How To Find Auto Service In Remote Locations
If you drive through the middle of the prairie in the United States, all you see for miles is land, fences, and more land. Distances between towns and cities grow longer and longer. So what happens when your vehicle breaks down and you need a tow and an auto service station? Here is how to find and get what you need in this situation.
Use Your Satellite or GPS Service
If you have satellite communications in your vehicle (e.g. OnStar), push the button for help. The satellite telecommunications person on the other end of the line can call a tow truck for you and provide you with names and numbers of auto service stations to which your vehicle can be towed. If you do not have a satellite service subscription, try your GPS. The GPS will at least alert you to how far back or how far ahead another service station is in relative position to where your vehicle broke down. Most people would assume that they can just use their smartphones to find this information, but there are a lot of cell tower "dead zones" along the prairie highways that might make using your phone for anything other than calls extremely difficult.
Call Your Auto Club
If you have a membership in an auto club service, call them. They can get a tow truck to your location within an hour or two. They can also tell you where to find a service station for auto repairs. The list of service stations they offer are usually partners that provide repair discounts to auto club members, an added perk to being a member and breaking down in the middle of nowhere.
Call 911
Police dispatchers do not like receiving calls from people who do not have a real emergency. However, since you are in a location where you probably cannot check the local non-emergency numbers for the police, they will make an exception. They will usually transfer you to the nearest police station or dispatch a squad car when policing activity is slow. At the very least, you can alert them to the fact that your vehicle is located where it is at, and any passing police officer is not going to have it towed or ticket it if you decide to walk to the next or previous town for help. If you can, leave a note on the dash. Then you can go search for help.