What to do when you are stuck on the road and have car repairs ($100 Gift Card Giveaway Too)

We love road trips. They are filled with lots of memories and fun times and are a thrifty way to transport a large family to the destination vacation.

We’ve been on plenty of trips and most trips are smooth and go on without a hitch or hiccup.

But let’s be honest.

Life is not that simple.

Life is not that smooth.

Life is not that sane.

Life happens.

And when you hear that “life happens”, it’s usually referring to something negative, not the ideal, simple, smooth, sane life. That’s not real life.

But let’s also be a little more honest.

Real life is easier to handle at home and not on the road.

We all hope for that ideal, easy, smooth ride while traveling around. But that is the time that life tends to creep up and rear the ugly side of its head.

But if anything were to cause a hiccup in a trip, we all hope it’s minor car troubles and everyone remains safe. That no accidents are involved. That’s the hope.

The other hope is that these hiccups are not only minor in issues and everyone is safe, but are minor in cost as well. Those unexpected hiccups could create a lot of future financial trouble and you feel stuck and stifled in those moments making decisions that can impact you for months or even years.

Some of the tips we have shared in the past regarding road trips and travel are to budget and plan on at least 10% more of your expenses for those small emergencies while at the same time saving up a nest egg for emergencies.  Finally, we have shared before as well on how you can prepare your vehicle for safe travel with the free services at AutoZone.

This time we want to share tips for what happens when you are actually traveling and things go awry with your vehicle.

And you are going to love this tip in the midst of road trip car trouble….

We are not new to the area of car troubles and road trips. We’ve had our fair share of bumps in the road.  But we’ve learned that it doesn’t have to be as expensive as you may have initially thought.

We love, LOVE AutoZone. Why? Because they have saved our skins on the road (and at home) by helping us troubleshoot why the check engine light is on with their free check engine light and FixFinder. Then if a problem is assessed, you can either take it to a local mechanic (per their recommendation) if the job is too big for you to handle and go into the mechanic knowing before what the issues are to get the right fix for the right price. In our experience, on fixes that were too complicated to fix ourselves, we were able to take it to a local mechanic with the problem report, giving us negotiating power.

And, if the issue is one you can handle yourself, you can buy the parts very affordably from AutoZone and they will allow you to borrow the tools from AutoZone with their free Loan-A-Tool program. This allows you to be able to make a DIY fix on a dime and on the road. Not only do they provide the tools, but they can print off step-by-step instructions, along with recommendations on specific video tutorials in their free video library they offer right from their site.

They have locations all over the U.S., meaning wherever you are traveling, you will most likely find an AutoZone close enough to make the trip over and find out what’s going on, fix and and be on the road again in on time.

Seriously, if you run into an issue, this is the route to go first. You can know what’s wrong with your vehicle, possibly fix it yourself with the affordable parts and free Loan-A-Tool program and be on the road again (hopefully) quickly.

We not only love AutoZone for this reason, but there are multiple other reasons. Anything related to our vehicle including accessories, cleaning, fixing, upgrading, and more we go to AutoZone first. They have amazing sales and their everyday prices are very competitive. The associates have always been super helpful (even helping us assess whether our own skills could handle the job) and always have shown us many options and are very honest in what we need to make a fix while not overselling us. We very much appreciate this.

As a woman, I, Cassie, don’t feel like I am being oversold, being roped into something I don’t really need and dealing with honest car mechanics. In fact, the last two times I have personally needed to go to AutoZone, I actually was helped by two different woman associates, which made me feel like I can trust them even more as both were super informative, honest and made me respect the fact that AutoZone is out to watch all of us – even those that don’t know much about cars. I am very comfortable going there and asking any question at all, no matter how dumb I may sound.

We also wanted to mention to not forget to join their rewards program. It is free and one of the most rewarding programs out there. Make 5 purchases of $20 or more and receive a $20 store reward to use on anything in the store. If you do your own oil changes, this alone means your 6th on is free if you purchase nothing else!

All-in-all, this is an excellent way to make the most of your budget, time and road trips.

The good news doesn’t stop there!

We are also going to give one of our readers a $100 Gift Card to AutoZone for your next maintenance project, vehicle upgrades or DIY repairs!

It’s very easy to enter….just leave a comment.

Maybe you can comment on one of these topics (to get the party started!)

• Have you had a trip fail with car issues? How did you solve it?
• What maintenance services are you going to try yourself this time?
• Have you ever tried the free services at AutoZone?
• What was the cost of your last auto repair?
• Would you give this a try?
• Whatever you want about this topic!

This giveaway will run through Friday, August 26th at 11:59 pm MST. The winner will be selected randomly and will be notified via email. Must be 18+ to enter and reside in the United States. The information collected is utilized for entry into this giveaway only.

Grab this month’s AutoZone coupon too!

This post is brought to you by AutoZone; the opinions are all mine.