Hot, lost and hungry: horror breakdown stories 

Having your car break down is never ideal.

It’s particularly prevalent phenomena in summer, when the temperature outside rises and the air-conditioning is rendered all but useless, making the cabin feel like a sauna.

For me, it was also a reality a few years ago when half-way across Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge in peak hour, my tiny Daewoo Matiz (Kel’s car from Kath & Kim) decided it needed a rest.

Truth be told I had literally expressed this as one of my greatest fears not too long before it happened, and as the B-double trucks sped by me and my car swayed by their force, well, this fear was confirmed.

Thankfully, due to the inopportune location of my breakdown, two trucks were sent pronto, courtesy of the bridges’ safety cameras, to tow me off away from living hell and to a service station where I could contact roadside assistance and wait in the airconditioned building.

But of course, I am not the only one to have one of these horror breakdown stories, here are some others shared with me by fellow carsales readers.

As we all know, the emergency lanes at the sides of freeways and highways aren’t all that roomy, which of course means that drivers must consider vehicles and people who may be parked – or broken down – there.

Well, some drivers at least.

For 49-year-old Stuart, as he waited inside his car for NRMA roadside assistance, he heard screeching tyres and then felt a huge jolt as his car was thrust forward by an SUV that hadn’t been paying attention and rammed into the back of his car.

“I reckon the car was pushed up a good ten metres and ended up horizontal, half in the outside lane of the highway,” he told carsales.

Luckily, Stuart still had his seatbelt on and other than a few bruises and a shock, he wasn’t hurt.

“It was just lucky there wasn’t a whole lot of other drivers so no one was in that lane, otherwise I think the whole thing could have been a lot worse.”

As for the other driver, well she was apologetic, remorseful and took full responsibility for her actions.

Bonnie and two of her university girlfriends, decided a girl’s trip to Byron Bay was in order to celebrate the end of exams. With a car packed full of luggage and a cabin booked for a couple of nights about halfway to break up the trip from Melbourne, they thought they had everything thought of.

“The cabin we had booked was off the main route but it looked really lovely and we were on an adventure so it didn’t bother us. However, 45 minutes after we turned off the main highway, we realised that we were lost,” Bonnie says.

But it turns out being lost was the least of their problems, with two of Bonnie’s tyres inadvertently punctured along the way and rendering the car undrivable.

“I had one spare but not two, and I didn’t have roadside assistance either. But where we were didn’t have mobile service so that wouldn’t have helped even if we did,” she says.

While it was a hot day, with a stockpile of road trip snacks and water, the girls weren’t too worried as they waited for two hours until another motorist came along.

“The lady who saw us gave us a lift to the nearest service station where we had service and could arrange for some help. While it wasn't ideal, we eventually made it to our accommodation, got new tyres and made it to Byron, only a day behind schedule.”

After a big afternoon playing cricket, Josh and his mate decided a Maccas feast was in order for dinner that night.

“We were stuffed and hungry. It was also hot so all we wanted was to get a big meal, drive home and just chill,” Josh says.

After joining a long line of other seemingly hungry drivers in the drive-thru, they placed their order in the speaker but as they went to move forward, the car wouldn’t move.

“It just decided enough was enough,” Josh says.

Panicking, given they were now trapped in a line with cars in front and behind them, Josh and his friend looked at the engine, Googled and called their car-savvy mates in an attempt to work out the issue.

“In the end, we had to call a mate who worked at a tow truck company who towed the car to a mechanic. But this wasn’t until after we had been stuck in the line for over an hour, with hangry people behind us not able to order their food from the drive-thru.”

Top Wazza tells us: About two years ago I went out four-wheel driving – just me and my dog – and I ended up getting bogged, deep in a state forest around 90 minutes from home, with almost no phone reception.

As the sun began to set, I tried for two hours to get myself out, using logs and branches under the tyres as makeshift ramps, because I didn’t have any recovery gear with me at the time. Worst of all, it was bucketing down, muddy, and I was stuck at the bottom of a big hill.

Needless to say, I didn’t plan on hitting tracks that challenging and I wasn’t an experienced off-roader at the time, so looking back, it was a bit silly.

With most of friends and family interstate, I ended up messaging a group chat with my work mates, who came to rescue me and my dog; we had to walk 5km out to road that was easy to find on Google maps.

A few of us came back the next day with proper equipment but it still took about eight hours to get my ute out.

Moral of the story: never go 4x4ing alone.

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