Car batteries can die at anytime. When this happens, what should you do? Having a dead battery is something every driver must experience provided you own a car and drives it. It will surely happen one day. However, what matters is what to do when car battery dies.
What to Do When Car Battery Dies
If your car battery dies, you should:
1. Recharge the Battery
If the car battery died on you, you can go ahead and recharge the battery back up. There are people whose work is to charge car batteries, contact them and have them charge your battery for you.
2. Call Your Rewire
When you find yourself with a dead battery, call your rewire to tell you what to do. A car rewire is someone who works on the electrical parts of the car. They are in a better position to tell you what to do.
3. Contact Roadside Mechanic Close to You
If your car battery dies somewhere far from your home, check if there are any roadside mechanic, have them help you jumpstart the car or recharge your battery for you.
You can make use of your phone (google) to find good roadside mechanic near you. However, ensure your location is on.
4. Jumpstart the Car
This has to be the first of what to do when your car battery dies. Jumpstarting the car will save you some stress and time.
However, you can’t just jumpstart a car like that, there are tools needed to do so. The tools are a charged battery and a jumper cables.
- Connect the red clip of the jumper cable to the positive side of both batteries
- Connect the black clip of the jumper cable to the negative side of both batteries
- Start the car
Once the car is started, you can remove the clips. You can also use any portable jump starter to do this.
Meanwhile, while jump starting your car, please do it with caution to avoid blowing your fuses. If a jump start is not properly done, it can cause damage to the fuses and might even damage your radio systems, speakers, etc.
5. You Can Call Your Friend
You can also call a friend to come to your rescue if you suddenly have a dead battery. He/she should come with his car so that you can use his/her battery to start your own car. This should be done if your friend is close to where your battery died.
If you’re at home, I urge you to call your neighbor to come to your aid too.
6. Replace the Battery with a Charged One
You can quickly replace the dead battery with another one especially if you are in a hurry. You can either replace the battery with an old charged battery or new battery. However, the goal is to have the car started so you can go your way.
7. Call a Towing Service
You can call a towing service when your car battery dies, especially if the battery dies in the middle of no where. They can tow the car to an auto shop or to where you can buy another battery.
8. Call Your Mechanic
If you’re about to leave the house and the car refuse to start as a result of a dead battery, I urge you to call your mechanic for an advise on what to do. He will tell you whether to tow the car to his workshop or jumpstart the car.
9. Ask Roadside Companies for Help
You can also reach out to roadside companies for help, they should be able to help jump-start your car. But if they don’t there are other possible options to still choose.
10. Call 911 for Help
You should only call 911 for help in regards to dead battery if the battery died on you in the middle of nowhere, where there are less cars, less buildings, and when you don’t have any towing service number to call.
When you call 911 and explains your situation to them, they can help you contact a towing services that will come to your rescue.
11. Contact American Automobile Association
If you are a member of the American Automobile Association (AAA), you can also give them a call with this number 1 (800) 222-4357.
You can also visit their website here to get more insight on how to contact them. You have to be either in America or Canada to be able to use their services.
However, you don’t need to call the American Automobile Association if you can easily jumpstart the car and go your way. This method should be used only when you have run out of option.
12. Contact Your Car Insurance
You can contact your car insurance company if you don’t have any other option. Contact them first and let them be the one to give you their options. However, contacting your insurance should not be the first option to take.
Conclusion
A weak/bad battery can die at any time, so, having a dead battery is not the end of the world, therefore, do not panic when this happens, make use of any of the solutions mentioned above and save yourself the stress. If the battery keeps dying on you, ensure to have it checked by a technician.