Roadside Assistance That Fixes It Where You Stand, and Tows You If It Can't

Roadside assistance is about a third of what Macarthur's trucks do on a given day, and it is the part of the business where the right answer is usually the cheaper one. If a jump gets you going, we jump you. If the spare is good, we put it on. Nobody is towed to a shop to be told the battery was dead.

Here is what is on the truck and what it means for you. Jump packs and a tester. The jump pack starts the car; the tester tells you whether the battery will hold a charge or die again tomorrow. New batteries. Common sizes ride on the truck, so a dead battery becomes a mobile battery installation without a second visit. Lockout tools. Wedges, long-reach tools, and the know-how to open a door without marking paint or tearing the weather seal. Jack, lug wrench, and a breaker bar. For a spare tire change, including seized lug nuts and locking lugs if you have the key. Fuel. Enough gasoline or diesel to reach a station. And the deck. Every roadside truck is a tow truck, so when the problem is more than the curb can fix, the tow starts from the same truck without a second call.

The sections below walk through each of the four problems, what the driver does, when it turns into a tow, and what to have ready when you call 516-362-5350.

A lockout is the call people are most nervous about, because everyone has seen a coat hanger scratch a door. That is not how it is done. The wedge is soft, the gap is small, and the tool reaches the lock button, the handle, or the unlock switch without touching anything painted.

What the driver needs to know: whether the keys are in the cabin or the trunk, whether the car has an alarm, and whether the doors use a push-button lock or a switch. Some newer cars with keyless entry will not unlock from the inside with the fob locked in the trunk, and those take a little longer. If the keys are not in the car at all, we cannot make a new key; we open the car if that helps and tow it to your dealer or a locksmith. The car lockouts page goes into each of these.

If a child or a pet is locked inside, call 911 first, then us. On a hot or cold day minutes matter, and the fire department can open a car faster than a tow truck can get there.

Running out of gas is embarrassing and completely normal. The gauge was optimistic, the station was closed, the detour was longer than it looked. Tell the person who answers which fuel the car takes and the driver brings it.

Two things catch people out. First, a modern car that runs completely dry can pull air into the fuel system and refuse to start even after fuel goes in; the driver cycles the pump and gives it time, and in the rare case it still will not catch, the same truck tows it. Second, putting gasoline into a diesel or diesel into a gasoline car is not fixed by adding the right fuel on top; the tank has to come down and be drained, and starting the engine makes it worse. If that happened, leave it off and we tow it to your mechanic. The fuel delivery page covers both.

The more precisely you describe the problem, the more likely the driver has what he needs on the first trip. Year, make, and model tells him which battery size to bring and which lockout tool works on your door. Whether the car clicks, cranks, or is silent tells him battery versus starter. Whether you have a spare tells him jack or flatbed.

While you wait: if you are on a road with traffic, get out on the side away from traffic and stand well back, behind a barrier if there is one. If it is raining, snowing, or the road is narrow, stay in the car belted with the hazards on. Keep your phone on and the ringer up. Have the keys, if you have them, and your license within reach. Find the locking lug key or the tow hook if you know where they are. The safety section on the towing page goes through this in detail, and the call section covers what the driver does on arrival.

From the yard on the Nassau–Queens line, the trucks are closest to the south shore and southeastern Queens: Valley Stream, Lynbrook, Elmont, Franklin Square, West Hempstead, Hempstead, Malverne, Rockville Centre, Oceanside, Baldwin, Freeport, Long Beach, Island Park, East Rockaway, Cedarhurst, Lawrence, Woodmere, and Hewlett, and across the line in Laurelton, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Queens Village, Jamaica, and Far Rockaway.

The same trucks cover central and eastern Nassau, Garden City, New Hyde Park, Mineola, Westbury, Uniondale, East Meadow, Levittown, Hicksville, Bethpage, Merrick, Wantagh, and Massapequa, the north shore from Great Neck and Manhasset to Glen Cove and Syosset, and the Suffolk border towns of Amityville, Melville, and Huntington. Every town on the locations page has a roadside assistance page. If yours is not listed, call anyway.