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Embarrassing Car Breakdowns. Plus Win One of Three Westfield Vouchers.

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We have all had it happen; your car breaks down, you run out of fuel, you get a flat battery, a flat tyre or lock your keys in the car and it always happens where you don’t want it to happen. Usually at a shopping centre, traffic lights or in the middle of the road.

The most embarrassing place I have broken down is going out of our local Westfield shopping centre, waiting for the lights to change to leave the shopping centre, go to take off and the car dies. Cue a huge line of cars while I waited, once again, for roadside assistance to help.

I now have a late model Mazda 6 and even with new cars you need roadside assistance such as Allianz Roadside Assistance.

mazda 6

Just last year my battery was dying and had to be jumped a few times by my friendly roadside assistance fellow. Once at the boys school at pick up time, the other at our local Coles carpark when it was 40 degrees! Suffice to say after a few false starts, I bought a new battery but if it hadn’t been for the roadside assistance I would have been stuck at the school and at Coles in the heat. Yuk.

Thank you again roadside assistance, I honestly don’t know how many times they would have saved me from being stuck in remote places with the boys.

So even if you have a late model car, it is always better to be safe than sorry. Just because you have a new car doesn’t mean something isn’t going to happen with it un-expectantly.

Did you know Allianz, as well as offering competitive insurance, also offer roadside assistance. For more information please go to: http://www.allianz.com.au/roadside-assistance/

You can also find more information on Allianz’s social media pages:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AllianzAustralia

Twitter account: https://twitter.com/allianz_au

Next time you are stuck at a Westfield Shopping Centre, you might be able to fill the time in with one of three Westfield gift vouchers we are giving away, thanks to Allianz Global Assistance. Just fill in the Rafflecopter form below for easy entry. Competition opens at midnight 1.04.15 and closes  19.4.15 at midnight. Entries are valid for Australian residents only. Winners are selected by Rafflecopter. Winners will be notified via email.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

#SP This is a sponsored post by Allianz Global Assistance and Marmot Inc

 

84 thoughts on “Embarrassing Car Breakdowns. Plus Win One of Three Westfield Vouchers.

  1. Before I moved to Brisbane, I used to live on a farm with a 1km driveway. I got a flat tyre at the bottom of it. I was about to call roadside assistance to change the tyre, when my (at the time 14 yo) daughter jumped out of the car and said “mum we’ve got this!” Between the two of us we changed the tyre. First tim I had ever done that.

  2. On the way to hospital for my second baby’s delivery our car broke down in the middle of the night – i find myself lucky to get a taxi at that time..

  3. On the Hume Highway, two hours from Melbourne. I was looking forward to getting home too, was a long wait.

  4. I personally have never broken down however after a day at the beach with an ex boyfriend on an extremely hot day, his car key wouldn’t work as he’d left it in his boardies while swimming. Not his smartest move! After taking the key apart and leaving it in the sun to dry for a good hour, it finally worked again! It was a very hot and very stressful day!!

  5. On my way to a job interview I broke down on the freeway, I freaked out so bad I ended up calling the interviewer who was nice enough to reschedule a later time.

  6. We locked our keys in the car at a wedding that definitely needed roadside assist but a least we could wait in the church

  7. On the way to the Gold Coast for a family holiday, the car broke down in the middle of nowhere! Thank god for some wonderful truck driver who was more than happy to help.

  8. The middle lane of parramatta road in Sydney, in peak hour traffic, pregnant and a stinking hot day, with Victorian number plates for total embarrassment

  9. On the road to Victor Harbor. It was a 38 degree day and we broke down four times. Eventually, the RAA arrived and we needed to be towed. It sucked!

  10. Driving a beat up Kombi over the the nullarbor with little help and a thunderstorm near, i had alot of fear! But luckily i had a little bit of battery in my phone to call for some help…..few HOURS later i was on the road again….but lost a door on the way, this Kombi had a curse. It’s no longer in the works…instead a backfire within my heart 😛

  11. On Mona Vale Road late one night coming back from Uni. Seriously one of the scariest nights of my life. This was pre mobile phones and there was no option but to run to a nearby technology park where a guy was having a ciggie in the car park. I begged him to go and phone for roadside assistance for me and ran back to my car, locked the doors and waited an hour. When they arrived they told me a girl in the same situation the week before had been raped by a driver that stopped to ‘help’. NOT the place you ever want to break down…

  12. Driving my Grandads car on a 40+ Degree day and two kids in the car, broke down on an isolated road with no trees for shade, was so bad my daughters is still paranoid about a car breaking down

  13. I locked my keys in the car at Westifeld Chermside once thankfullly their parking security were able to get me back in in a jiffy! 😉

  14. The time I drove back home to Queanbeyan from visiting my family on the coast for the weekend in 2001.
    Young (and pretty stupid!) at the tender age of 19, I arrived and started unpacking my car.
    After taking everything into the house and going to lock the car with the keys I thought were in my pocket, I realised I had in fact locked the keys inside the car!
    Running into my house, I called the NRMA…they arrived and I came outside to greet them, shutting the door behind me.
    After retrieving my car keys and waving them off I went to go back inside and found that I had the deadlock still set and had locked myself out the house! Lol
    Being a Sunday, I had to call my real estate out of hours to try and get a spare key but to no avail. I had to call a locksmith and pay an exorbitant callout fee to get me back inside my house!
    Worst day ever!! Hahaha

  15. The worst place I have broken down has been the middle of the bush, with kids in the car. Anywhere with kids in the car is bad, but the middle of the bush, at night, can be very scary!

  16. Not exactly a breakdown – but a mechanical failure all the same. Turned the corner in my “uni student” car and the driver’s door swung open! The door closing mechanism had failed. And that, kids, is why you wear a seatbelt!

  17. The only thing I know about cars is how to drive them. It’d be a nightmare to break down with a 2 yr old and newborn twins in the car :-/

  18. In the middle of a flood, not an ordinary boring flood..Nope,the flood I broke down in had its own special sign “Flooding Ahead, Turn Around, Don’t Die” .
    And incase that wasnt bad enough, every driver that came to the edge shouted “did you see the sign?”
    Off course their was no helicopter lift or 5 seconds of fame on the news…noooo I got a lift out in a tractor by a “speed talking farmer” not knowing what he was saying I still don’t know if I smiled and nodded appropriately during conversation breaks..but his parting words I am sure off.. ‘You’re a bloody idiot”

  19. We broke down about 4pm in a heavily bushed area – dirt road in Putty State forest /National Park 30kms from the Putty Road (NSW) while on a Sunday drive. Rear tyre got a huge stick puncture. In the middle of nowhere with only a few properties sighted over the drive – with heavily chained gates and trespasses will be SHOT signs. Hubby had a punctured Tyre days before and his Dad gave him a spare for 4WD till we could get another – it had the wrong stud pattern and didn’t fit. Couldn’t drive on the flat one – it shredded quickly.

    Our then 7yr old cried – refused to walk to the main road , and wouldn’t let his father go either. I wouldn’t hitchhike either.
    After about an hour a 4WD came and STOPPED. They told us how lucky we were because it was mainly weekenders and cars very rarely came past. They gave us a lift home. Hubby went back the next day with the right tyre.

  20. Lyell Hwy in the mountains on the way to Queenstown Tasmania these roads are very scary and you cant see people driving around corners thousands of feet above sea level not a good spot to break down again they need to put up speed signs better with 15km around corners.

  21. In 20 years of driving I’ve only broken down once….it was at work, at finish time, about 6 weeks ago. My battery was flat but RACQ came to my assistance ASAP – pleased I’ve finally been able to make use of my membership!

    1. Thank you Allianz for the help even though it took them a few hours to reach us but we knew it would take that long, we where in the middle of nowhere LOL.

      1. Sorry Karly I accidentally replied on your post instead of mine glad you could finally use your RACQ assistance just like us.

  22. Blockbuster car park. Getting a movie late at night, guy was gorgeous, flirty, into the same movies… So, I never do this but I asked for his number. He politely declined and I quickly left. And of course my car wouldn’t start! I called Allianz and while I was waiting, this guy finishes work and his car is the only other car around, right near mine, as I’m sitting on the bench, directly in front of his car! I think I really creeped the poor guy out.

  23. I’ve broken down on Boxing Day ,heat of Aussie summer ,know one would help ,after 4 hour s t,Hubby tried start car & boom off it webpnt thank goodness .

  24. Just outside Crystal Brook in SA. Car ran out of petrol. But it wasn’t us being stupid. Bad roads meant a fuel line was shaken off and we’d spread our petrol in a pretty little trail behind us!

  25. Out the front of my kids school. Dropped them off and got back in my old Magna to leave with all the snooty mums with their fancy cars watching me and it wouldn’t start. Didn’t have roadside assistance and I was so embarrassed . I had a few tears in my eyes when I remembered something my dad had told me over fifteen years ago. So I got out of the car, hitched my big girl panties up, got a heavy spanner out of the boot, lifted the bonnet, smacked the carby a couple of times, and hit the battery terminals once or twice. Got back, crossed my fingers and Mums Magna started first time. Thanks dad.

  26. Breaking down on a twisty road called snake gully road!! No phone, by myself. Being afraid of snakes , it was up most in my mind 🙁

  27. Road-trip with the kids 🙁

  28. On the Eastern Distributor during peak hour. Never had so many death stares in my life.

  29. On our way to a family wedding, running late, making our way along a dirt road – 10 kms along we broke down. Mobile phone coverage was down and nobody came past, everyone already at the wedding so we were forced to trudge along in wedding garb and heels until we finally reached the isolated church. My feet ached and we missed the service.

  30. At work when I lied I had to be somewhere straight after knock off time to evade an overload of unpaid additional hours requested of me. Damn car not starting, they expected me to go back inside and work while waiting for my mechanic to get there.

  31. I once broke down at a tiny T-intersection at the end of a long street… it was awful because it was peak hour and I was on the way to work and all the people stuck behind me virtually had nowhere they could go as there was no way they could overtake me… I was blushing red the whole long time it took for the RACV to come to my rescue.

  32. In my early twenties, when I was a woman scorned. Staking out my ex’s house to see who he was with, doing a proverbial ‘drive by’ and my car shat itself right out front of his place. I was busted big time, no amount of talking could explain why I was there at that point in time. At least the two timing turd was good for something, got us started and off we went, never to drive by again lol (well at least not of his place!).

  33. Sydney. Peak hour traffic, middle lane. My hoses blew and smoke was everywhere. I had to bolt from the car and knock on a strangers door to use their phone. Thank god they were friendly !!

  34. Not broken down, but a I was with a friend of mine and we ran out of petrol about 10 metres from the petrol station. So embarrasing having to explain to the petrol station people where we were :/

  35. on the way to the airport. 🙁

  36. Worst place was in the middle of an intersection,I knew my battery needed replacing but kept putting it off, I stalled right in the middle ,even worse I was taking the kids to school in my nighty.Had to call the RACV and wait for half an hour

  37. At a stop light. The most embarrassing time. I went quickly to get milk in the morning ….I still had my pj.s on 🙁

  38. I had just moved to a new town, and I left my keys in my car, I didn’t have road side assist, I knew no one at all and my husband was away with work. Fortunately for me I could go to the local Police Station (my hubby was a member) and they helped me break into my car

  39. On the side of the road in front of one of those new mobile fixed speed camera cars!

  40. I feel your pain! I’ve broken down at the parking boom gates trying to also leave a shopping mall! I had an ever growing line of cars behind me, and when I pressed the call for help button to try and get the boom gate left open so we could push the car out of the way, the operator just yelled at me for “lying to get out of paying my parking ticket”! Haven’t been back since. Lol.

  41. On a highway, it’s always so stressful when cars are wizzing pass and honking.

  42. I was on the way to work at 4.30am and my car ran out of petrol. The only person around was a shirtless drunk man. I had to ask him to help me push my car off the road and then I was stupid enough to give him money to go buy me petrol! I waited for about 20 minutes and then realised he wasn’t coming back. I had to sit in my car and wait for a girl at my work to get me a petrol can.

  43. We broke Down once on the way to the Airport in Sydney, lucky the car got back on the road just in time, and we were fine!!

  44. My now husband took me out for a romantic dinner. After having a wonderful meal we went out to the car to find that the battery had died and whilst waiting for roadside assistance, his parents came to pick us up. Great opportunity to meet his parents for the first time on our first official date 🙂

  45. When I first got my licence my friend and I decided to drive to the beach which was about 2hrs away on a dirt road. On the way home we got a flat tyre that just happened to be in a gully type place with no phone service, we waited about 3 hours before someone finally come along the road. We couldn’t change the tyre as the nuts were done up way too tight.

  46. The worst place was at night time in a country town on a public holiday! It was the worst ever

  47. I’ve managed to break down in several places, but the worst was when I was about 21, and on the way home from a late shift in a supermarket. I was on the freeway a couple of k’s from my country town, at around 10.30pm, in pitch-black dark. I’d actually blown a tire and could have fixed it if I’d remembered to take a torch like my Dad always told me…! Anyway, I was stuck walking into town, which was a cold, windy and rather scary walk and was passed by several cars, which was actually even scarier- you don’t know what kind of person may stop to ‘help’ you! Just entering town, with most houses in darkness and feeling really spooked, I could see an elderly man drive into his driveway and I thought, yay, a nice OAP, he will call me a taxi for sure! So, I hurried towards him as he jumped out of his car and hurried up the steps to his front door. By then, he had rushed inside, leaving his front door open and I hurried up the steps towards him. Well, his toilet was directly across from the front door and just as I realised he was peeing into it, he turned around and said, ‘Hello’. Still peeing. OMG, I nearly died on the spot as I turned my back quickly to give him some privacy.
    “I am SO sorry!” I manage to splutter, and he replied, “That’s quite all right”.
    I was SO embarrassed! Well, it even turns out he knew my Dad, so he let me call him and then even gave me a lift home. It was a pretty uncomfortable car ride as I jabbered on to try and hide my embarrassment…!!! Bet he and my Dad had a right royal laugh about it…!

  48. Lost in outback NSW in the middle of the night by myself! Freaking scary! All I could think of was Wolf Creek. Lol.

  49. Growing up, mum’s mustard yellow ancient Volvo – aka The Tank- broke down anywhere and everywhere. Probably the worst time was when I took it on a date, The Tank died, then I had to get the lovely nrma man out at some random place late at night. We ended up getting married (my date, not the nrma guy) so all’s well that ends well. In any case, winning a Westfield voucher would be just marvellous 😉

  50. My transmission died when I was parked outside an ‘adult entertainment’ shop…although I had been to the cake shop around the corner, I am not sure the very serious NRMA guy believed me, particularly since I kept trying to explain this to him!

  51. Halfway through turning right at an intersection. Couldn’t move the car out of the way, and I was blocking all the traffic. Not fun.

  52. in the middle of the soccer fiield on fun run day. we were the speed bump

  53. At a busy intersection, just a nightmare!

  54. Infront of a big roundabout, lucky some men stopped and helped me push my car to the side.

  55. outside my ex’s house … right after our nasty break up. I had to go back inside and ask for his help … awkward :/

  56. On a busy freeway in Qld. Luckily I had a friend who didn’t live very far and he called his brother who is a mechanic.

  57. I once ran out of petrol in the drive-thru of a KFC and had to get others to push my car into the carpark, I then ate my lunch and walked across the road to the petrol station to fill the jerry can, funny thing is, my teenage son now works at that store!

  58. Argh I totally sympathise with you! I’ve always owned older cars which are synonymous with breakdowns. The worst experience I’ve encountered myself is when driving to the country on a long weekend. Thirty-odd km’s out of the nearest town I broke down, there was minimal phone reception, very little traffic and being a public holiday I had Buckley’s chance of getting repairs done.

  59. During the school pick up, thankfully the RAA arrived and pointed out the car needed to be in park not DRIVE to start. Do’h!

  60. My mum’s car once broke down 5m before the intersection opening, temporarily blocking a lane and probably annoying a lot of motorists.

  61. At the start of the great ocean road, we had just passed the sigh and was all excited then the car just stopped. Waited another 3 hours before we started again

  62. I was one of a gaggle of bridesmaids for my best friends wedding. We travelled on a 40degree day in a vintage Rolls Royce up the hill and the engine stopped. An hour later help arrived! Pre mobile phone days too – lots of fun trying to get message to bride and groom!

  63. The worst place I’ve ever broken down was on the freeway, on my home from work one night. I used to work shift work. It could have been quite worrying if I didn’t have a mobile. Luckily I did and phoned RACV assist.

  64. I broke down outside a bakery…doesn’t sound so bad, but i was starving and i’m gluten intolerant…I ate a couple of pies and paid for it later that night…the next day i bought new pajamas

  65. broke down on the way to the airport…….made it to the check in with 1 min to spare before they closed it…..safe to say i needed the holiday

  66. My car broke down at a close friend’s Dad’s funeral.. I ran out of petrol whilst travelling in the funeral procession 🙁

  67. Top of Melbourne’s Westgate Bridge… amongst 4 lanes of peak hour traffic. It showed me the less delightful side of human nature.

  68. I’ve been lucky enough to never break down but I think breaking down on the way to hospital to have a baby would be the worst!

  69. I have quite awful skin at times (due to having PCOS) and one morning it was so bad (pimples weeping and bloody) that I begged my 6-yr-old daughter to allow me to just drop her off at the gate in the car rather than parking and walking her into school, which is what we normally do. I parked, turned off the car, she got out, and then when I tried to start my car again it just wouldn’t. I was mortified… I didn’t have my phone so couldn’t call the RACV. I had to wait until all the parents had left, then had to slink into school to ask the office ladies to call the RACV for me. Horrible, horrible.

  70. In a wild-life park and in a pre-mobile phone era. The lions were looking exceedingly hungry and the automobile association did not want to come in to assist. Eventually we got a tow to a safe place!

  71. The MCG carpark blocking one of the main entrances. Luckily for me there was an abundance of willing helpers but on the other side of the coin, a whole heap of angry punters too.

  72. on the brand highway on my way to meet my birth parents for the first time…very scary

  73. I haven’t broken down – yet!

  74. The freeway off ramp in peak hour.

  75. Blew a radiator hose Pacific Motorway, Eight Mile Plains in a police vehicle in peak hour traffic and listened to myself on the radio traffic reports

  76. Right in front of my new boyfriends parent’s house after meeting them for the first time!

  77. Not really a car break down but when I was overseas, the motorbike we were on stopped mid-way as we were half way through to going into a rural village.

  78. We once broke down on a late night run to the McDonalds drive-through (yes, we’re all guilty of those 😉 ) in our pyjamas!!!! We had our dog in the car and the tow-truck driver refused to let her ride in the cab and wanted us to leave her in the car while it was towed. We knew she’d be scared so we had to walk the 30 minutes home in our pyjamas and slippers, getting quite a few weird looks!!!!

  79. When I was younger and on my P plates, a few girlfriends and I decided to take a day trip to the beach. Given there was a few of us, I decided to borrow my dad’s 4WD so we could bring all our body board gear.

    Once we got to the beach, some cute guys were impressed by 5 girls riding a 4WD. They asked if they could put their surf boards on the roof rack and catch a ride to the shore as there was a 4WD trail right to the beach.

    All my friends wanted to hang out with the guys and I was confident in my driving skills so I agreed. About 3 minutes into driving in the dunes, we got stuck and couldn’t get out.

    Trying to play cool we told the guys to go ahead. I called my dad for help so we had to wait around 3 hours for him to come and help us. By this time the guys were walking back after catching some waves and spotted us still sitting there waiting for help. One of the guys yelled “hey, there’s the bog babe’s!” My face was beet red.

  80. Two weeks after breaking up with my boyfriend I broke down outside his parents place as they walked outsidde

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