Tire gaugeTHROUGHOUT YOUR LIFETIME OF OWNING A CAR, AT SOME POINT you will run into car trouble. Here is a checklist of things every girl should keep in her car in the event that she breaks down or gets into an accident.
Tire gauge
Flashlight
Flares
Jumper cables
Jack
Wheel brace
Cell phone charger that plugs into lighter or charger plug
Bottle of water—for engine overheating
If your car breaks down and you feel it isn’t a problem you can fix yourself, you need to pull over as soon as it is possible to do so.
Try to park your car in the safest place possible.
If you are on a freeway, pull it as far onto the hard shoulder as possible.
Put on your hazard lights.
Call your roadside-assistance company.
If you are worried that your car could be hit by oncoming traffic, when it is safe to do so, get out of the car, along with any passengers, and wait in a safe place.
If you are able to wait in the car, lock all the doors and roll up the windows.
If a stranger tries to talk to you, inform them that you have called for roadside assistance and that you are okay.
If you break down and you don’t have any breakdown coverage, the cheapest option is to call a friend with a tow bar and a tow line, which you can purchase from most gas stations, and ask them to tow you to a nearby garage, ideally your local one. If it is after hours, park your car somewhere safe near the garage and ask your friend for a lift home. Then buy them a lovely gift for being so kind.
If you don’t have a friend with a tow bar, then you will have to call information and get the number of the roadside-assistance company that is closest to where you have broken down. Be warned, though—these companies can be very expensive. If you don’t have the money straight away to pay them, they will take your car to an impound lot and charge you a fee for every day you leave it there. Then you will need to get them to take the car from the lot to a garage, which will cost an additional fee.
So, you’re driving along, and your car begins to feel a bit bumpy, and the steering starts to pull to one side—chances are, you have a flat tire. Decide on a suitable expletive, swear loudly, and pull to the side of the road as soon as it’s safe!
Changing a flat tire seems to be the thing about cars that girls are scared of the most, but it’s really quite simple. You should have a jack in your car that does all the heavy lifting for you. The only heavy lifting you have to do is lifting the tire itself. Believe it or not, it should take you less than fifteen minutes—which is quicker than waiting for someone to come and save you!
A safety triangle
A jack
A wheel brace
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WARNING—YOUR HANDS ARE GOING TO |
Safety always comes first, so make sure your hand brake is on. If you have a safety triangle, place it behind the car to notify other drivers.
If your car has a chock—a piece of metal that you can place under the front wheel to stop your car from rolling—use it.
Prepare yourself. Set out your owner’s manual, spare tire, jack, and wheel brace within the vicinity of the flat tire. If you have a wheel cover, you must lever this away from the tire first.
Loosen the bolts on the tire by turning them about half a revolution in a counterclockwise direction with the wheel brace. Don’t be afraid to use your legs if the bolts are very stiff! But don’t remove the bolts fully yet.
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USUALLY, YOU NEED TO TURN THE NUTS COUNTERCLOCKWISE TO LOOSEN AND CLOCKWISE TO TIGHTEN. A USEFUL RHYME IS “RIGHTY MEANS TIGHTY, LEFTY MEANS LOOSEY”—IT HELPS PEOPLE REMEMBER WHICH WAY TO TURN THE NUTS. |
Next, you need to locate the “jacking point” on the car. This is a reinforced part on the underside of your car that you will place the jack under. This will take the weight of the car when the jack is raising it up, without damaging the undercarriage of your car.
You can look or feel to find the jacking point. Alternatively, consult your owner’s manual, which should tell you where it is located. You need to use the jacking point that is closest to the tire you are changing.
Place the jack on the ground underneath the jacking point.
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IF YOU HAVE ALLOYS, YOU MAY NEED TO REMOVE A SPECIAL BOLT. CONSULT YOUR OWNER’S MANUAL AND FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR REMOVING ALLOYS. |
Turn the jack in a clockwise direction.
Keep turning the jack until the tire you are changing is lifted a few inches off the ground.
Using your fingers, the wheel brace, or the nut key, unscrew the nuts fully.
When all the nuts have been removed, lift the wheel away from the car.
Replace the old tire with the spare. Warning—it can be quite tricky to align the holes in the tires with the studs!
Fasten the nuts in place as tightly as you can with your fingers.
Lower the jack. When the car has been lowered to its normal level, fully tighten the nuts with your foot until the wheel brace cannot turn any more. It is better to tighten the nuts in a star-shaped pattern than in a circle. This means tightening the nut opposite the one you have just tightened.
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NOTE: IF YOU HAVE A SPACE-SAVER TIRE, IT IS MEANT ONLY FOR TEMPORARY USE—ENOUGH TO TAKE YOU TO A GARAGE OR TIRE CENTER. DO NOT TREAT THIS AS A NORMAL TIRE. |
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ALWAYS TAKE CARE WHEN HANDLING BATTERIES, AS THEY CONTAIN TOXIC CHEMICALS AND INCORRECT HANDLING CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURIES. KEEP CHILDREN AND NAKED FLAMES AWAY FROM THE BATTERY. |
If you turn your ignition key and all you hear is a constant clicking or tapping noise, it means you are having problems with your battery.
The first thing to do is check that your battery isn’t covered in dirt. If it is dirty, clean the points on the battery, as doing so might solve the problem.
If you do this and it still doesn’t work, then your battery is dead and you will have to jump-start the car. But not to worry—it’s really quick and easy once you know how.
You will need to find a kind person who has a car with a fully charged battery and a good pair of jumper cables.
Position the working car so it is front to front with the dead car. If it is not possible to line up the cars in this way, line them up so the batteries are close together and the jumper cables can reach from one battery to the other.
Make sure both cars are positioned in park and both engines are turned off.
Make sure the radio and lights on the dead car are switched off.
Your battery may have a cover over it. If it does, remove it.
Attach the red cable of the jumper cables to the positive point on the dead car’s battery. Usually, the positive point is often red in color and has a plus sign on it.
Attach the other end of the red cable to the positive point of the working car.
Attach the black cable of the jumper cables to the negative point on the dead car’s battery. The negative point is usually black and has a minus sign on it.
Attach the other end of the black cable to the negative point of the working car’s battery.
Let the working car start up and rev its engine (in neutral) for about twenty seconds.
After twenty seconds, turn on the ignition of the dead car, and it should start for you.
When the dead car’s engine begins to work, rev its engine (in neutral) and keep it running for a while to recharge the battery.
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BATTERIES HAVE A LIMITED LIFE SPAN—ON AVERAGE, 3.5 YEARS. AFTER 3.5 YEARS, ONCE A BATTERY STARTS TO FAIL, IT VERY RARELY RESPONDS TO RECHARGING AND YOU WILL NEED TO REPLACE IT. |
Now, carefully remove the jumper cables from both engines.
It is best if you drive the formerly dead car around or leave the engine running in neutral for a while so it can recharge itself.
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NOTE: JUST BECAUSE YOUR BATTERY IS DEAD DOESN’T NECESSARILY MEAN IT NEEDS TO BE REPLACED. IT MAY JUST MEAN THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DOING LOTS OF SHORT TRIPS OR HAVE LEFT IT DORMANT AND IT HASN’T HAD A CHANCE TO RECHARGE ITSELF. |
If you’re still having constant battery problems but you are sure that there is nothing wrong with your battery, then you could have an alternator problem. Dim headlights can be a sign of this issue. Seek advice from your mechanic.
If you are driving along and steam starts coming out of your engine and your temperature gauge reads anywhere on the HOT spectrum, pull over as soon as it is possible and safe to do so. Do not wait until you reach a gas station or garage—you could cause a huge amount of damage to your engine.
Put on your hazard lights to notify other drivers you are in trouble.
Open the hood (look under “Hood” in your owner’s manual if you don’t know how to do this).
Do not touch any part of the engine, as it will be extremely hot and could burn you.
Be patient—your engine can take a long while to cool down to a level at which it is safe to touch.
Turn on the heat in the car full blast. This takes heat away from the engine.
You will need to add coolant, but you can use water in an emergency situation. Either of these will need to be lukewarm, as putting cold water in a hot engine can cause it to crack. You may need to find the coolant or water while you are waiting for the engine to cool down.
If you hover your hand above the radiator, you should be able to tell when it is cool enough to touch. Even then, you might want to cover your hand with a rag or material while you are opening it. It is likely that steam will gush out of the radiator, and you do not want to get scalded.
At arm’s length, slowly add the lukewarm coolant or water to the radiator cap (see owner’s manual for location if you are unsure).
Drive the car only if the temperature gauge returns to normal.
You need to take your car to a mechanic ASAP, so do not plan to drive long distances.
If your car begins to overheat again, pull over and call your local recovery company. Your car is likely to have serious problems, and driving it any further can cause terminal damage.
If you lose your keys and your car was made before the year 2000, you might be in luck. If you can find out the vehicle identification number of your car (consult your owner’s manual to find it), then call a locksmith or your local dealer, and they should be able to cut a new key for you.
However, if your car was made after the year 2000, it is more than likely that losing your key is going to turn into an expensive and troublesome experience. Most car keys made after 2000 have a special microchip, called a transponder, in the body of the key.
When you put your key in the ignition, there is a device that reads the microchip and will allow the key to turn only if it has this special microchip in it. So if you lose your keys, you are going to have to get a new key with a microchip. Locksmiths do not have the capability to program these microchips, so you must get the new key programmed at a car dealership.
Unless your local dealership has a service that can come to you, you will have to get your car towed to your nearest car dealership—expense number one.
They will cut the key for you—expense number two.
Then they will program the key for you—expense number three.
Note that car dealerships are open only during normal working hours, so if you lose your keys outside of these hours, there is nothing you can do until the dealership reopens.
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NOW THAT YOU CAN APPRECIATE HOW TROUBLESOME AND EXPENSIVE LOSING YOUR KEY IS, TRY TO MAKE SURE YOU KEEP YOUR SPARE SET OF KEYS SOMEWHERE SAFE. REPLACING A LOST KEY NOWADAYS WILL DIG INTO YOUR VACATION FUND! |
Occasionally, your car alarm will go off for no reason. This suggests that you have a fault in your alarm system. The siren will sound for four or five hours before the battery dies. By then, you’ll have a grumpy neighbor and a dead car battery to add to your woes!
It is unlikely a mechanic will be able to solve the problem. If your alarm is faulty, you will have to get it repaired by an auto electrician or your car dealership.
Being involved in a car accident, no matter how small, can be quite an upsetting experience, so the most important thing is to stay calm. Even if there is only a small amount of damage done to either of the cars, the repair costs could be surprisingly expensive. The person at fault is the person responsible for paying any damages, but won’t have to pay for them personally. This is why we have auto insurance.
In order for both parties’ insurance companies to be able to handle the situation correctly, you need to carry out certain steps. If you don’t, then you risk ending up having to pay for the repairs yourself—even if the accident wasn’t your fault.
If you have been involved in a car crash, do not admit any liability (that it was your fault), even if you were in the wrong. When you are dealing with the other driver(s), handle the situation as factually as possible, and try to make an accurate record of what happened. You can discuss a situation factually without apportioning any blame to anyone. Leave it up to your insurance company to decide who’s at fault.
Stay calm. Take lots of deep breaths and try to relax your mind.
When it is safe to do so, get out of the car and assess the situation.
Determine whether or not you need to call the police.
the cars have suffered only minor material damage and are still roadworthy. However, you can call the police if you want to.
anybody complains of physical injury.
there is a significant amount of damage to either of the cars and they are unroadworthy.
the crash is the result of an illegal driving maneuver, such as somebody running a red light.
If you call the police, they should oversee the situation for you, but for your own peace of mind, it would be worthwhile to ensure that all of the following points have been carried out.
If all parties feel there is no need to call the police, then you will need to do the following:
Quickly try to take a few pictures of the crash scene with your camera phone at different angles, before moving the cars. If you don’t have a camera on your phone, try to find someone else you can ask. Make sure you get their contact details so you can follow up with them for the photos. If you still can’t find a camera, then take the time to sketch out the scene so you have a record of it.
When you have taken a record of the scene, move the cars out of the way of the moving traffic.
Get a pen and paper. If no one at the scene has them, perhaps you can save the details in your phone. You need to get the following information from the other party and give all the same details to them:
NAME
ADDRESS
TELEPHONE NUMBER
INSURANCE COMPANY AND POLICY NUMBER (YOU CAN FIND BOTH THESE PIECES OF INFORMATION ON THE OTHER PARTY’S INSURANCE CARD)
IF THEY ARE NOT THE OWNER OF THE CAR (E.G., A COMPANY VEHICLE OR RENTED CAR), THEN YOU NEED TO GET THE NAME AND CONTACT DETAILS OF THE ORGANIZATION THAT OWNS THE CAR
THE CAR’S REGISTRATION NUMBER
DESCRIPTION OF THE CAR (COLOR, MAKE, AND MODEL)
DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION OF THE ACCIDENT
NAMES AND CONTACT DETAILS OF ANY WITNESSES WHO SAW THE ACCIDENT
At your earliest convenience (preferably within twenty-four hours), go to a police station and report the accident. You need to do this for insurance purposes.
Contact your insurance company and tell them what happened.
