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…

@Ciochan that sounds miserable, and also truly terrible service. I was grateful I didn’t have the children with me, and that it wasn’t raining… silver linings! Glad you got home safely eventually.

And yes, things can happen and I'm aware of breakdowns that have taken a very long time. But fobbing you off that it's all fine isn't ok.

Just ordered some jump leads, hammer/ seat belt cutter and off to make an emergency bag

Also worth saving your breakdown company emergency number in your phone contacts in case you can't get mobile signal to look it up online. Especially if you use one of the smaller companies as they don't always have same web presence anyway.

Don't put the seatbelt cutter in the emergency bag!

Thanks for this thread btw OP. I'm getting a vague sense that I'm uber prepared but don't really know how to use any of the stuff 🤣 so the thread is helpful!

@HowNice23 thats an excellent suggestion, I hadn’t done that.

is it bad that I have retrospective regret at not using the emergency phone? I opened it to get my location but then just used my mobile. Could’ve ticked it off my ‘things I’ve done in life’ list.

Great post for reminding us all, thank you for sharing.
Me and my DH hit debris on the M6 a few Decembers ago, my car, the car in front and the car behind. All managed to get ourselves over to the hard shoulder. I was with RAC then, and I shared the number with the car in front as they had no cover. Waited 4 hours to be recovered. Watched the car in front get recovered 2 hours before me even though I was a member of RAC and called before the other car 🤷🏻‍♀️
The trusted partner who attended to recover my car advised that he was told to deposit us at services near Preston for another trusted partner to eventually pick us up and take us the rest of the way home to Liverpool, due to boundary lines. Fortunately as it was his last job of the day he took us all the way home which we were very grateful for, but yeah could have left us and could have waited however many more hours!
I need to check on my car breakdown bag, update a few items. I do have a shewee now due to the last break down 😳

@Sheisready sorry missed this question- the small towel is multi purpose - sit on it, wrap it around you, dry someone off, use as item of clothing for small child. It’s also in there as the breakdown bag is the generic survive going out with children bag. That, and I read hitchhikers guide to the galaxy a lot as a child and a towel seemed to be key.

Yes they do slowly lose charge but depending on the quality that could be a few months. As they shouldn't be stored in very high or low temps they shouldn't really be kept in the car. I have 2 in my handbag with me all the time along with 2 short leads. The ones I have give around 3 full charges each.

https://amzn.eu/d/eC5n8Vl

@spinspinsugar55 glad you were ok and lucky Re finishing times! The reason our vehicle still hasn’t made it home (now at nearly 16hrs after breaking down) is that another trusted partner was needed to move it forward. Shall we start a sweepstake on when it might get back to me?

Always know where your towel is!! ❤️

A mere 18hrs after breaking down the vehicle is home!

The tow truck guy (a ‘trusted contractor’, not an employee of unnamed but now cursed recovery service) was utterly lovely and I felt so bad I had no cash to tip him (best I could manage was a pack of chocolate bars) so if you’re reading this thread, please send good vibes to the tow truck man who made me smile at the end of this long saga*

*obvs not the end as still have to work out what is wrong with vehicle, but it’s dh’s so will delegate.

Thank you to all those who offered encouraging words, I did really appreciate it when in the cold and dark, and I genuinely hope that at some point someone might have a ‘better’ breakdown after reading this thread and having useful stuff with them.

Two things I do have and would recommend: a tyre pump that works off the cigarette lighter (or whatever that port is called in newer cars) and a little jump start gizmo that means you don’t need jump leads or another car (two caveats, it only works if the battery is flat versus completely dead, and you do need to remember to recharge it occasionally, even if you haven’t used it).

Glad the car is home, I did actually discover Gin in my car this morning, it is a present for someone but it may still be a useful addition. 🍸🚗

I’m with the AA but I have mixed experiences.

They came out to me a couple of years ago under the banner of Landrover Assist. Basically LA use the AA but in LR branded vans. When I explained that my engine light was on yet again and I had a rattle and I had been told it was the timing chain, the man literally laughed at me on my own driveway. He said of course it wouldn’t be, it would just be the sensor.

Reader, it was not the sensor. It was the timing chain. I could have booked it in sooner for replacement if I hadn’t listened to him.

A few weeks ago my car stopped in the lane outside my house and wouldn’t go again. The automatic gear selector had seized and I couldn’t move the car. The AA were with me in less than an hour, even though I was home and safe, the car was just parked in the lane outside my house. He had it fixed in no time.

So I’m a bit on the fence.

Glad to read you were OK in the end. Given how unprepared some people are with their car, the moment weather changes the number of calls seems to rise exponentially. Even if the large number of people who should not have a licence lost theirs, the issue would still be there. Breakdown companies are private businesses and were they to always have capacity for the worst days, I'd guess the cost of breakdown cover would be several times more than it is now.

Being prepared as you suggest is sensible.

I hope everyone reading this will ignore it. Advice that can cause a death.

Just putting in a shout for Gem Motor Assist - similar to AA and RAC. Think have called them out once and they came quickly. Tbf my other two experiences with AA and/or RAC (can't remember which as I kept switching! ) were ok too. Once on side of motorway one morning on my own. Once in a car park near my family.

Exposure can kill you. If you prefer to lose your fingers or your life, you do that. But you should not be advising people to stay outside their vehicle in perishing conditions when you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

I'm surprised that so many people stick with the AA and RAC. There are better and much cheaper companies out there.

But the statistic is that the average time taken for a car on the hard shoulder to get hit is 11 minutes. It will take much longer than that to die of exposure, for a healthy adult in typical British weather.

Do you not believe the 11 minutes thing? Why is it so widely quoted then?

https://nationalhighways.co.uk/road-safety/breakdowns/
Here is the guidance about what to do if you break down on the motorway. Definitely exit the vehicle. Much safer than the likelihood of possible frostbite. Especially if you take the advice to be prepared before making a journey so you have appropriate clothes etc. Note also it recommends having your emergency kit accessible in the car as going to open boot is dangerous on a motorway.
I work in this sector and we are definitely told to clear the vehicle by the passenger doors.
The 11 minute statistic was definitely calculated a few years back. The poster who said if this is true OPs car should have been hit by now clearly doesn't understand how an average statistic is calculated.

@ExtinguishTheLight

Exposure can kill you. If you prefer to lose your fingers or your life, you do that.

I can't work out what you mean here?

Anyway, if you actually work in breakdown please provide the written policy information thats tells people to sit in their cars on the hard shoulder, so we can know who to avoid.

I've worked previously with two of the major breakdown companies and another for international lorry breakdowns. I don't think it's appropriate for you to be asking me which ones.

And I certainly will not be sharing their written policies with you.

If you don't like the information, I'm afraid I really can't help you there. I certainly wasn't the CEO.

And I'm WELL aware that people die on the hard shoulder. I know some of them. The mechanics put themselves at huge risks to do diags roadside. Outside of the vehicle.

Being underdressed in very cold weather outside is extremely dangerous. You have to mitigate risk, which is why I have asked questions to determine the risk factor. But ultimately, if the OP was genuinely going into hypothermia, which can be difficult for the person it's happening to to be aware of, they will need to sit in the car with the seatbelt on.

Again, if anyone here wants to stand outside for several hours in, say, a blizzard in a t-shirt and flip flops, that's up to them. But it's not a very clever idea.