The last thing you want to happen when you head out on the road is for your car to break down. Sadly, this happens to thousands of cars every single year. The motorway network reportedly had over 300,000 breakdowns in 2025 alone, and that’s not counting the breakdowns that occurred on other roads across the country.
But what exactly do you do if your car breaks down? Here is what you need to know to get to safety and get help.
Turn Your Hazards on Immediately
The very first thing you should do in the event of a vehicular breakdown, as soon as it’s safe, is to put your hazards on to warn any other road users. Even if you’ve not fully stopped, put your hazards on. This gives people as much warning as possible to react to your situation and to avoid a collision. This is especially true on roads where you’re travelling at speed, and the risk of an accident is higher.
If you can try to manoeuvre your car to safety as much as possible, but the earlier you get your hazards on, the better.
Get Away from Traffic
As soon as you can, exit your vehicle. Always exit the vehicle to the left, never into oncoming traffic if it can be avoided. The priority here is to remove yourself from further risk. There’s a chance more damage can occur to your vehicle, or other road users might not react fast enough to your incident.
If there is a barrier, stand behind it, but try to be as far away from the traffic as you can, even if it means standing on a grass verge or a bank. And stay there.
If you break down on a motorway and you can’t safely exit the vehicle, remain in the vehicle with your seat belt on. And call for help immediately.
Use a Warning Triangle
If you have a warning triangle and it’s safe to exit the vehicle, place it behind you at least 45 metres away to give more warning to other drivers of the upcoming circumstances.
Always use your judgement here. Sometimes it’s not safe to do this, and you shouldn’t put yourself at risk to warn others of your situation.
Call for Help
Once you and your passengers are safe, it’s time to call for assistance. If you’re stuck in a live lane of traffic, then calling the police is your first port of call; rescue services generally won’t attend to help you unless you’re out of a live lane. On smart motorways, authorities can close the lane and get you assistance to move out of danger.
If this isn’t a problem, you can call your breakdown provider if you have one and give them the details so they can come to your aid. If you don’t, then you need a towing company that can come and tow your vehicle to the nearest garage or a location of your choosing for you.
When you break down, regardless of location, it’s really important that you remain calm and follow the necessary steps to keep yourself and any other passengers safe. The calmer you are, the more likely you’ll be to get assistance as soon as possible and prevent any further issues.