We've talked about it before. But apparently not everyone is hearing.
Twice in the last few weeks have I needed to use my battery jump starter. For other people. The first was on the recent camping trip I went on. In Capitol Reef National Park. If you've been there you know how remote it is. I had a gentleman walk up to me and ask if I could jump start another lady's car. He didn't have jumper cables and was trying to help her out. Of course I had my NOCO Battery Jumper which made it nice and easy to jump start the lady's car that was pulled forward into a parking spot with vehicles on both sides. No pushing the car out of the spot to get it close enough to my vehicle. Just walk up, hook it up, and get the car started. But there was a problem. We were in the middle of nowhere. And if her battery actually had a problem other than just leaving a light on or something that drained it, she was going to have a very challenging time dealing with it. I told her to go for a nice long scenic drive (at least 30 minutes) to charge it up and then stop the car in a crowded area to see if the battery was charged sufficiently. If she had her own, she could be much more confident that she could get herself to a shop should she need to.
The second incident was this past weekend when my sister called. She was catching a ride with a cousin to a family function and I was behind her about 30 minutes. They had a tire blow out on the highway and then the car wouldn't start. I'm sure those two are connected but I'm still not sure how. They got the spare on but were stuck on the shoulder of a very fast-moving highway. When we got down there, instead of trying to figure out how to get nose to nose on a small shoulder of a busy road, we easily parked and I walked up with my NOCO and got them started and on their way (to a tire shop to deal with the obviously over-used tires still on the vehicle before they continued on to the family function).
Both incidents continued to remind me why the NOCO is a must-have preparedness item for the vehicle. I often talk about self-recovery, which is a huge component. And in the case of the first vehicle a very valid point. But in both of these cases, it also made the assistance of someone else much easier. Trying to get into a good position to jump start either of those vehicles would have been annoying at the very minimum, and quite dangerous in the case of the second vehicle.
If you don't have one in your vehicle put it in your Amazon cart. Save for a bit if needed or watch for a sale (they do go on sale somewhat frequently on Amazon). And if you do have one make sure that it is charged and ready to go. These newer ones are much better than the old batteries that always seemed to be dead, but you still want to make sure that they are in good working order (I have a reminder on my phone quarterly to charge it).
And if you want more tips like this, that's what Program 62 is all about. There's a full module on vehicle preparedness plus 11 other modules to make your life a little bit easier and safer. Or a lot easier and safer.