You and your family have planned for and are looking forward to spending quality time together, visiting new places, and having fun on your upcoming road trip. You have:
- Planned where and when you still stop
- Chosen places of interest to spend more time exploring
- Booked hotel accommodations for stops along the way
- Scheduled payments for your bills to avoid late fees
- Cleaned out your refrigerator of anything that can spoil
- Notified your bank of your travel plans should they see credit card charges from various locations
- Decided what to pack
- Brought your car to a mechanic for a checkup
- Decided to bring food and snacks for the ride
No matter how much planning you do, unexpected events can occur. For example, what will you do if your car breaks down?
Even if you take precautions to make sure your car is safe by having a qualified mechanic check your battery, tires, air conditioner, belts, hoses, fluids, brakes, windshield wipers, and engine, something can still go wrong.
Approximately half of the cars on the road today are over 10 years old. Once the age of your vehicle reaches double digits, it is twice as likely to break down.
The last thing you want to ruin your vacation is getting stranded on the side of the road. What can you do to protect yourself and your family?
That’s an easy question to answer. Join a roadside assistance program. Protect your family and get peace of mind should you run out of gas, get a flat tire, or need a tow.
Running Out of Gas
Have you ever been on the road and noticed that you are running low on gas but know that you have more than enough to get you to the next service station?
Unfortunately, what you didn’t expect was an accident ahead of you that caused traffic to come to a dead stop. The fuel left in your tank isn’t sufficient for you to be at a stand-still for over an hour until the accident is cleared.
Once traffic starts moving again, do you want to be the cause of the next traffic jam because your vehicle has run out of gas? This can put a damper on the fun you and your family were planning for your road trip.
Flat Tires
Unfortunately, there is not much you can do to prevent a flat tire. Many are caused by:
- Valve stem leakage
- Bad road conditions
- Excessive heat
If you or someone else in your family can change a flat tire, that’s helpful. However, if you are on a busy road, this can be dangerous. If you can’t do it yourself or are concerned about safety, roadside assistance will come to your rescue.
Lost Keys
Being on the road with your family requires juggling a lot of activities at once. For example, keeping track of your children, sticking to your schedule, paying attention to where you are going so you don’t get lost, and most importantly, enjoying yourself.
It’s not inconceivable that you can accidentally lose your keys. Perhaps you are at a local attraction taking pictures for your family photo album and put your keys down … somewhere. The problem is you don’t remember where.
Or, what if you are so anxious to get to the next attraction that you lock your car with the keys in it? Unless you have another set (which is probably a good idea), how will you get back into your vehicle?
Many roadside assistance plans include lockout and lost key services to come to your rescue.
Dead Battery
If your car battery dies, you aren’t going anywhere. Some of the causes of dead batteries are:
- Leaving your headlights on
- Forgetting to close your trunk
- Extreme temperatures that cause lead sulfate crystals to build up and damage the battery
Your Car Needs to Get Towed
If any issue you have with our car is not able to be fixed by roadside assistance, you may need to get it towed to a mechanic that can help.
Also, in the worst-case scenario where you are involved in an accident, you will more than likely need a tow truck. Even if the collision doesn’t seem to have caused much damage, it’s better not to run the risk of driving after an accident.
In these scenario, it is still helpful to have roadside assistance so that they can call a tow truck for you quickly, no matter what time or where you are stranded.
