Guide · Symptoms
Most cars give warning before roadside assistance becomes urgent. The signs below are the ones that matter, and the useful skill is telling them apart from the faults that look identical from the driver's seat.
Most roadside calls are one of five things: a flat battery, a flat tyre, an empty tank, keys locked in, or an overheat. All five are fixable at the roadside by someone with the right van, and none of them need a tow. We dispatch 24 hours a day and we tell you on the phone what we think it is and what it will cost before we set off.
Symptoms are evidence, not diagnoses. A noise, a warning light or a change in how the car behaves narrows the field — it does not close it — and the gap between the two is where money gets wasted on parts that were fine. We test before replacing, every time, because the alternative is you paying to find out.
Get the car as far off the carriageway as it will roll, hazards on, everyone out and behind the barrier — not sitting in the car on the hard shoulder, which is where people get hit. Warning triangle well back if you have one. Then call. In summer, being out of the car and in shade matters within minutes, not hours.
Battery failure, cooling system failure and tyre blowouts all spike in July and August for the same underlying reason: heat. Batteries lose electrolyte and fail on the first cool morning after a hot summer; cooling systems fail when the margin is smallest; underinflated tyres overheat on 60-degree tarmac. Every one is preventable with a check before summer starts.
If the symptom changes under load, gets worse with heat, or brings a warning light with it, it has moved from "watch it" to "book it". In Dubai the heat variable is not a footnote — a fault that is intermittent in February is continuous in July, and the failure usually happens on the hottest afternoon rather than the coolest.
Yes, including Fridays and public holidays. Nights are quieter, so response times are usually faster.
Call rather than message, and know your location — a landmark, an exit number or a dropped WhatsApp pin. Location is nearly always what determines the arrival time.
We tell you the call-out charge before dispatching, and if we recover the car instead, the call-out is credited against the recovery.
Call, or send your location on WhatsApp. We will tell you the price before we set off.
