Mobile Truck Repair: While You Wait

If You Break Down on the Road, Here’s what to Do While You Wait for Automotive Repair

There’s no such thing as a good time for your car or truck to break down—but while you’re on the road, unable to reach an automotive repair specialist, is particularly bad. If you find yourself breaking down on the highway or a country road, here’s what to do while you wait for mobile truck repair to arrive:

Get off the Road if Possible

It is only the very rare vehicle malfunction that instantly leaves your car or truck dead in the water, so to speak. Usually you will have enough power to coast to the shoulder of the road. To avoid letting your truck roll into traffic on a steep road, turn your steering wheel away from the road and engage the emergency brake.

Take Notes

Where did your car or truck stop operating? If you’re not familiar with the area, be sure to immediately write down the last landmark or major exit you saw so that you don’t forget. If your vehicle troubles were heralded by strange sounds or other unusual symptoms, make a note of them too—they may help an automotive repair shop diagnose and repair the issue more quickly. If you have to leave your vehicle to do any of this, exit through the door facing away from traffic.

Call for Help

If you don’t have a cellphone, or have no reception, skip straight to the next step. If you can, call your auto club or a mobile truck repair service. Relay to them all the information you gathered in the previous step, and anything else important that you can think of. Do not attempt to repair or diagnose the problem yourself (unless you are an automotive expert/trained mechanic, in which case, why are you reading this? You know what to do) and wait with your vehicle for help to arrive.

Make Yourself Visible

While you wait for automotive repair help—or to flag down help or the highway patrol if you couldn’t call for assistance—make sure that your vehicle is easily identifiable. In the daytime, popping up the hood may be considered the international sign for “I need help,” but it doesn’t hurt to take a cloth, towel, or shirt and hang it from your antenna or a window on the side facing traffic. During the night time, turn on an interior light, either manually or by leaving a door open. Making yourself visible alerts other motorists to your presence, lets them know to drive around you, and makes it easier for a mobile truck repair specialist to find and help you.