What to Do When Your Car Breaks Down on the Highway: A Complete Guide

Your engine just made a sound it's never made before. The dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. Your car is losing power, and you're in the center lane of I-95 during rush hour with semi-trucks roaring past at 70 mph. Your heart is pounding, your palms are sweating, and you're wondering: what do I do right now?

This exact scenario happens to hundreds of drivers every single day in South Florida, and how you respond in the first sixty seconds will determine whether this becomes a minor inconvenience or a dangerous situation. As towing professionals who've responded to thousands of highway breakdowns, we've seen both the right way and the tragically wrong way to handle these emergencies. This guide will walk you through every step, in order, so you know exactly what to do before panic takes over.

The First 30 Seconds: Don't Panic, Do This

The moment you realize your vehicle is failing, your immediate priority is getting out of traffic safely. Don't worry about what's wrong with your car yet – worry about not getting hit by another vehicle. Here's your instant action checklist:

Turn on your hazard lights immediately. Before you do anything else – before you even start moving toward the shoulder – hit those hazard lights. This is your first line of defense, alerting drivers behind you that something is wrong and they need to give you space. Don't wait until you're on the shoulder; turn them on the second you know you're in trouble.

Start moving right, carefully. Your goal is to reach the right shoulder as safely as possible. Don't make sudden movements or cut across multiple lanes. Signal right, check your mirrors, and merge one lane at a time if needed. If your car is losing power quickly, use what momentum you have to coast toward the shoulder. Even if your car dies completely, you might have enough momentum to reach the edge.

Get as far right as physically possible. Here's where many drivers make a critical mistake: they pull onto the shoulder but stay close to traffic. You need to get your vehicle as far from active lanes as possible. If there's a wide shoulder, use all of it. If you can safely get your car behind a guardrail or onto a grass area beyond the shoulder, do it. The extra ten feet could save your life.

If you can't make it to the shoulder, stay in the vehicle. If your car dies in an active lane and you cannot safely push it or coast it to the shoulder, do not get out. Turn on hazards, call 911 immediately, and wait for law enforcement to arrive and help secure the scene. Yes, staying in a dead car in traffic feels terrifying, but stepping out into active highway lanes is far more dangerous.

Once You're Stopped: Assess and Act

You've made it to the shoulder and your vehicle is as far from traffic as possible. Good. Now take a breath and follow these next steps exactly:

Keep your seatbelt on and assess the situation. Before you decide to exit the vehicle, look around. Are you on a narrow shoulder with traffic whizzing by inches away? Is there a safe place to stand outside, or would you be standing in a danger zone? Check your mirrors for approaching traffic. The shoulder might feel safer than being in your car, but statistics show that staying inside your vehicle is usually the safer choice on busy highways.

If you have emergency triangles or flares, use them – but only if safe. If you're on a wide shoulder with good visibility and you can safely exit your vehicle, placing warning triangles or flares 100-300 feet behind your vehicle can alert approaching drivers. However, do not attempt this on a narrow shoulder, in heavy traffic, at night, or in poor weather conditions. Your safety matters more than the triangles.

Turn your wheels away from traffic. If you're on a slope or if another vehicle strikes yours, you want your car to roll away from traffic, not into it. Turn your steering wheel to the right so your wheels are angled toward the shoulder or away from the highway.

Exit from the passenger side if possible. If you need to get out of your vehicle and you're on a highway, exit from the passenger side – the side away from traffic. Better yet, have everyone exit through the passenger door and move to a safe location away from both the vehicle and the roadway. If there's a barrier or fence, get behind it. If not, move as far from the traffic edge as possible.

Making the Call: Who to Contact and What to Say

Now that you're safe, it's time to get help. The order in which you make these calls matters:

Call 911 if you're in immediate danger. If you're stuck in a travel lane, if you're injured, if another vehicle was involved, or if you feel unsafe for any reason, call 911 first. Highway patrol can secure the scene and make the situation safer before a tow truck arrives. Don't feel embarrassed about calling emergency services – they'd rather respond to a preventable situation than scrape you off the pavement.

Call your roadside assistance or towing service next. If you have AAA or insurance roadside assistance, call them. If not, call a reputable local towing company (like Lauderhill Towing Service – we're available 24/7 at 657-214-4699). When you call, provide this information clearly:

- Your exact location: highway name, direction of travel, mile marker if visible, and nearby exits
- Description of your vehicle: color, make, model
- Nature of the problem: won't start, engine died, flat tire, smoke, etc.
- Whether you're in a safe location or in an active lane
- How many people are with you

Contact someone who knows where you are. Call a family member or friend and tell them exactly where you are, what happened, and that you're waiting for a tow truck. Send them your location using your phone's GPS if possible. If something goes wrong or takes longer than expected, someone should know where to find you.

While You Wait: Staying Safe Until Help Arrives

The average wait time for a tow truck is 20-45 minutes, depending on location and traffic. That might feel like an eternity when you're stranded, but here's how to stay safe while you wait:

Stay in your vehicle with seatbelts on. Unless you can safely stand well behind a barrier or far from the roadway, the safest place during a highway breakdown is inside your vehicle with seatbelts fastened. Your car provides a protective barrier between you and traffic. If another vehicle strikes yours, seatbelts dramatically reduce injury risk.

Never stand between your car and traffic. This seems obvious, but people do it constantly. They stand at the driver's door or lean against the car on the traffic side. If you must exit your vehicle, go to the passenger side and move completely away from the car. A distracted driver could sideswipe your vehicle, and you don't want to be anywhere near it if that happens.

Be cautious about accepting help from strangers. While most people who stop are genuinely trying to help, your safety should be your priority. If someone stops and offers assistance, you can thank them through a closed or slightly cracked window and let them know help is already on the way. If you feel threatened for any reason, call 911 immediately.

Keep your doors locked and windows mostly up. You want to be visible to the tow truck driver when they arrive, but you also want to maintain security. Keep doors locked, stay in communication with your towing service about their ETA, and be ready to quickly identify the legitimate tow truck when it arrives.

Watch for the tow truck – safely. When your tow truck is getting close, they'll typically call you. Watch for them in your mirrors rather than turning around to look out the back window. When you see them approaching with lights on, you can unlock your doors and be ready to communicate, but don't exit the vehicle until the driver has safely positioned their truck and signals it's safe.

Special Situations: What Changes When

Some breakdown situations require modified approaches:

Nighttime breakdowns: Everything becomes more dangerous in the dark. Visibility is reduced, and drunk drivers are more common late at night. Stay in your vehicle with hazard lights on. If you have reflective emergency triangles and can safely place them, do so – but prioritize your safety over the triangles. Consider turning on your interior dome light so you're more visible to approaching traffic and to the tow truck.

Bad weather breakdowns: Rain, fog, or storms make highway breakdowns exponentially more dangerous. Visibility is reduced, stopping distances increase, and drivers are more likely to lose control. Stay in your vehicle with your seatbelt on. Do not attempt to walk anywhere or work on your car. Call for help immediately and wait for professionals who have the right equipment and training to work in dangerous conditions.

Breakdowns with children: If you have kids in the car, keeping them calm is critical but so is keeping them safe. Keep children in their car seats with seatbelts fastened while you wait for help. Bring snacks, water, and entertainment to keep them occupied. If you need to exit the vehicle, carry young children and keep older children close – never let children wander on or near a highway shoulder.

Tire blowouts: A blowout is particularly scary because it happens suddenly and violently. Don't slam on the brakes – this can cause you to lose control. Instead, grip the wheel firmly, take your foot off the gas, and let the car slow down naturally while steering toward the shoulder. Once you're safely stopped, the same rules apply: hazard lights on, stay in the vehicle, call for help.

What Not to Do: Common Mistakes That Create Danger

In thousands of breakdown responses, we've seen these dangerous mistakes repeatedly:

Don't try to repair your vehicle on the highway shoulder. Even simple fixes like changing a tire are dangerous on a busy highway. Professional tow trucks have lights, safety equipment, and training. You have none of those advantages. The risk isn't worth it. Call for professional help and wait safely.

Don't keep trying to restart and drive a failing vehicle. If your engine is overheating, making terrible noises, or smoking, continuing to run it will cause exponentially more damage. What might be a $300 repair if you stop immediately could become a $3,000 repair if you keep trying to drive it "just a little farther."

Don't walk along the highway to find help. It seems logical: the exit is only a quarter-mile ahead, so why not walk to it? Because highway shoulders are not designed for pedestrians, drivers aren't expecting to see walkers, and the closure rate between a car traveling 70 mph and a person walking 3 mph makes reaction time nearly impossible. Stay with your vehicle and call for help.

Don't assume the tow truck will find you easily. Even with GPS, finding a specific broken-down vehicle on a busy highway can be challenging. When you call for a tow, provide as much specific information as possible: mile markers, cross streets, which side of the highway, landmarks, or exit numbers. The faster they can locate you, the faster you get to safety.

The Bottom Line: Preparation Prevents Panic

Highway breakdowns are inherently dangerous situations, but your response determines how dangerous. The drivers who stay calm, follow safety protocols, and prioritize protection over speed almost always walk away with nothing more than an inconvenient story. The drivers who panic, make rash decisions, or take unnecessary risks are the ones who end up in our most serious incident reports.

Before you ever face a breakdown, prepare: keep your towing service number programmed in your phone, maintain a basic emergency kit in your trunk (water, phone charger, emergency triangles, flashlight), and make sure your phone is charged when you drive. Most importantly, remember this article's core principle: your safety is worth infinitely more than your schedule, your pride, or the cost of a tow truck.

When that moment comes – and eventually, it probably will – you'll know exactly what to do. Hazards on, get right, get safe, call for help, and wait smart. Everything else will work itself out.