"Holiday road trips: don't get stranded"

Holiday weeks are busy for us, and it is not a coincidence. Cars that handle a twelve-mile commute all year suddenly get asked to run four hundred miles loaded with people and luggage. I-95 fills up with folks who are not from here. And everything happens on the two or three days when shops are closed.

None of that is bad luck. It is predictable, which means some of it is preventable.

The pre-trip check that actually matters

Skip the elaborate lists. Four things catch most holiday breakdowns.

Tires, including pressure and the spare. Cold mornings drop pressure, and a loaded car rides harder on a soft tire. Battery, especially if it is more than three years old, because a battery that starts a warm car in October can quit on the first cold morning in December. Coolant and oil levels, a two-minute look. And belts and hoses, where you are looking for cracks or bulges rather than doing anything technical.

If something looks marginal, deal with it before the trip. A shop visit on the 20th is inconvenient. A breakdown on the 24th outside Walterboro with everything closed is a different kind of problem.

Do not overload it

Roof boxes, a packed trunk, five people, and a full tank add up faster than people think. Overloading pushes tires and suspension harder, and it makes the car handle differently in a panic stop. Check the sticker in the driver's door jamb for the actual load rating.

If you are towing anything, that is where the trailer tires and bearings deserve the same look you would give the car. We pull plenty of travel trailers off the shoulder of 17 South every holiday season.

If it quits on the road

Same rules as any breakdown, and they matter more when traffic is heavy. Get as far right as you safely can, hazards on, everyone out of the travel lane and behind a guardrail if there is one. Do not stand on the driver's side with traffic coming past.

Then call and be specific. Mile marker or exit, direction of travel, what the car is doing, how many people are with you, and whether there are kids or anyone with medical needs. That last part changes how we prioritize, and we would rather know.

One more thing worth saying plainly: if a tow truck shows up that you did not call, be careful. Confirm who they are and who dispatched them before anything gets hooked up. If you called us, our driver will confirm it is Mitchell's when they arrive.

Shops are closed, so decide where it goes

The wrinkle over holidays is not the tow, it is the destination. Your shop may be closed until the 26th. Think about whether the car should go to the shop's lot to wait, to your house, or to wherever you were headed.

We will tow it to whichever you pick. If you are not sure, say so and we will talk it through, because leaving a car somewhere it cannot be worked on for four days is not always the right move. This is ordinary emergency towing work, and a lot of it over the holidays is really just roadside help for a dead battery.

We work the holidays

Dispatch runs day and night, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. Somebody answers, usually Trevor, and it is not a call center routing you to whoever is cheapest.

We cover Charleston, Walterboro and the I-95 corridor, Summerville, North Charleston, and everything in between. Call (843) 813-6335.