{"id":8,"date":"2026-10-11T00:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T12:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/what-to-do-when-your-car-breaks-down\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T00:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T00:08:04","slug":"what-to-do-when-your-car-breaks-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/what-to-do-when-your-car-breaks-down\/","title":{"rendered":"What to do when your car breaks down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A breakdown is stressful, but a simple plan keeps you and your passengers safe. Here is what to do, in order, from the moment the car starts to fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Get off the road if you can<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As soon as something feels wrong, signal and move towards the shoulder, a lay-by, an exit or a car park. Do not stop on a bend, at the top of a hill or in a live lane if you can still roll somewhere safer. Turn the wheels away from traffic and put the parking brake on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Make the car visible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Switch on your hazard lights straight away.<\/li>\n\n<li>At night or in poor weather, keep your sidelights on as well.<\/li>\n\n<li>If you carry a warning triangle and it is safe and allowed where you are, place it well behind the car. Never do this on a fast road with moving traffic close by.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Decide where to wait<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a quiet street, staying in the car with your seatbelt on can be fine. On a busy or fast road, it is usually safer to get out on the side away from traffic and wait behind a barrier or well back from the road. Take your phone, keys and a warm layer, and keep children and pets with you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you cannot get out safely, stay in the car with your seatbelt on and call the emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Call for help<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Have these details ready for the dispatcher:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Where you are: the road name, direction, nearest exit or junction, or a landmark. Your phone map can show your exact position.<\/li>\n\n<li>Your vehicle: make, model, colour and registration.<\/li>\n\n<li>What happened: will not start, flat tyre, overheating, warning light, collision.<\/li>\n\n<li>How many people are with you, and where you would like the car taken.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If anyone is hurt, the car is on fire or it is blocking traffic, call the emergency services first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. While you wait<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Keep your phone charged and switched on so the driver can call you.<\/li>\n\n<li>Do not accept help from passing strangers to push or tow the car.<\/li>\n\n<li>Write down anything useful for your insurer: time, place and what happened.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once the truck arrives, the driver will check the vehicle, tell you the options and agree the plan with you before anything is loaded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A calm, step-by-step plan for the first ten minutes after a breakdown: getting off the road, staying visible, keeping safe and calling for help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions\/34"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/block.ltheme.com\/lt-towline\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}