My parents were driving to the beach for vacation. Their car broke down in a small city just under 100 miles from their destination and about 250 miles from home. It's under warranty, but the nearest dealership is 50 miles away (in a completely different direction than either home or the beach), and of course neither a dealership nor local independent mechanics will be open until Monday. I'm mechanically-inclined but they're not, so trying to diagnose it and do a hotel parking lot repair seems like a no-go. They have roadside assistance that covers a tow to the nearest mechanic, but presumably not 50 miles to a dealer. They were worried about not getting a refund for their prepaid hotel reservation (a couple thousand bucks), but the hotel apparently let them reschedule it to next week.
I think they're trying to get quotes from towing companies now, but my wild guess is that a 90-mile weekend tow would be pretty expensive, let alone a 250-mile one. I really have no idea, though.
It seems to me that our options include:
- Limp it or have it towed to a local mechanic and be stuck in the city they're in until it's fixed.
- Have the car towed 50 miles to the nearest dealer and be stuck in that city until it's fixed.
- Have the car towed 90 miles to the dealer at their destination, move their hotel reservation back to its original date, and have it fixed while they're on vacation.
- Have the car towed 250 miles to home.
- Rent a U-haul box truck and an auto trailer and tow it to the dealership at the beach themselves ($194).
- Rent a U-haul box truck and an auto trailer and tow it home themselves ($369). (They're leaning towards this, but leery because they haven't towed anything in decades.)
- Have me drive out to meet them, rent the U-haul box truck and trailer, and let me tow it home while they drive my car home.
- Have me rent a towing-capable pickup truck here, drive out to them, rent an auto trailer there, and have me tow it home. (The trouble with this is that "car rental" places only have light-duty pickups that might not have suitable hitch and/or tow rating, "truck rental" places aren't open until Monday, and Home Depot, which rents F-250s and is open on Sunday, apparently prohibits towing except for equipment rented from them.)
Any advice is welcome!
UPDATE: They picked the "rent a U-haul box truck and an auto trailer and tow it home themselves" option, and have made it home safely. Thanks for all the advice!
Did you make sure it wasn't something stupid stopping the car from running? Like does it have gas? Is the battery connected properly? Do some basic checks before you waste time and money getting out there.
See if there's a mobile mechanic in that region that can come look at it. The problem is probably something simple they can diagnose right away.
Then if it's not a simple fix, I would have them tow it with a Penske truck but only if they know what they're doing. You can total a car by towing it wrong.
I don't think it's so simple as to be a gas or a battery thing. I tried to get them to cooperate with some troubleshooting, but they're old and don't have the patience for it.
If they tow it, it'll be with a U-Haul Auto Transport (a trailer that supports all four wheels off the ground).