Roadside Help in Redwood City, and What to Do First
If your car will not start, has a flat, or will not make it to the shop under its own power, call us and describe what happened before arranging anything else. Five Points Tire offers free pickup for most vehicle repairs using our own flatbed, so in many cases the recovery is already part of the repair.
Roadside help at Five Points Tire, in short
Five Points Tire offers free pickup for most vehicle repairs using our own flatbed, with tire repairs excluded, so in many cases the recovery is already part of the repair. Call 650-365-0280 and describe what happened before you arrange anything, because the details often change what is needed. We serve Redwood City, Atherton and Menlo Park.
The car has stopped, or it's about to, and you have about a minute to make the decisions that matter.
Almost all of them are about where you are rather than what's wrong. The fault will still be the fault in an hour. Your position on the road won't be.
Here's the order that keeps you safe, gets you the right help, and stops a small repair turning into a large one.
The first minute is about position, not diagnosis
Get as far right as you safely can, and keep rolling while you still have momentum. A car that coasts to an exit ramp is in a much better place than one that stops in a live lane.
Hazards on as soon as you know something is wrong, not once you've stopped. They're worth more to the traffic behind you than to you.
Then the honest question: is where you are somewhere you can stand? On a freeway shoulder with traffic passing at speed, the answer is usually no.
Stopping in the wrong place is more dangerous than whatever the car is doing. Nothing under the hood is worth investigating from a narrow shoulder.
If you're somewhere exposed:
- Stay in the car. With your seat belt on. It is the safest place you have.
- Hazards on. And your parking lights too if visibility is poor.
- Exit the passenger side. Only if you must get out, and only away from traffic.
- Don't stand in front of or behind it. That's where a struck vehicle goes.
- Don't try to change a wheel. Not on a shoulder with traffic passing. This is not a sales point.
The recovery is often already part of the repair. Five Points Tire offers free pickup for most vehicle repairs using our own flatbed, tire repairs excepted. If the car needs to come to us anyway, it is worth asking about that before you arrange anything else.
Signs you need roadside help
- The car will not start and you are away from home
- A flat tire and no spare, or no way to change it safely
- The car has broken down and cannot be driven
- Warning lights that mean it should not be driven further
- You are locked out, or out of fuel
- The car is drivable but you are not confident it will make the journey
Drive it in, or call us?
| Situation | Drive it in? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature gauge climbing | No | Overheating warps cylinder heads |
| Oil pressure warning light | No | Metal contacts metal within a short distance |
| Serpentine belt broken | No | No charging, no steering assist, often no water pump |
| Check engine light flashing | No | Active misfire damaging the catalytic converter |
| Flat with a usable spare | Yes, on the spare | Spare-only speed limits apply |
| Brakes squealing | Yes, carefully | Worth booking in promptly |
| Will not start | No | Recovery is usually cheaper than a tow after a failed attempt |
Some faults get considerably more expensive over the next few miles.
What our team does for roadside help
- 01Recover the vehicle using the shop's own flatbed
- 02Offer free pickup for most vehicle repairs, excluding tire repairs
- 03Diagnose the underlying problem once the vehicle is in
A few faults mean stop rather than press on
Overheating, an oil pressure warning, a snapped belt, or a flashing check engine light all mean pull over now. Most other warnings mean book it in.
In each of those four, the next few miles decide the size of the repair.
A flashing check engine light means an active misfire severe enough to damage the catalytic converter, which is why it flashes rather than sits.
The instinct to make it home is strong and it is usually wrong. Home is not where the car needs to be, and the drive there is where the expensive part happens.
What to tell us when you call
Describe what happened rather than what you think is wrong. Diagnosis is our job and guessing at it sends us the wrong equipment.
Where you are, as precisely as you can. Whether the car cranks, turns over silently, or does nothing at all. Whether anything came up on the dashboard before it stopped. Whether it will still move under its own power.
That's usually enough to know whether this needs a flatbed, a wheel changed where it stands, or nothing at all.
It genuinely does change the answer sometimes. Plenty of calls end with the car driving in later that day.
Want it checked? Describe what the car is doing and Five Points Tire will tell you whether it needs roadside help or something else. Call 650-365-0280, or send the form and someone calls you back. Request an appointment
Check the roadside cover you already have
Before you pay anyone for a recovery, spend two minutes finding out whether you're already covered.
Roadside assistance is bundled into a great many car insurance policies, into most new car warranties, into some credit cards, and into motoring club memberships. A lot of drivers pay for it twice.
Worth checking what your cover actually includes as well as whether you have it, because the limits vary: distance, number of call-outs a year, and whether it will tow to a garage of your choice or only to the nearest one.
The last of those matters more than it sounds, because being towed to whichever shop is closest is how people end up somewhere they didn't choose.
Recovery and repair don't have to be two transactions
We offer free pickup for most vehicle repairs using our own flatbed, with tire repairs the exception, and that's worth saying plainly rather than in a footnote.
So if the car is coming to us anyway, getting it here is often already handled.
The useful call is the one you make before arranging anything else, because the recovery you were about to book separately may already be part of the job.
If the car needs to go somewhere other than us, say so when you call. That's a normal request and the answer is yes.
Common breakdown mistakes to avoid
- Getting out to look on a freeway shoulder. Stay in the car with your belt on. Whatever it is will still be there when help arrives.
- Trying to reach home on an overheating engine. Those miles are where a cooling fault becomes a head gasket.
- Changing a wheel on a narrow shoulder. There is no tire worth that, and this is the one piece of advice here that costs us work.
- Paying for a recovery you're already covered for. Check the insurance policy, the warranty and the credit card before you book anything.
- Diagnosing it down the phone. Describe what the car did. A guess sends the wrong truck.
- Arranging the tow before asking about pickup. For most repairs the pickup is free, so the call comes first.
The bottom line
Position first. Get right, keep rolling if you can, hazards on, and stay in the car if the spot is exposed.
If it's overheating, showing oil pressure, has thrown a belt, or the check engine light is flashing, stop rather than continue.
Check the cover you already have before you pay anyone.
What happens next depends on why it stopped. If it cannot be driven, towing is the answer, a flat at the roadside is a flat repair, and a car that will not crank is usually the car battery.
Then call Five Points Tire on 650-365-0280 and tell us what happened and where you are. For most repairs the pickup is free on our own flatbed, tire repairs excepted.
Do you offer free pickup?
- Yes, for most vehicle repairs, though tire repairs are excluded. We use our own flatbed. Call the shop on 650-365-0280 to arrange it.
What should I do first when I break down?
- Get somewhere safe if you can, put the hazards on, and stay with the vehicle if you are anywhere exposed. Then call and describe what happened, because the details usually change what is needed.
Should I try to drive it to you?
- It depends entirely on the fault. Overheating, an oil pressure warning, a broken belt or a flashing check engine light all mean stop, because driving further makes the repair substantially larger. Call and describe it and we will tell you.
Do I already have roadside cover?
- Very possibly. It is included in many insurance policies, new car warranties, breakdown memberships and some credit cards. Worth checking before you pay for it separately. Check those before you pay for anything, then call Five Points Tire on 650-365-0280 and we will tell you what the car needs.
Related services
Towing Services
If your vehicle cannot be driven, we can bring it in on our own flatbed, and for most repairs that pickup is free, with tire repairs excluded.
Flat Repair
If you have picked up a puncture, whether the tire is flat now or just losing pressure over a few days, bring it in and we will find the leak and tell you honestly whether it can be repaired or needs replacing.
Battery Service
If your car cranks slowly, needs a jump, or the electrics behave oddly, the battery is the first thing to test, and it may not be the battery at all.
Diagnostics
Modern vehicles record faults across dozens of electronic modules, and a proper diagnosis reads that data and then tests to confirm the cause rather than guessing from the code.
Cooling System
An engine that overheats even briefly can warp a cylinder head, so a cooling system problem is one of the few faults where continuing to drive genuinely makes it far more expensive.
Check Engine Light
A check engine light means the engine management system has stored a fault code, and the code narrows down where to look rather than telling you what to replace.