand warmers
Shovel
Hazard triangle
Battery pack
Tyre inflator
Emergency hammer seat belt cutter
Torch
List of emergency numbers - mobiles, breakdown details with policy number.

Good to have
Spare clothes
Warm jumper/fleece
Waterproof trousers
Waterproof jacket
Thermal socks
Thermal hats /gloves
Crampon grips for shoes
Blankets
Sleeping bag
Ground sheet/tarp
Toddler reins
Medicines - paracetamol (child and adult)
First aid kit

Comfort Items in case
Water /canned coffee
Crackers
Ration pack meals / protein bars
Portable wee device
Wet wipes
Tissues/loo roll
Cat litter
Spare rubber car mats

This fine if you have a diesel or petrol car but if you have an EV and you are stuck on Shap in five foot of snow - kiss your arse goodbye.

I have a breakdown bag - and have dipped into it a couple of times.

Not for breakdowns but last time was a late night dash to take someone to the hospital and then a 4 hour sit in the car park because I couldn't go in (covid) and wasn't sure if they were being admitted or not. Having a fleece, blankets, water, an old book and a granola bar made it bearable.

Update: 14 hrs after calling the breakdown service still hasn’t got the vehicle home. They managed to get it off the motorway in 3hrs, but then no onward tow avaliable. Eventually at gone 2am (so 8+hrs after initial call) they called DH and told him
no one could come with no timescale, so offered a taxi back and then a plan to try and sort vehicle today.

Seriously grateful he took over from me as I would’ve felt so uncomfortable if left where he was, and still can’t get over breaking down takes so long to sort…

I need to set something like this up as I have nothing in my car!

Glad to hear your DH rescued you OP.

That's shocking @JustWantCoffee
I would be very cross in your position.

What a nightmare. Hope it gets sorted today.

Omg I can’t believe they would leave someone there until 2am!

That's awful.

A side tip for anyone in this position though, you can bypass your breakdown company or not even have cover and arrange your own recovery. I once called the AA to be told I would have to wait 6 hours so I contacted the local 24hr recovery company who had someone with me within the hour. It only cost me £60 (albeit around 8 years ago) but it was actually worth every penny at the time.

I would add to the original post as well. Have a hammer in the glove box or somewhere accessible. If your car is ever trapped underwater, your windows may not open and you could be trapped. There are specific hammers for this available cheaply on Amazon (I got 2 for £16) and mine are also seatbelt cutters.

I recently saw a married couple in the newspaper who drowned in just this situation and it made my blood run cold, it must have been like being in a tomb as the water rose around them 😢

All very well calling your DH, but he would not be allowed to stop on a motorway, would he?

I imagine you'll be getting a very decent amount of compensation for that. Twelve hours is definitely out of SLA.

It is normal to send a subcontractor if they can't source a van. But it sounds like they've let them on this occasion and caused a knock on effect for you.

What a dreadful experience for you 🌺🌺

We broke down in the summer at midnight on the M74 in the middle of nowhere. We did at least have coats for the kids and put 3yo in the pram and baby in the car seat behind the barrier. We used the roadside phone who sent a police car to collect me and the kids and take us to a service station. It took DH nearly an hour to even get through to the AA on the phone, it also kept sending us links that were supposed to use the phone GPS to send them our location but none of it worked, app was useless too.

An hour after he got through, they sent a "recovery partner" who had obviously been woken up to come and get us and wasn't happy that the policeman had take me and the kids to the decent services with 24h McDonald's and (thank goodness) a hotel, rather than the petrol station which was closer in the other direction that he was technically supposed to take the car to. DH joined us at 2.30am and by 3.30 they let us know that they wouldn't get anyone to take us home (1.5h journey) until the morning so "was there a hotel at the services?"

Eventually the recovery truck recovered the car and us at 12pm the next day, we eventually got home around 2pm. Cracked piston, engine humped. We got the money back for hotel and food, and overall it could have been a lot worse, but I couldn't believe that the AA took an hour to answer the phone on the "call this number if you're in actual danger" line.

@octodrive this is a really good point, and my experience has made me question the point of having breakdown cover

For a portable wee device, I recommend this one:

Shrinkable Urinal 750 ML Reusable Emergency Urinal, Portable Mobile Toilet, Potty Pee Bottle for Kids, Adult, Ladies, Traffic Jam, Camping, Travel, Queuing Blue https://amzn.eu/d/8Vi1W0h

And for electronic hand warmers, these are good and have a charging facility for USB devices:

OCOOPA Quick Charge Hand Warmers, Power Delivery 10000 mAh USB C Electric Hand Warmer Rechargeable Power Bank, 15hrs Long Lasting, 3 Heat Levels, Perfect for Outdoors, Great Gift Women Men https://amzn.eu/d/83dIGkO

I would add the advice that if you are likely to attempt to change a wheel yourself, (if you have a spare) for god's sake get a decent jack and spanner from Screwfix and do not rely on anything bundled in as standard from the car manufacturer. They're frequently very soft folded metal and will bend and crumple. Twice this has happened in my presence in two different scenarios although I just use breakdown myself!

And be warned if you have a new car that is exempt from MOT keep an eye on the due date as it's easy to forget when every thing is shiny and new but then the breakdown company may refuse to send someone out if the car hasn't got one. Obv applies to older cars too.

People who have power packs for phones, do they still work if e.g. fully charged and then left in a car for months, or will they slowly lose charge?

@ExtinguishTheLight what is SLA? I think they were having a busy night, but the lack of care was astounding… when I pointed out how unsafe I felt in the dark close to the motorway with no crash barriers to stand behind the man told me I was ‘Perfectly safe’ as long as I wasn’t in my vehicle. I can only assume he and I have very different definitions of perfectly safe.

It's their service level agreement. I don't know which company it was or what their specific SLA is but I'd have guessed it was approximately two hours (depending on the priority).

You're definitely not alright standing outside a vehicle all night on the hard shoulder! That agent sounds like a wally. Breaking down is one of the most stressful things that can happen to someone so he really should have been more empathetic and kind to you.