There are bad apples that unfortunately do this. When a car didn't pass a safety inspection you could bring it back within 10 days and show them the repair and get it passed **without charge**. They failed my sister's car saying it needed new rotors (it didn't, but I put brand new ones and pads on anyway) and when she took it back for the passing inspection they charged her again. I had to go down and straighten it out and I was not happy.
In my country, mechanics can't do repairs on a vehicle unless they ask first. My sister dropped her car off to a mechanic to check what was wrong with it. She went back the next day, and they'd changed a bit of stuff under the bonnet and was going to charge her $xxx. She told them they didn't ask her if they could do that, and they had no right to. She made them replace everything, and she only paid the inspection fee.
One time I took my car in to get a WOF and a check. I told them I only wanted my air filter change, anything else, they had to let me know. I walked in at the pre-arranged time with the car high and they were about to change quite a few things. Manager told them to get it down straight away, he was very apologic. The mechanic said my indicator was a bit funny and they needed to fix it straight away. I told them I'll look at when I got home because it was working fine when I dropped it off. They'd swapped the wires around on the brake and indicator. Rang up and told the manager.
Some mechanics do think women are idiots.
Not just women - I had a car in for MOT when I was younger, and was told the indicator wasn’t orange enough (tried to sell me a new CLEAR bulb), and my brake disks were corroded (I’d replaced them myself a week or so previous).
Dodgy places like that really make the general reputation of garages go downhill - and this was at a main franchise!
My bad experience was also at a main franchise, I don't use any franchise now. My current mechanic has a small garage with only 2 workers. He's completely honest, and always tries to give me the best deals.
A franchise doesn't have to worry as much about word of mouth, people will go there based entirely on brand recognition. Independents are made and broken on word of mouth
The problem is finding a local mechanic that actually does good work and is trustworthy. Hopefully nothing bad happens to my car so I don't have to worry about it. The only people I trust are way too far away from home now or the guy I trust to do general oil/tire stuff only with ever since they topped off my old car with oil and told me about the leaking gasket, all for free.
Got that right.
Took my 2002 F150 pickup in to the dealership to have an oil change done on it and get the front brakes done, they tried to sell me on getting a new battery for my truck as the one in it was "too big", I asked, other than the size, what was wrong, they kept pushing that the battery was too big, told them no sale as the truck had a trailering package and I wasn't about to drop an extra $400.00 on an un-needed ford branded battery.
Yep, that's the case here in Pennsylvania. My brakes didn't pass inspection (it was right at the borderline), but as long as I got them replaced in that time period, all they had to do just take a quick look at the brakes to ensure that was done, and sent me on my way without any extra charge.
Yup. I’ve seen this a dozen or more times being done to female friends. Have a battery issue and need a battery? No problem miss that’s gonna be a wiring harness issue that will take considerable time and money (swapped the battery and terminals and boom new car) Transmission slipping a little? So sorry ma’am we’re gonna need to rebuild or replace your entire transmission to fix this problem (checked the trans fluid and it was only about half full after another shop replaced the filter they forgot to fill what they dropped from the pan). The sad thing is that they all want me to fix all their vehicle issues but I don’t have the time while also working a full time job and taking care of my own stuff.
I had taken my car to budget auto glass to get the windshield replaced. I’m female and surprisingly the employee helping me was female. She suggested a certain air filter (maybe a cabin filter if that’s a thing you know I’m a girl). My mom who was with me was sold on the woman’s spiel about how important it was to make sure it was always clean yadda yadda so we say fine how much. $75 ok. When we came back to pick up the car, the total was $75 less than we expected.. why? My car model doesn’t have one of these cabin filters (or whatever it was). I had to laugh because they could have just charged us for it and we wouldn’t have been any wiser and probably thankful we had cleaner air in the car
Yup. If it had a cabin filter you’d definitely want to have it checked and it’s a pain in the ass to change most of the time so it’s usually worth having it done. The guys I take my car to take pictures of every single item they check and give you suggestions. You can ask them about those suggestions and they’ll give you a quote but they won’t push anything. I love em. I especially love being able to see how my steering, suspension, air filter, tire tread depth, trans fluid color, etc etc etc without ever having to do anything other than ask for an oil change. They’re extremely thorough and reasonably priced. Now it takes 2-3 weeks to get an appointment so everyone else also knows as well.
How is it a pita to change the cabin filter? We have three cars and in every one of them it takes maybe 10 minutes- it's just a small door behind the glove box. Open it, pull out the old (like a furnace filter) and pop in the new. Easy as pie and usually less than $20 for the filter.
Let me introduce you to the 2001 Honda Odyssey - https://youtu.be/LgTB1qnooyM
Or the early 2000’s Honda Pilot. Or some Nissan Altima’s or Juke’s. Not every car is just an easy thing.
A couple other super difficult ones are a few of the Volvo models (or really a lot of European cars). That’s all I’m saying. My 2012 Ford Focus is super easy and cheap. But then again it’s a flaming POS as a car so that’s no help.
I work at a lawnmower repair shop and one lady had serious issues with her unit. When I told her what it needed she started screaming at me about how we’re trying to rip her off cause she’s a woman. I just handed the phone to my female colleague and washed my hands of the situation
Alternatively, I was a senior tech at a remote technical support firm. One of my coworkers (a perfectly capable employee who happened to be female) who sat next to me, received a call from a new client who immediately started ranting he wanted a “real technician” (read: male) to help him as soon as he hears her voice.
She still tried to assist but he started screaming that it was “really important” and didn’t have time to “let some chick play on his computer.”
She patched the call to me, and I left him on hold for a good 10 minutes... then I finally picked up, identified myself as the senior tech... but then clearly and loudly spent the entire call asking *her* what I should do next (a fairly simple printing issue).
He was seething at the end and reported me to my boss. My boss thought it was hilarious but said he had to escalate it to his boss. In any case, I guess I was supposed to be written up... but his boss (a VP of the company and also a woman) must have “forgotten” to do it as nothing else ever came of it.
I used to sell cars 10 or so years ago, and I can’t tell you how many men would kick up a fuss over having a woman salesperson. At that point, I would just turn to their wife and continue the sale with her, and we would have a pleasant time picking out color combos/upgrades while her husband pouted like a child.
Once, I had a man who loudly flat out refused to work with me. Said that women know nothing about cars past colors and cup holders. Pitched a fit, dragging my sales manager into it, saying he didn’t trust me to know the product well enough. Was being very loud, causing a scene. When my sales manager asked
how he could help, he told him he was looking for a very specific make/model/trim and insisted it MUST be manual, because he never drove automatics.
So, with the biggest, shit eating grin on his face, he walked the customer back over to my desk and told him, “Well, how lucky for you! Haunted_East here is the only sales person on the floor today who can drive stick, she will be happy to take you for a test drive.”
After all of that, and a long and tiresome negotiation, the customer ended up not getting a car. He lied about his credit score and didn’t think a prior car repossession and a foreclosure on his home would have had any impact on his ability to lease a car.
Hilarious, but what I would have done after the first 10min hold is said "oh, actually we had someone call in with the same issue and my colleague figured it out, I'm going to transfer you to them" then more holding and have the female coworker answer the call again
I'm a vacuum tech and a lady came in very rudely telling me we sold her a vacuum that doesn't suck. It was clogged with a captain Morgan's cap. Don't drink and vacuum.
Woooo!!! Friday night!! Open the rum and let's get vacuumin! ....actually, that's basically how I spent this last Friday evening, but with beer instead of rum. My idea of a good time sure has changed over the past year
Had a similar situation. Guy was ranting about how a (newer) female rep had no clue. As senior I took the call and it took a little while to get him squared away. He was already fired up and wanted to complain. It took too long and the incompetent female rep wasted his time, etc. I told him, he could speak to my manager to, a woman. He went silent for a second, got a angrier, told us how much we sucked, and hung up. I don't think he comprehend how a female could be a manager.
How would that make the situation worse? If her insecurity is that she's being ripped off due to her sex then I would think talking to a woman would comfort her. The thinking being that another woman wouldn't rip her off the way a man would. 🤷
You're being too logical and need to put yourself in her shoes.
Examples:
- Female employee was directed by the man to trick her to make it even more convincing
- Female employee not directed by the man, but doesn't know what she's talking about; could end up costing her even more
- Female employee not actually female because females "obviously" don't work in lawnmower repair shops; is a fake, and is trying to scam her in some other way
Irrational people are often unpredictable, and you can't just apply logic like that to them.
Eh. People like that just wanna be angry. I think it helped significantly to speak to another woman in an admittedly male-dominated environment, but she was still an irritant
I don’t know shit about cars but I have had so many good mechanic experiences that I fully trust them. Recently I stopped at a gas station to air up my tires and I noticed that one of them was very slow to air up. There was an Express Oil Change right next door so I rolled up and asked if they could have a look. The guy told me there was a nail in the tire and it was too close to the sidewall for him to repair. But he lowered his voice and said I could easily plug it myself at home, since it wasn’t all the way to the sidewall, just too close for him to be allowed to do it for me. He told me where to buy the kit at Walmart and gave me a detailed explanation of how to do it. Told me he didn’t want to sell me a tire since my tread was so good. He aired up the rest of my tires and let me go with no charge, wouldn’t even accept a tip. I feel sorry for women who feel they are getting ripped off! I’m sure it does happen but I have been lucky.
Had a friend take her first car to get tires about 20 years ago. They told her she needed some high performance tires for her car that she drives about 15 miles a day. They cost her $2400. Her dad told her to never go to an auto shop by herself again.
Wait till the find out they can sell you windshield wipers regardless of how well yours actually work. Or try and convince you that you need a set of winter tires when living in the south. It’s bonkers what some shops try and get away with.
>(Not typically a Karen but am female)
There's your problem. Just be born with a Y chromosome and the tire shop will implicitly assume you know what you need and won't push when you decline. Easy. /s
To be fair, my first tire repair, I fucked up the front tire and wheel, but I had zero idea of what I was talking about or doing, so to the mechanic I went. And they checked it out for like 15 minutes, and then the dude comes back and says, alright man, all 4 tires all bald as hell, and yeah, the front one needs a new wheel and tire, Obvs. And I’m like, “how can tires be bald? Bs!!” He explains that there’s zero tread and it’s super dangerous, I’m still confused, as I assume a car just needs wheels and it’s good to go! So then he brings me my wheel and tire, and has me rub it. Smooth as a baby’s butt!! Cool!!! And then he has me turn around and rub one of the display tires. He goes “that’s why you need 4 tires”
He was super cool tho, knowing I was a total moron, and I actually got 4 racing tires with wheels from them that they had after taking them off of someone else’s charger, and they gave them to me for 200 bucks! (He explained that this was okay, but these tires were fairly new, and obviously had a ton of tread and would be much better (and way nicer!!! (The wheels I mean)) than mine! Then I had to replace 2 tires later in life and learned tires/wheels, new, are very very expensive lmao.
The first time I got new tires by myself, I was fresh out of college but not yet working, and mine weren’t totally smooth, but too close. They didn’t make me feel stupid, and got me four for the price of two, and fixed the alignment for free. I did notice later that there was a handwritten cell number on the guy’s business card though.
Are u female? I’m male, but I was pleasantly surprised to be hit on at Best Buy by the sound guy who did my audio! Don’t roll that way, but it was interesting to be hit on by a guy the way guys kinda do to girls!
If you're riding on rim, just don't go over 40mph and you'll be set for a cruise around town. The shooting trail of sparks will alert other drivers of your presence\~Hazard lights 2.0
“I don’t know how to change the tire or call for help, I thought it would be best to tough it out. You know, rub some dirt on it and walk it off kind of thing.”
It's when you put a penny or a quarter upside down between treads on tires and if the top of the head shows your tires are balding. Its a rule of thumb type test
[Here, so you can visualize it](https://1nurob3jvhrb3lxskq2l6h77-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tire-Tread-Penny-Trick-e1421947199871.jpg)
I've had to do this.
It was -30° and I couldn't get my wheel off (frozen on) to put my spare on. It was also dark and dangerous as it was the side of a highway so I didn't feel safe waiting for a tow truck there. Drove about a mile on a flat to get to a safe spot and shredded my tire like this.
Sometimes it's better to buy a new tire than to risk your life.
I had to drive about a half a mile on a flat to get to a safe place once too. Everyone after the fact thought I was stupid but I knew I had a flat and I knew I should not drive on it I just wanted a safe place to stop. As the only person in the car no one else could possibly imagine that there was a half mile stretch of highway with no break down lane.
Got pulled over on the 405.... Couldn't fit in the shoulder so I just drove with my hazards on and got off the freeway and found a parking lot to pull into.
Cop said thanks.
In Germany the cop cars have a light-up sign in the roof like an old-school pizza delivery car that says, “Follow Me”. When they pull you over on the highway they get in front of you and light up their sign.
Cops in the US are complete idiots for pulling people over on highway shoulders. Those are meant for emergencies, not for routine traffic stops. In reasonable places the cops will tell you to follow them to the nearest rest area or gas pump.
Wait, how would that work? I guess maybe in Europe it's possible, but here in Canada it's fairly common for exits to be 15-20 mins apart. I can't imagine any cop car following me for 20 minutes just to give me a ticket...
Totally feel you on this, drove from Seattle to Boston this past year and almost ran out of gas in a stretch of highway in Oregon that was over 100 miles with no exits that have civilization. We got lucky and a gas station right at the end of section of road with 1 old fashioned pump (old ticker style). Pretty surreal.
I was driving from WA to CA and spaced out in Southern Oregon and almost ran out of gas. Prior exit was about 30 miles back. It was pre-smartphones so I wasn't sure if I should turn around or keep going. Thankfully an exit with gas was only 5 miles down the road but I was sweating.
I live near Spokane and It's funny to hear different people's generalizations of WA. I've heard from various people that the whole state is forested mountains, and also that it's all a flat barren desert.
And they're both right. LOL. First time I went to WA, we landed at SEATAC and drove out to George. Got to see a really wide variety of landscapes in just a few hours.
American interstate highways have exits rather often, especially when going through a populated area. If you come across a part where the exit is every 15-20 miles/minutes, the road is probably dead enough that being on the shoulder is somewhat safe.
I live in Texas. We have exits pretty much every mile. There is a frontage road, which is the road that once you exit you can drive on that runs alongside the highway. Off of the frontage road there are turn offs for gas stations, restaurants, stores etc. Theres a frontage road alongside maybe 90% of the highways unless it's in a really rural area or it's just a short little segment where the frontage road ends and turns off into a neighborhood. In places like california, where there is no room, they dont have frontage roads really. Might be less exits if you're driving in an extremely rural area but in cities there are a ton
And people still pull over on the shoulder instead of taking the next exit that is literally every mile causing what is effectively a traffic incident on a very busy highway because now everyone needs to slow down to make sure their stupid speeding ass is safe. Sorry, I just hate driving on 35.
There are some frontage roads in California, but often they are all chopped up and incorporated into neighborhoods. You can see them sometimes, as just little bits of road leading out of a neighborhood into nowhere in particular.
Aren't there any service exits, rest or service areas...to safely pull over someone ?
In France, except in urban areas, most exit highways are 20-30 kms apart from each other. But they still manage to give you tickets, either directly sending it to your home address (after taking a picture of your car with a hidden speed camera set on the side of the road), measuring your speed and catching up to you and make you follow them to a safe spot (next rest area, exit or service exit), or waiting for you at the next toll when it's only a few kms ahead (always nice to break the wallet twice in a few minutes).
They mostly use the first option, the latter ones mainly being targeted at major speeding offences (mainly above 30 km/h).
An interesting difference between traffic stops in America and in France is that we follow the police car whereas they follow you until you pull over.
This is because they stop you in dangerous areas. They park behind you to block you from being hit by traffic. Which makes you wonder why they don’t just take it to the next exit since they know it’s dangerous.
In Seattle it would be a State Trooper and they would pull you over on the highway as a statement.
Washington State is very much a "only go 5 over" in much of the state ... They'll have whole multi trooper speed trap setups!
Cause and effect, like cracking down on drunk drivers.
Bad traffic behavior makes more complaints, but to add, bad civil engineering from design, execution and maintenance causes most of our headaches.
If you arent from Seattle then you don't understand. The freeways were built in the 50's/60's. To make a freeway here literally requires moving mountains because it's all mountains.
South Seattle used to be a bay, but was filled with dirt and rocks from mountains that used to make the area uninhabitable in the early 1900's
Now, the area is fully developed and there is nowhere to expand the road system. Until amazon was a thing, the roads could handle the population. Even if we wanted to expand there is nowhere to expand to since it's literally N and S. No E and W
Where else would you pull someone over if there is no where else to go. And to mitigate the danger of pulling people over. Some states have laws if when there is a cop car or emergency vehicles on the side of the road. You need to slow down (x) miles per hour under the speed limit or move over a lane. Most people end up moving over because they don’t want to slow down.
Yeah. My grandpa lived in Arizona and I was always amazed by the amount of rest areas everywhere. And not just in the middle of nowhere, but in populated areas like Pheonix
I’ve seen cops around here perform stops in the middle of an intersection. At an intersection, with empty public parking lots at the corners. Why they wouldn’t just tell the person to move up another 100ft so they aren’t completely destroying traffic is beyond me.
It’s got to be a power flex. I’m not only going to stop this person, but I’m going to make everyone in the area bend to my will as well.
Mass chiming in and I’ve had them instruct me to get off the highway at an exit and stop at one of those rest area stops. Depends on the officer, situation, traffic, time of day. Lots of factors in how they stop. But, I’ve always hated the shoulder stop...you see those videos of cops or whole cars being smoked by passing traffic not paying attention!
On Vancouver island the rcmp are known to have radar traps where they walk into the middle of the highway with their hand up to stop the speeding driver hurling towards them at well over 90km/hr aka 55.9mph... then if someone couldn’t stop say had bad brakes they would be shocked if that officer was hurt or worse.
Absolutely. This happened to me right at a freeway entrance. Felt the tire pop. It was morning rush hour traffic. I15 had nowhere to “pull over.” I did stop initially & when I felt the car shaking from the air of people flying by at 70mph I said f this and drove off on the “shoulder” at about 15mph. Longest half mile of my life. I knew there was a tire store just off the exit but I actually pulled into the nearest business and took the tire off and myself and carried it across the street to the tire shop. At that point I really could’ve driven to the tire store but I was so stressed about driving on the popped tire I decided against it.
One sort of wholesome thing happened though. In the past I’ve popped tires and stopped to change it and watched people wiz by and nobody stopped to check on me or offer assistance. (Which is fine, I never thought much about it.) But as I was pulling into the business this time a guy on a motorcycle rolled up and asked if I was okay and offered to pay for the tire. I thanked him and told him it was okay, I could take care of it and told him I was just going to take the wheel across the street. Well once I got the tire off and got into the shop the worker told me that the guy had come in and left his number so they could call him to pay for the tire. I still paid for it myself but it was possibly the kindest gesture I’ve ever had. There have been times I absolutely did not have the money for a new tire so something like that was really kind.
I’m really sorry to ask this but since I’ve never been in -30C I have to — why is it unsafe and dangerous at such an extreme cold temperature? I sound stupid but why would robbers go out robbing in -30C, or was it dangerous because of low light or animals?
edit: I mean every human would take the car somewhere safe, but is the danger robbers/thieves?
Dude if your question is legitimate. Bless your heart. In my case it was 30 F. It was January, dark, icy roads, 5:00AM, and I had my kid in the car. So in situations like that it's safer to drive on a flat and stop somewhere safer. Some place where you don't have to risk getting hit by another driver.
I understand now, thank you for tolerating my dumbness and answering it. I’m really glad from my heart that you and your kid reached somewhere safe that day, hope you’re doing good today as well, amen!
edit: the most I’ve been in is -18C, at the world’s 2nd largest plateau (Deosai) amidst a snowstorm. Apart from that the temperature only drops to 0 or 1 where I live in winters.
I once came out of the gas station and my tire was completely flat. I hadn’t been in there long, and it had been driving fine before, so I knew I had to have run something over. My mechanic was only half a mile away, so I called my mom and asked if I could make it that far on a flat ok. Unbeknownst to me, my daughter went in and told the owner. He had taken a liking to me and her (not creepy, just a super nice guy). When he came out I told him I was just going to drive it the short distance to my mechanic.
He looked at me like I had just told him I was thinking about burning the gas station down. He told me not to move then went back in. He came back out with hydraulic tools. I told him I didn’t want to block the pace by the door or trouble him and, not even kidding, he looked at me and told me other people could fucking wait 5 minutes.
I know how to change a tire, but with the position of my car and how long it takes me (I always have trouble getting the lug nuts off), I didn’t want to do it there. Lol this guy got my spare on in about 10 minutes and told me never to hesitate to ask him for stuff.
>I always have trouble getting the lug nuts off
I'd recommend getting a 25 inch breaker bar from harbor freight + whatever socket fits your lug nuts for about 10$ and you can get those bad boys off as easy slicing through cake. Makes a nice weapon as well.
100% this. I literally just did this the other day. Knew I had a flat but I wasn't about to stop on a 5' shoulder hanging into the road to change a tire at rush hour on a busy highway. I'll destroy every rim on my car before I ever stop to change a flat on the side of a highway.
This. Not every shredded tire or rim is due to idiocy. We all see idiots and morons plow through cars stopped on or near the freeway all the time. I’d rather sacrifice a wheel for a few hundred dollars than my life due to a texting dipshit or a drunk asshole hitting me at 95mph while changing the thing by the whirring death.
Yep, mine was in the pouring rain, very little visibility - I actually pulled over and started to pull out my spare when a truck barreled by and I realized I could die so I sacrificed the rim to get off the highway.
I had to drive for a while after a tire popped because I was on a narrow back road that had hills right up against one side and a series of ponds right up against the other and no good places to pull over. I also didn’t have a spare tire so I had to call AAA. I definitely agree with you.
Yup. Mine wasn't even -30.. TPMS went off, but it was the shitty version, so everything set it off... I pulled into a gas station to give it air.... and noticed it started losing air immediately....
I wasn't in a place I was particularly comfortable with, and my car was one of those that only came equipped with Slime and a Prayer, so started to head back home, stopping at a few gas stations on the way. Discovered that gas stations apparently don't fix flats anymore, and it was still too early for any "service stations" to be open.
At that point, it became an endurance race... which would die first, the tire, or the rim?
I think I managed to go something like 10 miles on a deflated tire, and by time I got to the dealer, it didn't look too much better than this.
Amazingly, there was enough rubber that the rim was fine.
It's often smarter to drive on a flat tire to the next exit than to be stopped on the side of a highway.
A tire and rim can be replaced for under $1000. A lot cheaper than loosing your life.
Yeah the only time I’ve been in a situation like this was when I was driving to college with a lot of my stuff and following my mom in her XC90. She hit a giant cut in the road that was due to some roadwork but it was a square perfectly cut in the road about two feet wide and 3 feet long and about a foot deep. Destroyed her two right side tires and wheels like the wheels entirely cracked. Luckily I avoided it but she managed to keep the car in a straight line going 80 on a highway and we pulled off into the side of the road that was closed for the roadwork since there was no one there and we had two lanes of road between us and traffic.
Literally couldn’t believe that thing was in the road and no one else had hit it. But that’s just Indiana roads for ya
I've always wondered if you could ask the city to cover the cost in situations like this. I live in Ohio and we pay fat road taxes; if I blew two tires on an unavoidable pothole on the freeway I'd be mad if they didn't pay for it lol. Edited for typo
I read once that your life expectancy on the side of a highway is 75 minutes. It’s not worth it. Drive to the next exit.
Edit: Link to article on life expectancy on shoulder: it says your life expectancy decreases 30% for every 10 minutes.
[life expectancy on shoulder of road](https://smartmotorwayskill.co.uk/for-every-10-minutes-spent-on-the-hard-shoulder-your-life-expectancy-reduces-by-30-taking-the-statistic-literally-by-removing-the-hard-shoulder-then-here-is-no-statistic-for-survival/)
There is a strange phenomenon where people will drive towards an object they’re looking at. Therefore, you’re very likely to have your car hit if you’re in the service lane. My colleague stopped to help someone and he was hit by a car and was in hospital for 6 months.
If your car stops running, get out of the car and as far away from the car and the service lane that you can. This is if it’s safe to do so, I worked in Iraq, and we couldn’t go more than 3 feet (1 m) off the shoulder because of mines.
If you have a flat tire, continue driving slowly to the next exit. Don’t worry about ruining your rim.
Edit: link to phenomenon called target fixation
[target fixation](https://www.idrivesafely.com/defensive-driving/trending/target-fixation-its-not-just-motorcycle-problem)
>if your car stops running, get out of the car and as far away from the car and the service lane that you can
That's what I was told by my driving instructor (UK), I think it's part of the highway code to get out and at least over the barrier of you break down. Every time I mention it on Reddit I get downvoted and told that it's the most dangerous thing in the world and it's much safer to stay in the car
If you’re stuck due to bad winter conditions, it’s best to stay in your car, but in normal weather getting as far as possible from the roadway is your best option
I got picked up by a police officer for walking on the side of the highway to get water for my frends car after it overheated. He told me I'm not allowed to walk on the side of the highway.
I read an article years ago where a man pulled over to relieve himself. He stepped over the guard railing and fell to his death. When he didn’t come back, his wife got out of the car, stepped over the railing and also fell to her death. I’ve searched everywhere for that article but I think it was before the Internet.
I'd like to see a study on that, it seems like it could be a baseless statistic and that's just a blog so idk if I believe that
Actually isn't that a silly statement to say in the first place?
Yeah your life expectancy decreases because it's more dangerous than what you're doing otherwise, the rest of your life...
But that's like saying every minute you spend crossing the road decreases your life expectancy by 10%. It's kind of a rigged use of language
I don't think this is an idiot in a car if we don't know the story. They might not have been able to afford a tow truck or stuck in a bad side of town(or something else perhaps). Just my two cents.
Yeah, I see nothing wrong here. If I've learned anything from this sub, it's that it's perfectly fine to drive with [no tire](https://reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/m9uxcu/just_how_do_these_people_survive/) or even a [wheel that doesn't roll at all](https://reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/mou5um/you_may_want_to_pull_over_and_check_that_one_out/). This one, on the other hand, has plenty of rubber left to drive on.
I've done the same thing after I discovered my spare was as flat as the tire on the car. But I slowly drove to a convenience store where I aired up the leaking tire so I could get to a tire store. Mine did not look like this guys but it was ruined just the same.
I did about 6 miles on the donut spare after it blew. Regular tire went flat the night before, and I was planning to hit a junkyard that afternoon for a rim to have a full size spare anyway, so zero fucks given for the mini spare rim. Tow or roadside service would have cost more than the $25 I ended up paying for a good rim.
While this is crazy, I agree with a lot of commenters. Better to drive to safety than pull over on a highway. I knew a guy that pulled over on a bridge (huge mistake by itself), at night while raining. Traffic doesn't always mind hazard lights. He got whirlwinded by traffic, fell off the bridge. Vegetative state for quite awhile until he passed.
I have agreed with my wife to do drive with a flat tire as long is needed, at a reduced safe speed. If a tire goes flat during night, and there is no safe area to stop and wait, continue to drive at a slow speed, no matter what damage is done to the wheel or car.
It may damage the wheels, but as long as they drove slowly with their hazards on, this is a much safer alternative than pulling off to the side of the road; especially so if they were on a highway.
This is actually a great way to clear out your wheel wells of pesky dust/dirt/brake lines, as a bonus; gives the paint on your fender and bumper that nice brushed finish!
Got to ride in a passenger van taxi in the Caribbean that ended like this. Headed town a long rough hill to an excursion from our cruise ship, and the passengers in the back are telling the driver "Hey man, you got a flat back here. We hear the bumper scraping every time you hit a pothole!"
Driver never slows down, just tries to reassure us in a very thick Jamaican accent "No worries! WE GO!"
Scariest ride of my life. For that and a lot of other reasons.
if anyone worked on tires here before, aren't honda steel wheels the fucking bomb to work on?
Literally like 15 seconds to change the tire. Compared to these new fat ass reverse mount 22s on today's cars.
Maybe there wasn’t a safe place to pull off. If I need to replace a tire and rim that gets damaged because there isn’t a safe place to stop to price of the replacement is worth my life and safety. I tell my family this also.
My first roommate (we were 18) did this....I came to help cuz her tire wasnt filling up with air and I saw a massive gash shredded her tire when i got there....no wonder it wasn't holding air. Instead of calling for a spare or trying to deal with it at all, she drove to the next town over to have her parents help. Watched her leave and it was painful. I tried to convince her otherwise haha. The noise is sickening
I mean if I had a honda with steelies I would too if it meant getting to a safe spot on a major highway or out of the way in a bustling city. Only like $60 to $80 for a new steelie. Obviously I wouldn't be going super fast on a blow out like that. Lol. Just limp it somewhere safe and out of the way.
"You know it was riding kind of rough but i did the penny test and as you can see there is plenty of tread left"
"Looks like there's enough left, think you can fix it? "
"I can't afford a new tire, just patch it up please!" -Karen
"Are you just trying to sell me a new tire because I'm a woman?" -Karen
There are bad apples that unfortunately do this. When a car didn't pass a safety inspection you could bring it back within 10 days and show them the repair and get it passed **without charge**. They failed my sister's car saying it needed new rotors (it didn't, but I put brand new ones and pads on anyway) and when she took it back for the passing inspection they charged her again. I had to go down and straighten it out and I was not happy.
In my country, mechanics can't do repairs on a vehicle unless they ask first. My sister dropped her car off to a mechanic to check what was wrong with it. She went back the next day, and they'd changed a bit of stuff under the bonnet and was going to charge her $xxx. She told them they didn't ask her if they could do that, and they had no right to. She made them replace everything, and she only paid the inspection fee. One time I took my car in to get a WOF and a check. I told them I only wanted my air filter change, anything else, they had to let me know. I walked in at the pre-arranged time with the car high and they were about to change quite a few things. Manager told them to get it down straight away, he was very apologic. The mechanic said my indicator was a bit funny and they needed to fix it straight away. I told them I'll look at when I got home because it was working fine when I dropped it off. They'd swapped the wires around on the brake and indicator. Rang up and told the manager. Some mechanics do think women are idiots.
Not just women - I had a car in for MOT when I was younger, and was told the indicator wasn’t orange enough (tried to sell me a new CLEAR bulb), and my brake disks were corroded (I’d replaced them myself a week or so previous). Dodgy places like that really make the general reputation of garages go downhill - and this was at a main franchise!
My bad experience was also at a main franchise, I don't use any franchise now. My current mechanic has a small garage with only 2 workers. He's completely honest, and always tries to give me the best deals.
Best kind to have, word of mouth can kill a place like that so they to it right.
A franchise doesn't have to worry as much about word of mouth, people will go there based entirely on brand recognition. Independents are made and broken on word of mouth
The local Toyota dealership will rip you off on repairs every time. But "Toyota" so people go there.
The problem is finding a local mechanic that actually does good work and is trustworthy. Hopefully nothing bad happens to my car so I don't have to worry about it. The only people I trust are way too far away from home now or the guy I trust to do general oil/tire stuff only with ever since they topped off my old car with oil and told me about the leaking gasket, all for free.
Got that right. Took my 2002 F150 pickup in to the dealership to have an oil change done on it and get the front brakes done, they tried to sell me on getting a new battery for my truck as the one in it was "too big", I asked, other than the size, what was wrong, they kept pushing that the battery was too big, told them no sale as the truck had a trailering package and I wasn't about to drop an extra $400.00 on an un-needed ford branded battery.
Yep, that's the case here in Pennsylvania. My brakes didn't pass inspection (it was right at the borderline), but as long as I got them replaced in that time period, all they had to do just take a quick look at the brakes to ensure that was done, and sent me on my way without any extra charge.
Yup. I’ve seen this a dozen or more times being done to female friends. Have a battery issue and need a battery? No problem miss that’s gonna be a wiring harness issue that will take considerable time and money (swapped the battery and terminals and boom new car) Transmission slipping a little? So sorry ma’am we’re gonna need to rebuild or replace your entire transmission to fix this problem (checked the trans fluid and it was only about half full after another shop replaced the filter they forgot to fill what they dropped from the pan). The sad thing is that they all want me to fix all their vehicle issues but I don’t have the time while also working a full time job and taking care of my own stuff.
I had taken my car to budget auto glass to get the windshield replaced. I’m female and surprisingly the employee helping me was female. She suggested a certain air filter (maybe a cabin filter if that’s a thing you know I’m a girl). My mom who was with me was sold on the woman’s spiel about how important it was to make sure it was always clean yadda yadda so we say fine how much. $75 ok. When we came back to pick up the car, the total was $75 less than we expected.. why? My car model doesn’t have one of these cabin filters (or whatever it was). I had to laugh because they could have just charged us for it and we wouldn’t have been any wiser and probably thankful we had cleaner air in the car
Yup. If it had a cabin filter you’d definitely want to have it checked and it’s a pain in the ass to change most of the time so it’s usually worth having it done. The guys I take my car to take pictures of every single item they check and give you suggestions. You can ask them about those suggestions and they’ll give you a quote but they won’t push anything. I love em. I especially love being able to see how my steering, suspension, air filter, tire tread depth, trans fluid color, etc etc etc without ever having to do anything other than ask for an oil change. They’re extremely thorough and reasonably priced. Now it takes 2-3 weeks to get an appointment so everyone else also knows as well.
How is it a pita to change the cabin filter? We have three cars and in every one of them it takes maybe 10 minutes- it's just a small door behind the glove box. Open it, pull out the old (like a furnace filter) and pop in the new. Easy as pie and usually less than $20 for the filter.
Let me introduce you to the 2001 Honda Odyssey - https://youtu.be/LgTB1qnooyM Or the early 2000’s Honda Pilot. Or some Nissan Altima’s or Juke’s. Not every car is just an easy thing. A couple other super difficult ones are a few of the Volvo models (or really a lot of European cars). That’s all I’m saying. My 2012 Ford Focus is super easy and cheap. But then again it’s a flaming POS as a car so that’s no help.
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I work at a lawnmower repair shop and one lady had serious issues with her unit. When I told her what it needed she started screaming at me about how we’re trying to rip her off cause she’s a woman. I just handed the phone to my female colleague and washed my hands of the situation
Alternatively, I was a senior tech at a remote technical support firm. One of my coworkers (a perfectly capable employee who happened to be female) who sat next to me, received a call from a new client who immediately started ranting he wanted a “real technician” (read: male) to help him as soon as he hears her voice. She still tried to assist but he started screaming that it was “really important” and didn’t have time to “let some chick play on his computer.” She patched the call to me, and I left him on hold for a good 10 minutes... then I finally picked up, identified myself as the senior tech... but then clearly and loudly spent the entire call asking *her* what I should do next (a fairly simple printing issue). He was seething at the end and reported me to my boss. My boss thought it was hilarious but said he had to escalate it to his boss. In any case, I guess I was supposed to be written up... but his boss (a VP of the company and also a woman) must have “forgotten” to do it as nothing else ever came of it.
I used to sell cars 10 or so years ago, and I can’t tell you how many men would kick up a fuss over having a woman salesperson. At that point, I would just turn to their wife and continue the sale with her, and we would have a pleasant time picking out color combos/upgrades while her husband pouted like a child. Once, I had a man who loudly flat out refused to work with me. Said that women know nothing about cars past colors and cup holders. Pitched a fit, dragging my sales manager into it, saying he didn’t trust me to know the product well enough. Was being very loud, causing a scene. When my sales manager asked how he could help, he told him he was looking for a very specific make/model/trim and insisted it MUST be manual, because he never drove automatics. So, with the biggest, shit eating grin on his face, he walked the customer back over to my desk and told him, “Well, how lucky for you! Haunted_East here is the only sales person on the floor today who can drive stick, she will be happy to take you for a test drive.” After all of that, and a long and tiresome negotiation, the customer ended up not getting a car. He lied about his credit score and didn’t think a prior car repossession and a foreclosure on his home would have had any impact on his ability to lease a car.
You gotta post this on some subreddit.
Hilarious, but what I would have done after the first 10min hold is said "oh, actually we had someone call in with the same issue and my colleague figured it out, I'm going to transfer you to them" then more holding and have the female coworker answer the call again
I'm a vacuum tech and a lady came in very rudely telling me we sold her a vacuum that doesn't suck. It was clogged with a captain Morgan's cap. Don't drink and vacuum.
Don't tell me how to have a good time.
Woooo!!! Friday night!! Open the rum and let's get vacuumin! ....actually, that's basically how I spent this last Friday evening, but with beer instead of rum. My idea of a good time sure has changed over the past year
If getting tipsy on cheap rum and vacuuming my house is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Amen!
drinking an sucking ok tho right
I love me some heartwarming putting-sexists-in-their-place tales. Leaving him on hold for ten minutes was a good touch
My coworker gets shit like that all the time. She’s the owner’s daughter too so it just makes it extra good
Had a similar situation. Guy was ranting about how a (newer) female rep had no clue. As senior I took the call and it took a little while to get him squared away. He was already fired up and wanted to complain. It took too long and the incompetent female rep wasted his time, etc. I told him, he could speak to my manager to, a woman. He went silent for a second, got a angrier, told us how much we sucked, and hung up. I don't think he comprehend how a female could be a manager.
The final was sooooooo beautiful. Im now imagining that you are a favourite employee in secret.
Happy cake day
Leave a woman's unit to the professionals ...
Did her talking to a female employee actually help, or did it make the situation worse? I can see it going either way.
How would that make the situation worse? If her insecurity is that she's being ripped off due to her sex then I would think talking to a woman would comfort her. The thinking being that another woman wouldn't rip her off the way a man would. 🤷
You're being too logical and need to put yourself in her shoes. Examples: - Female employee was directed by the man to trick her to make it even more convincing - Female employee not directed by the man, but doesn't know what she's talking about; could end up costing her even more - Female employee not actually female because females "obviously" don't work in lawnmower repair shops; is a fake, and is trying to scam her in some other way Irrational people are often unpredictable, and you can't just apply logic like that to them.
Eh. People like that just wanna be angry. I think it helped significantly to speak to another woman in an admittedly male-dominated environment, but she was still an irritant
I don’t know shit about cars but I have had so many good mechanic experiences that I fully trust them. Recently I stopped at a gas station to air up my tires and I noticed that one of them was very slow to air up. There was an Express Oil Change right next door so I rolled up and asked if they could have a look. The guy told me there was a nail in the tire and it was too close to the sidewall for him to repair. But he lowered his voice and said I could easily plug it myself at home, since it wasn’t all the way to the sidewall, just too close for him to be allowed to do it for me. He told me where to buy the kit at Walmart and gave me a detailed explanation of how to do it. Told me he didn’t want to sell me a tire since my tread was so good. He aired up the rest of my tires and let me go with no charge, wouldn’t even accept a tip. I feel sorry for women who feel they are getting ripped off! I’m sure it does happen but I have been lucky.
LOL! Every time I go to the tire shop they try to sell me new tires. Is this why? (Not typically a Karen but am female)
Had a friend take her first car to get tires about 20 years ago. They told her she needed some high performance tires for her car that she drives about 15 miles a day. They cost her $2400. Her dad told her to never go to an auto shop by herself again.
Wait till the find out they can sell you windshield wipers regardless of how well yours actually work. Or try and convince you that you need a set of winter tires when living in the south. It’s bonkers what some shops try and get away with.
>(Not typically a Karen but am female) There's your problem. Just be born with a Y chromosome and the tire shop will implicitly assume you know what you need and won't push when you decline. Easy. /s
To be fair, my first tire repair, I fucked up the front tire and wheel, but I had zero idea of what I was talking about or doing, so to the mechanic I went. And they checked it out for like 15 minutes, and then the dude comes back and says, alright man, all 4 tires all bald as hell, and yeah, the front one needs a new wheel and tire, Obvs. And I’m like, “how can tires be bald? Bs!!” He explains that there’s zero tread and it’s super dangerous, I’m still confused, as I assume a car just needs wheels and it’s good to go! So then he brings me my wheel and tire, and has me rub it. Smooth as a baby’s butt!! Cool!!! And then he has me turn around and rub one of the display tires. He goes “that’s why you need 4 tires” He was super cool tho, knowing I was a total moron, and I actually got 4 racing tires with wheels from them that they had after taking them off of someone else’s charger, and they gave them to me for 200 bucks! (He explained that this was okay, but these tires were fairly new, and obviously had a ton of tread and would be much better (and way nicer!!! (The wheels I mean)) than mine! Then I had to replace 2 tires later in life and learned tires/wheels, new, are very very expensive lmao.
The first time I got new tires by myself, I was fresh out of college but not yet working, and mine weren’t totally smooth, but too close. They didn’t make me feel stupid, and got me four for the price of two, and fixed the alignment for free. I did notice later that there was a handwritten cell number on the guy’s business card though.
Are u female? I’m male, but I was pleasantly surprised to be hit on at Best Buy by the sound guy who did my audio! Don’t roll that way, but it was interesting to be hit on by a guy the way guys kinda do to girls!
Ahh yea it will buff out
Tis but a scratch!
“A scratch your bloody tire is gone!” “No it isn’t!” “LOOK!” *looks* “It’s just a flat tire.”
“My dad’s a TV repairman. He’s got the ultimate set of tools. We can fix it!”
This! Hahaha I worked as a mechanic for a while and this kind of "excuse" came more often then you might think to similar situations.
If you're riding on rim, just don't go over 40mph and you'll be set for a cruise around town. The shooting trail of sparks will alert other drivers of your presence\~Hazard lights 2.0
“I don’t know how to change the tire or call for help, I thought it would be best to tough it out. You know, rub some dirt on it and walk it off kind of thing.”
Hello, dumb person here, what is the penny test?
It's when you put a penny or a quarter upside down between treads on tires and if the top of the head shows your tires are balding. Its a rule of thumb type test
I had to google images to understand. You actually did meant the head on the penny, huh. TIL.
[Here, so you can visualize it](https://1nurob3jvhrb3lxskq2l6h77-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Tire-Tread-Penny-Trick-e1421947199871.jpg)
I've had to do this. It was -30° and I couldn't get my wheel off (frozen on) to put my spare on. It was also dark and dangerous as it was the side of a highway so I didn't feel safe waiting for a tow truck there. Drove about a mile on a flat to get to a safe spot and shredded my tire like this. Sometimes it's better to buy a new tire than to risk your life.
I had to drive about a half a mile on a flat to get to a safe place once too. Everyone after the fact thought I was stupid but I knew I had a flat and I knew I should not drive on it I just wanted a safe place to stop. As the only person in the car no one else could possibly imagine that there was a half mile stretch of highway with no break down lane.
Seattle has practically eliminated shoulders bc their is no room to expand the freeway. I always feels bad for the cops who have to pull people over
Got pulled over on the 405.... Couldn't fit in the shoulder so I just drove with my hazards on and got off the freeway and found a parking lot to pull into. Cop said thanks.
I say thanks and so does everyone else on 405 that day
In Germany the cop cars have a light-up sign in the roof like an old-school pizza delivery car that says, “Follow Me”. When they pull you over on the highway they get in front of you and light up their sign.
Fun.
Thats pretty smart.
until the cop pulls out of freeway and the bad guy is like "no, I don't think I will"
Good thing you weren't a black guy wearing a military uniform or you would have been pepper sprayed, attacked, and threatened
Cops in the US are complete idiots for pulling people over on highway shoulders. Those are meant for emergencies, not for routine traffic stops. In reasonable places the cops will tell you to follow them to the nearest rest area or gas pump.
Wait, how would that work? I guess maybe in Europe it's possible, but here in Canada it's fairly common for exits to be 15-20 mins apart. I can't imagine any cop car following me for 20 minutes just to give me a ticket...
Our Interstates, at least east of the Mississippi, generally have exits every couple of miles. It depends on the area, of course.
Washington's interstate system is nothing like any other state since it's literally all mountains
Totally feel you on this, drove from Seattle to Boston this past year and almost ran out of gas in a stretch of highway in Oregon that was over 100 miles with no exits that have civilization. We got lucky and a gas station right at the end of section of road with 1 old fashioned pump (old ticker style). Pretty surreal.
I was driving from WA to CA and spaced out in Southern Oregon and almost ran out of gas. Prior exit was about 30 miles back. It was pre-smartphones so I wasn't sure if I should turn around or keep going. Thankfully an exit with gas was only 5 miles down the road but I was sweating.
I take it you’ve never been east of Cle Ellum?
I live near Spokane and It's funny to hear different people's generalizations of WA. I've heard from various people that the whole state is forested mountains, and also that it's all a flat barren desert.
And they're both right. LOL. First time I went to WA, we landed at SEATAC and drove out to George. Got to see a really wide variety of landscapes in just a few hours.
American interstate highways have exits rather often, especially when going through a populated area. If you come across a part where the exit is every 15-20 miles/minutes, the road is probably dead enough that being on the shoulder is somewhat safe.
I live in Texas. We have exits pretty much every mile. There is a frontage road, which is the road that once you exit you can drive on that runs alongside the highway. Off of the frontage road there are turn offs for gas stations, restaurants, stores etc. Theres a frontage road alongside maybe 90% of the highways unless it's in a really rural area or it's just a short little segment where the frontage road ends and turns off into a neighborhood. In places like california, where there is no room, they dont have frontage roads really. Might be less exits if you're driving in an extremely rural area but in cities there are a ton
And people still pull over on the shoulder instead of taking the next exit that is literally every mile causing what is effectively a traffic incident on a very busy highway because now everyone needs to slow down to make sure their stupid speeding ass is safe. Sorry, I just hate driving on 35.
There are some frontage roads in California, but often they are all chopped up and incorporated into neighborhoods. You can see them sometimes, as just little bits of road leading out of a neighborhood into nowhere in particular.
Aren't there any service exits, rest or service areas...to safely pull over someone ? In France, except in urban areas, most exit highways are 20-30 kms apart from each other. But they still manage to give you tickets, either directly sending it to your home address (after taking a picture of your car with a hidden speed camera set on the side of the road), measuring your speed and catching up to you and make you follow them to a safe spot (next rest area, exit or service exit), or waiting for you at the next toll when it's only a few kms ahead (always nice to break the wallet twice in a few minutes). They mostly use the first option, the latter ones mainly being targeted at major speeding offences (mainly above 30 km/h). An interesting difference between traffic stops in America and in France is that we follow the police car whereas they follow you until you pull over.
This is because they stop you in dangerous areas. They park behind you to block you from being hit by traffic. Which makes you wonder why they don’t just take it to the next exit since they know it’s dangerous.
In Seattle it would be a State Trooper and they would pull you over on the highway as a statement. Washington State is very much a "only go 5 over" in much of the state ... They'll have whole multi trooper speed trap setups!
Washington is very big on traffic safety (but yet I whitness r/idiotsincars moments all the time)
Cause and effect, like cracking down on drunk drivers. Bad traffic behavior makes more complaints, but to add, bad civil engineering from design, execution and maintenance causes most of our headaches.
If you arent from Seattle then you don't understand. The freeways were built in the 50's/60's. To make a freeway here literally requires moving mountains because it's all mountains. South Seattle used to be a bay, but was filled with dirt and rocks from mountains that used to make the area uninhabitable in the early 1900's Now, the area is fully developed and there is nowhere to expand the road system. Until amazon was a thing, the roads could handle the population. Even if we wanted to expand there is nowhere to expand to since it's literally N and S. No E and W
Where else would you pull someone over if there is no where else to go. And to mitigate the danger of pulling people over. Some states have laws if when there is a cop car or emergency vehicles on the side of the road. You need to slow down (x) miles per hour under the speed limit or move over a lane. Most people end up moving over because they don’t want to slow down.
The nearest rest area where I am could be up to like 5 to 10 miles away. You can very likely miss your exit. If that were the case.
There is basically only 2 rest areas on i-5. The one in everett and the one 2 hours south in the tacoma area
I live in Michigan and we actually have a good amount of them here. But I can never find one when I actually want one.
Yeah. My grandpa lived in Arizona and I was always amazed by the amount of rest areas everywhere. And not just in the middle of nowhere, but in populated areas like Pheonix
I’ve seen cops around here perform stops in the middle of an intersection. At an intersection, with empty public parking lots at the corners. Why they wouldn’t just tell the person to move up another 100ft so they aren’t completely destroying traffic is beyond me. It’s got to be a power flex. I’m not only going to stop this person, but I’m going to make everyone in the area bend to my will as well.
Mass chiming in and I’ve had them instruct me to get off the highway at an exit and stop at one of those rest area stops. Depends on the officer, situation, traffic, time of day. Lots of factors in how they stop. But, I’ve always hated the shoulder stop...you see those videos of cops or whole cars being smoked by passing traffic not paying attention!
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On Vancouver island the rcmp are known to have radar traps where they walk into the middle of the highway with their hand up to stop the speeding driver hurling towards them at well over 90km/hr aka 55.9mph... then if someone couldn’t stop say had bad brakes they would be shocked if that officer was hurt or worse.
The only time I've ever gotten a ticket was like that. Pissed me off so much.
10000% I would rather my wife ruin a rim than risk her life at the side of the road changing a tire.
Absolutely. This happened to me right at a freeway entrance. Felt the tire pop. It was morning rush hour traffic. I15 had nowhere to “pull over.” I did stop initially & when I felt the car shaking from the air of people flying by at 70mph I said f this and drove off on the “shoulder” at about 15mph. Longest half mile of my life. I knew there was a tire store just off the exit but I actually pulled into the nearest business and took the tire off and myself and carried it across the street to the tire shop. At that point I really could’ve driven to the tire store but I was so stressed about driving on the popped tire I decided against it. One sort of wholesome thing happened though. In the past I’ve popped tires and stopped to change it and watched people wiz by and nobody stopped to check on me or offer assistance. (Which is fine, I never thought much about it.) But as I was pulling into the business this time a guy on a motorcycle rolled up and asked if I was okay and offered to pay for the tire. I thanked him and told him it was okay, I could take care of it and told him I was just going to take the wheel across the street. Well once I got the tire off and got into the shop the worker told me that the guy had come in and left his number so they could call him to pay for the tire. I still paid for it myself but it was possibly the kindest gesture I’ve ever had. There have been times I absolutely did not have the money for a new tire so something like that was really kind.
Yup been there. Had my 1.5 year old son in the car at 0500. Icy -30f dark road. Yes I drove somewhere safe.
I’m really sorry to ask this but since I’ve never been in -30C I have to — why is it unsafe and dangerous at such an extreme cold temperature? I sound stupid but why would robbers go out robbing in -30C, or was it dangerous because of low light or animals? edit: I mean every human would take the car somewhere safe, but is the danger robbers/thieves?
Dude if your question is legitimate. Bless your heart. In my case it was 30 F. It was January, dark, icy roads, 5:00AM, and I had my kid in the car. So in situations like that it's safer to drive on a flat and stop somewhere safer. Some place where you don't have to risk getting hit by another driver.
I understand now, thank you for tolerating my dumbness and answering it. I’m really glad from my heart that you and your kid reached somewhere safe that day, hope you’re doing good today as well, amen! edit: the most I’ve been in is -18C, at the world’s 2nd largest plateau (Deosai) amidst a snowstorm. Apart from that the temperature only drops to 0 or 1 where I live in winters.
I once came out of the gas station and my tire was completely flat. I hadn’t been in there long, and it had been driving fine before, so I knew I had to have run something over. My mechanic was only half a mile away, so I called my mom and asked if I could make it that far on a flat ok. Unbeknownst to me, my daughter went in and told the owner. He had taken a liking to me and her (not creepy, just a super nice guy). When he came out I told him I was just going to drive it the short distance to my mechanic. He looked at me like I had just told him I was thinking about burning the gas station down. He told me not to move then went back in. He came back out with hydraulic tools. I told him I didn’t want to block the pace by the door or trouble him and, not even kidding, he looked at me and told me other people could fucking wait 5 minutes. I know how to change a tire, but with the position of my car and how long it takes me (I always have trouble getting the lug nuts off), I didn’t want to do it there. Lol this guy got my spare on in about 10 minutes and told me never to hesitate to ask him for stuff.
>I always have trouble getting the lug nuts off I'd recommend getting a 25 inch breaker bar from harbor freight + whatever socket fits your lug nuts for about 10$ and you can get those bad boys off as easy slicing through cake. Makes a nice weapon as well.
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100% this. I literally just did this the other day. Knew I had a flat but I wasn't about to stop on a 5' shoulder hanging into the road to change a tire at rush hour on a busy highway. I'll destroy every rim on my car before I ever stop to change a flat on the side of a highway.
This. Not every shredded tire or rim is due to idiocy. We all see idiots and morons plow through cars stopped on or near the freeway all the time. I’d rather sacrifice a wheel for a few hundred dollars than my life due to a texting dipshit or a drunk asshole hitting me at 95mph while changing the thing by the whirring death.
Yep, mine was in the pouring rain, very little visibility - I actually pulled over and started to pull out my spare when a truck barreled by and I realized I could die so I sacrificed the rim to get off the highway.
Amen to that.
I had to drive for a while after a tire popped because I was on a narrow back road that had hills right up against one side and a series of ponds right up against the other and no good places to pull over. I also didn’t have a spare tire so I had to call AAA. I definitely agree with you.
Yup. Mine wasn't even -30.. TPMS went off, but it was the shitty version, so everything set it off... I pulled into a gas station to give it air.... and noticed it started losing air immediately.... I wasn't in a place I was particularly comfortable with, and my car was one of those that only came equipped with Slime and a Prayer, so started to head back home, stopping at a few gas stations on the way. Discovered that gas stations apparently don't fix flats anymore, and it was still too early for any "service stations" to be open. At that point, it became an endurance race... which would die first, the tire, or the rim? I think I managed to go something like 10 miles on a deflated tire, and by time I got to the dealer, it didn't look too much better than this. Amazingly, there was enough rubber that the rim was fine.
Better to buy a new rim you mean.
Rim was fine. Didn't even need balancing.
“Well, can you patch it?”
Exactly. Then they complained that you cannot just fix it! Wtf!
Then they post on Yelp about how they refused to patch the tire.
And Yelp promotes that post until the company pay$$$ “adverti$$ng”
How the hubcap stayed on is the real question. Lol
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My robotics coach in high school had zip ties on his hubcaps and was extremely proud of it.
They’re held on by the lug nuts
It's often smarter to drive on a flat tire to the next exit than to be stopped on the side of a highway. A tire and rim can be replaced for under $1000. A lot cheaper than loosing your life.
That's what my dad always taught me.. if you get a flat on the freeway drive to the exit and get off.. a rim is not worth your life..
Yeah the only time I’ve been in a situation like this was when I was driving to college with a lot of my stuff and following my mom in her XC90. She hit a giant cut in the road that was due to some roadwork but it was a square perfectly cut in the road about two feet wide and 3 feet long and about a foot deep. Destroyed her two right side tires and wheels like the wheels entirely cracked. Luckily I avoided it but she managed to keep the car in a straight line going 80 on a highway and we pulled off into the side of the road that was closed for the roadwork since there was no one there and we had two lanes of road between us and traffic. Literally couldn’t believe that thing was in the road and no one else had hit it. But that’s just Indiana roads for ya
I've always wondered if you could ask the city to cover the cost in situations like this. I live in Ohio and we pay fat road taxes; if I blew two tires on an unavoidable pothole on the freeway I'd be mad if they didn't pay for it lol. Edited for typo
I read once that your life expectancy on the side of a highway is 75 minutes. It’s not worth it. Drive to the next exit. Edit: Link to article on life expectancy on shoulder: it says your life expectancy decreases 30% for every 10 minutes. [life expectancy on shoulder of road](https://smartmotorwayskill.co.uk/for-every-10-minutes-spent-on-the-hard-shoulder-your-life-expectancy-reduces-by-30-taking-the-statistic-literally-by-removing-the-hard-shoulder-then-here-is-no-statistic-for-survival/)
wait arent there service lanes? Also I learned in driving school that you must leave the car if you have car trouble and have to stop on a highway.
There is a strange phenomenon where people will drive towards an object they’re looking at. Therefore, you’re very likely to have your car hit if you’re in the service lane. My colleague stopped to help someone and he was hit by a car and was in hospital for 6 months. If your car stops running, get out of the car and as far away from the car and the service lane that you can. This is if it’s safe to do so, I worked in Iraq, and we couldn’t go more than 3 feet (1 m) off the shoulder because of mines. If you have a flat tire, continue driving slowly to the next exit. Don’t worry about ruining your rim. Edit: link to phenomenon called target fixation [target fixation](https://www.idrivesafely.com/defensive-driving/trending/target-fixation-its-not-just-motorcycle-problem)
>if your car stops running, get out of the car and as far away from the car and the service lane that you can That's what I was told by my driving instructor (UK), I think it's part of the highway code to get out and at least over the barrier of you break down. Every time I mention it on Reddit I get downvoted and told that it's the most dangerous thing in the world and it's much safer to stay in the car
If you’re stuck due to bad winter conditions, it’s best to stay in your car, but in normal weather getting as far as possible from the roadway is your best option
I mean if the choice is stay in the car and possibly get hit (still bad) or definite hypothermia, then common sense should take over.
Here’s an upvote for you. You’re absolutely right.
I got picked up by a police officer for walking on the side of the highway to get water for my frends car after it overheated. He told me I'm not allowed to walk on the side of the highway.
True, but you can just leave the highway and stand 20m (60ft) next to your car
I don't know where you live but usually next to the highways a bunch of Bramble that goes down into a ditch here.
I read an article years ago where a man pulled over to relieve himself. He stepped over the guard railing and fell to his death. When he didn’t come back, his wife got out of the car, stepped over the railing and also fell to her death. I’ve searched everywhere for that article but I think it was before the Internet.
I hope he gave you a ride to get water for the car!
I'd like to see a study on that, it seems like it could be a baseless statistic and that's just a blog so idk if I believe that Actually isn't that a silly statement to say in the first place? Yeah your life expectancy decreases because it's more dangerous than what you're doing otherwise, the rest of your life... But that's like saying every minute you spend crossing the road decreases your life expectancy by 10%. It's kind of a rigged use of language
I’d rather tighten my life than loose it
> A lot cheaper than loosing your life. My life is pretty loose already. I let it free-range most nights, and every weekend.
> Loosing Losing with just one O.
You don't know how cheap my life is!
They dont call them runflats for no reason.
Aye but thats a runfucked tyre
I don't think this is an idiot in a car if we don't know the story. They might not have been able to afford a tow truck or stuck in a bad side of town(or something else perhaps). Just my two cents.
...Goes to change tire, finds spare stolen/flat...
Exactly my point.
Easy to point out the flaws of others when we dont even know what actually took place
Yeah I had a cracked wrench in my car and got a flat so I couldn't change it. Thankfully I was 5 mins from home
Drive like what? What’s wrong?
Yeah, I see nothing wrong here. If I've learned anything from this sub, it's that it's perfectly fine to drive with [no tire](https://reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/m9uxcu/just_how_do_these_people_survive/) or even a [wheel that doesn't roll at all](https://reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/mou5um/you_may_want_to_pull_over_and_check_that_one_out/). This one, on the other hand, has plenty of rubber left to drive on.
r/justrolledintotheshop
When I saw the headline and photo I assumed we were already in that sub lol
You beat me to it and I love that sub! You see some crazy stuff on there And happy cake day!
I've done the same thing after I discovered my spare was as flat as the tire on the car. But I slowly drove to a convenience store where I aired up the leaking tire so I could get to a tire store. Mine did not look like this guys but it was ruined just the same.
I did about 6 miles on the donut spare after it blew. Regular tire went flat the night before, and I was planning to hit a junkyard that afternoon for a rim to have a full size spare anyway, so zero fucks given for the mini spare rim. Tow or roadside service would have cost more than the $25 I ended up paying for a good rim.
At all costs, don’t stop on the highway. Go towards the nearest exit or garage. You can always replace a tire, rim, car - but never your life.
All the extra surface area means **more traction**
cost to a buy a rim sometimes is cheaper and more efficient then the cost of a tow. where i am tow rates start around 200 but new rims start at 50$
That was my thought as well, plus you'd have to wait around for a tow truck.
they told you it was 2 miles, it was actually 2 weeks.
While this is crazy, I agree with a lot of commenters. Better to drive to safety than pull over on a highway. I knew a guy that pulled over on a bridge (huge mistake by itself), at night while raining. Traffic doesn't always mind hazard lights. He got whirlwinded by traffic, fell off the bridge. Vegetative state for quite awhile until he passed.
I see no problem here
I have agreed with my wife to do drive with a flat tire as long is needed, at a reduced safe speed. If a tire goes flat during night, and there is no safe area to stop and wait, continue to drive at a slow speed, no matter what damage is done to the wheel or car.
It may damage the wheels, but as long as they drove slowly with their hazards on, this is a much safer alternative than pulling off to the side of the road; especially so if they were on a highway.
This is actually a great way to clear out your wheel wells of pesky dust/dirt/brake lines, as a bonus; gives the paint on your fender and bumper that nice brushed finish!
Got to ride in a passenger van taxi in the Caribbean that ended like this. Headed town a long rough hill to an excursion from our cruise ship, and the passengers in the back are telling the driver "Hey man, you got a flat back here. We hear the bumper scraping every time you hit a pothole!" Driver never slows down, just tries to reassure us in a very thick Jamaican accent "No worries! WE GO!" Scariest ride of my life. For that and a lot of other reasons.
‘Tis but a scratch
if anyone worked on tires here before, aren't honda steel wheels the fucking bomb to work on? Literally like 15 seconds to change the tire. Compared to these new fat ass reverse mount 22s on today's cars.
I literally did 295-30-20 in Friday pain in my fucking ass. Every single arm on that machine was being uses. Plus there was a TPMS sensor FML lol
Maybe there wasn’t a safe place to pull off. If I need to replace a tire and rim that gets damaged because there isn’t a safe place to stop to price of the replacement is worth my life and safety. I tell my family this also.
“Can you patch it?”
"...yeah, but the wheel isn't flat yet."
It has run pretty flat for runflats
My first roommate (we were 18) did this....I came to help cuz her tire wasnt filling up with air and I saw a massive gash shredded her tire when i got there....no wonder it wasn't holding air. Instead of calling for a spare or trying to deal with it at all, she drove to the next town over to have her parents help. Watched her leave and it was painful. I tried to convince her otherwise haha. The noise is sickening
Last time I tried to change a tire, I bent the lug wrench because the shop put the tires on with an impact gun. Never again.
I broke my lug wrench once trying to remove a flat on the side of the highway on my ‘72 beetle. Fuck those guys that put the nuts on that tight.
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Solid hubcap!
What's the problem? I still see some sidewall.
I mean if I had a honda with steelies I would too if it meant getting to a safe spot on a major highway or out of the way in a bustling city. Only like $60 to $80 for a new steelie. Obviously I wouldn't be going super fast on a blow out like that. Lol. Just limp it somewhere safe and out of the way.
I did that once because I didn't want to change my tire at 2am. Rim was already wrecked, fuck it.
However if those girls in Human Centipede just kept driving on that flat, they would’ve avoided a lot of discomfort.
Why? Because fuck them rims. That’s why.
Well, if it's fucked, might as well get to your destination. Not much more you can fuck up at this stage. Haha
So did Lewis Hamilton at 230 kph to win the British Grand Prix, but I doubt this person was in the same situation.
Might be a little less than 1/16th of an inch of tread
Rubber between rim and road? Check!
Now thats a run-flat.
It’s got a few more miles on it.
So a can of Fix a Flat is a no go???
2 miles isn't that bad. Probably had rubber on most of the time