What to Do When Your Car Breaks Down in Rural Washington

Rural breakdowns are different from city breakdowns. Shoulders are narrower, cell service is patchy and the next exit may be twenty minutes away.

Get the vehicle as far off the roadway as it will safely go, turn on your hazards, and stay buckled in if traffic is moving fast. If you can safely get behind a barrier or well off the shoulder on foot, do that instead of standing beside the vehicle.

When you call for a tow, have three things ready: your location (a mile marker, cross road or dropped pin), what the vehicle is doing, and where you want it taken. That turns a long conversation into a short one.

If the vehicle turns out not to be worth repairing, the same call can become a salvage conversation instead of a second problem to solve later.