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Old 12-15-2010, 02:38 AM
 
Location: Chicago, IL
512 posts, read 1,177,831 times
Reputation: 274

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Let's say I would go 500 miles from my home to some remote place and my car breaks down and is not drivable anymore, what to do? Any good solution?
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Old 12-15-2010, 03:00 AM
 
35,309 posts, read 51,996,121 times
Reputation: 30998
Hopefully you've prepared for this scenario by keeping in your car
a blanket or two,
some candles and a way to light them,
a few chocolate bars,
a small tool kit including shovel,and some form of traction bars/chains,
and also are dressed for the possible eventuality of being stranded in the middle of no where in the winter in temperatures that could be life threatening for the unprepared ,,
i also try to keep my gas tank as full as possible and top it up when it gets to half full as you never know when you may have to spend the night in the car and if the problem isnt with the engine you have heat till you run out of gas..
In summer pack
a gallon of water and a bag of nuts and grains and an umbrella for sun protection as standing or walking in 95 degree heat can be as life threatening for some as being caught out in the cold..
A membership in AAA and a fully charged cell phone are also recommended..
Also keeping your car well maintained goes a long way to preventing unexpected break downs.
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Old 12-15-2010, 04:07 AM
 
10,135 posts, read 27,350,313 times
Reputation: 8398
What to do with your broken car or how to stay alive until someone notices you are missing?

First, don't drive anywhere out in the middle of nowhere. If you don't already know more than we do about this, you have no business driving into desolate territory. A well known guy who drives out to the middles of nowhere named Bill Caid had that experience and it was too close a call for him. He added satellite tracking to his adventures. You can read more about this interesting guy and his travels and view his wonderful photos here:

Bill Caid Home Page (1&1)
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Old 12-15-2010, 04:21 AM
 
Location: Texas
44,257 posts, read 64,062,141 times
Reputation: 73913
Hit the OnStar button.
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Old 12-15-2010, 05:28 AM
 
Location: Pomona
1,955 posts, read 10,947,042 times
Reputation: 1562
A couple nits ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101 View Post
...
a few chocolate bars,
...
A membership in AAA and a fully charged cell phone are also recommended..
Granola bars instead (won't melt), and a cel phone would only be fine if you're in an area with a signal. So if you're venturing into very rural areas, common knowledge of how a car works and some hand tools will help out a lot more than the cel phone.

Quote:
Also keeping your car well maintained goes a long way to preventing unexpected break downs.
This, but even then, one can still face the unexpected.

Years back, on a road trip near Mt. Lassen, the water pump on my car decided to crap its seal. 31k miles on the pump - so much for buying German made. No cel signal. No houses nearby. But I did have time (to let the engine cool down), and there was a stream nearby, which meant that I could at least fill up the radiator. So that's what I did. About 6 miles later, I stopped at a general store and used the pay phone to call AAA. Got towed into Redding, where the next day, I changed out the water pump in the motel parking lot.
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Old 12-15-2010, 05:36 AM
 
Location: Earth
4,237 posts, read 24,694,011 times
Reputation: 2274
AAA card, non perishable food, flares, blankets, a cell phone, a CB radio in case you have no cell service and maybe even a ham radio in case you can't reach anyone on CB.
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Old 12-15-2010, 06:11 AM
 
35,309 posts, read 51,996,121 times
Reputation: 30998
Be prepared is the best you can do. Next time you are driving on an isolated road in harsh conditions imagine your car breaking down, how prepared are you? what items do you wish you had that you dont have?.Now is the time to put those things in the car..
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Old 12-15-2010, 06:46 AM
 
Location: Hernando, FL
749 posts, read 2,426,931 times
Reputation: 540
Tools, to fix the car and definetly water not only for myself but for the car too. If I'm out in BFE and the water pump goes out, a granola bar is worthless, but a 10mm socket and a open end are like gold.
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Old 12-15-2010, 10:13 AM
PDD
 
Location: The Sand Hills of NC
8,773 posts, read 18,297,571 times
Reputation: 12001
Keep your car in good condition and don't make any unnecessary trips to the boondocks especially in winter.
Other than towing a spare car behind you, you can't possibly be prepared for every emergency.
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Old 12-15-2010, 10:30 AM
 
3,128 posts, read 6,497,552 times
Reputation: 1599
Fire up the weed, bust out the beer and search for WI-FI to buy a new car
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