Five Things You Need To Do To Prepare Your Vehicle To Be Towed
Posted on: 5 March 2017
If you need to have your vehicle towed, you may not know what you should be expecting and doing to prepare. A likely scenario if you're waiting for a tow is that your vehicle has broken down on the road somewhere.
This is an incredibly inconvenient thing to deal with, but you could make sure that your vehicle gets safely towed to a garage where it can be repaired by doing the following five things:
Secure the area and make sure your vehicle isn't obstructing others while you're waiting
Hopefully, you've had the chance to pull over before your vehicle has entirely stopped moving. If not, you need to move your vehicle off the roadway so it's not in the way of other vehicles.
If it's impossible to move your vehicle, place a road flare or some device you can use to notify other drivers that there is an obstruction ahead. If your battery is powering your vehicle normally, you can at least put your flashers on to indicate that your vehicle is currently experiencing trouble.
Get any important information you'll need out of your vehicle
If your car has broken down, you may need important materials like your insurance card and your registration card. If you'll need these after your vehicle is towed away, take them out of your glove compartment or wherever you store them in your vehicle.
Secure any lose items in your vehicle so that they don't move around while it's being towed
Remember that you're not going to be present while your car is in motion when it's being towed. You therefore won't be able to stop any damage from occurring.
If you've got anything that might spill in your car, clean it out before your car is towed to prevent a mess. Also, secure any fragile items so that they won't fall down and become damaged during towing.
Put your vehicle in neutral and disengage your emergency brake
Generally, vehicles need to be put in neutral to be towed to prevent the brakes from holding them up. Leaving your emergency brake engaged while your vehicle is towed can cause a lot of damage, so make sure you've disengaged it before leaving your car to the towing company.
Find transportation for yourself
You're probably going to have to find alternative transportation to a mechanic or wherever you're going next. Have a friend pick you up or ask the towing company what you can do for a ride so that you can get where you need to go after your vehicle is taken away.
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