You don’t want to think about the prospect of your car breaking down or needing emergency repairs but it happens to people everywhere on a daily basis and it might be your unexpected turn sooner or later.
It is better to be prepared and have an emergency strategy in place rather than hit the panic button when there is a problem with your vehicle.
Here is a look at what to expect and how to prepare your car for towing and ready for moving if it has broken down and needs transporting. There are some auto repair tips you can use to understand what might have gone wrong, plus pointers on moving your vehicle even when it is in perfect working order.
Using a professional vehicle transport service
Although most people associate tow trucks and vehicle transporters with an emergency breakdown situation it is worth remembering that there are a number of other scenarios where it might be necessary to move your vehicle to another location without driving it there.
If you have a vintage or specialist motor vehicle you don’t want to put any unwanted extra miles on the clock or risk getting it damaged during the journey to a special event like a car show, or maybe sending it to auction.
The sensible choice with these priorities in mind is to use a professional vehicle transport service, but although you should be in good hands, there are some steps you need to take as an owner to prepare the vehicle for the journey.
All boxes ticked
Although the car is being transported and not being driven it is important to remember that when it arrives at the specified destination it needs to be clean and fully functioning.
There is a checklist of things to go through to prepare your vehicle. This list includes making sure the battery and engine are in good working condition and you also need to ensure that all the car’s fluids have been checked and replenished where needed.
Although your instinct will be to fill the fuel tank ready for use at the other end of the journey, the transport company will often ask you to keep the tank no more than a quarter tank full. It helps reduce the weight load and improves safety when you don’t have so much fuel on board.
You don’t want to transport your vehicle in this way only to find there is a complication because the car wasn’t properly prepared before it was loaded onto the tow truck, so work your way through a checklist to avoid any avoidable complications.
Unexpected tow
Modern vehicles are much more reliable than their predecessors but they still have the potential to break down mid-journey and without warning.
This means you will be searching out the number of a tow truck company and arranging for them to come out and rescue you by collecting you and your vehicle and transporting it to the nearest designated repair center.
While you are waiting for the tow truck to arrive there are a few things you need to do to prepare the vehicle for transport, but make sure it’s safe to return to the vehicle without putting yourself in danger. Breaking down on a busy highway would be a good example of when it wouldn’t always be safe to go back to your car.
If you get the chance, make sure you remove any valuables from the vehicle and take some pictures of the car even if it isn’t damaged, so that you can confirm its current condition before it was collected and loaded onto the tow truck.
You also need to confirm the details of where your car is being taken to if you are not going with it to the same location.
Properly maintained
Some vehicle breakdowns just happen and there’s you can do about it, but there are a fair percentage of incidents that could have been prevented if the car had been properly checked and maintained on a regular basis.
If your car fails to start or has some sort of malfunction, a fair percentage of these fails could have been picked up and prevented with a regular inspection of the fluids and servicing of the engine.
At least if you prepare yourself and your vehicle for towing whatever the circumstances, the process should be smoother than calling the tow truck without having a clue what is going to happen next.
Kian Sanders is a financial researcher and consultant who likes to help people live better with less money. He hopes to help others by posting his articles on a variety of money topics on many financial and lifestyle blogs.
