[Lamboguy]

Have you ever been on a road trip in another state and had your car break down? Thankfully, it has never happened to me, but I honestly don't know what I'd do. I guess vacation would be over and I would probably have to find a way to phone a local tow truck and a cab to a nearby hotel to take me to and from the shop. But what if you are in an area where there isn't much of a population? How would you deal with that?

[Hotrod25]

You buy into AAA before you go. You call them from your charged cell phone and they come and rescue you. You get the vehicle fixed and carry on to your vacation spot.

[Lamboguy]

You make it sound so simple. I already have towing and all those things covered with my insurance company. Wouldn't a membership with AAA just be a little bit excess to have all the time though?

[Lindsey]

Well, you wouldn't just use AAA while you were on vacation. It could come in handy anytime, like if you had a flat tire, or ran out of gas, or had a dead battery.

[FenderBender]

I have never had it happen while I was out of town, but my friend ran out of gas in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert. She figured she would just stop in the next town, but there was no next town.

[Smoothe]

I've been in other states and broken down on a number of occasions. Usually someone comes along and helps. Once I was in the worst part of a major city, just off the highway, and it was icing like crazy. A big car filled with hoodlum-looking young men -- I'm not a man -- offered to help me. They changed my tire, wouldn't take any money for it. One of the guys told me he'd driven into a pond and almost drowned a month earlier and this was the chance to pay someone back for having saved his life then. I thought they were going to abduct me at first. Instead, I'm alive and didn't even have to pay.

[Rodney]

Knock on wood, the worst that's ever happened to me was a blow out about five hours away from home. Luckily, it happened at a highway exit where there was a Walmart, so I limped over there and got a new tire.

[Joy]

I am so fortunate in that we have never had a major break-down on a trip. I'm knocking on wood as I type, for I know we are in the minority. We keep our tires checked, prepare for emergencies and even have a fire extinguisher in the car. We have broken down and had flat tires in town, but never out on the open roads.

[RoadWarrior]

No, I can't say that I have. I guess I've always kept my cars in a condition that there wasn't much to break down. Don't get me wrong, I've driven plenty of older cars, but most breakdowns are either due to dead batteries, overheating radiator or the car needing oil. As long as you always have with you (in your car) certain things like a quart of oil, a gallon of water or coolant, booster cables, brake fluid, etc., you can take care of most breakdowns yourself.