Jumper cables used to be standard auto equipment, just like a jack and a spare tire. Yet I’m not seeing that the majority of people carry them anymore. What’s up with that?
This thread was prompted by an incident we had while on vacation last week. We were out exploring the countryside, an hour away from our lodging, when we returned to our car in the parking lot of a Walgreens from an errand - to find we had a dead battery. We had no jumper cables in the car. First we tried calling the roadside assistance that our insurance company provides, but there was no one available according to the operator. Then we called about ten local towing services, but nobody there was available, either.
A Walgreens clerk said that there was a hardware store a few blocks away. So my poor husband, who had a very bad cold, hiked in the cold damp weather to the store and to look for jumper cables.
While he was gone, I asked Walgreen customers in the parking lot if they had jumper cables and if they could help us. Most people said they didn’t have any, and a couple of people said they thought they did but couldn’t find any when they rummaged their trunks.
Thankfully, the hardware store had cables, and a Walgreen customer gave us a jump, bless her. Then we drove to a Sears Auto Store which thank goodness was open on a Sunday afternoon, and bought a stout new battery.
Well, now I have cables in my car. What about you? Who still keeps jumper cables in their car?
It is also great for camping and power outages. Has 2 USB ports and will charge a laptop computer a couple of times, a cell phone many times and yes, I have used it to start another person’s car. The whole package with the cables, adapters and power pack is about 6 inches X 10 inches and will easily fit in your glove compartment or under the seat. The actual power pack is 5" x 2.5" x 1"thick. Can be charged by household 110 plug or by your car’s cigarette/aux power plug. Has a long lasting flashlight with strobe function.
The jumper cables are short since they don’t need to go from car to car. You can just attach the alligator clips to the battery you are jumping and place the power pack on top of the battery or anywhere under the hood that is convenient.
Much more convenient than jumper cables and has many more uses.
I do, and I’ve helped a few stranded drivers in parking lots over the years. I’ve also stood in a lot, hood open and cables in hand, asking others going to their cars for a jump.
Yup. In both the car and RV. Being stranded once will teach that lesson very quickly. It’s also a good idea to clean your negative terminal once a year with a tool designed for the job.
Why stop at jumper cables?
I keep a box in my trunk stocked with anti-freeze, motor oil, transmission fluid, wiper fluid, assorted fuses and fuse puller, portable folding shovel, road atlas,an insulating blanket, as well as a basic toolset.
While this is a bit of overkill since I currently drive a newer model car with relatively low miles, keeping these items handy has been beneficial in the past when I drove a car till the wheels fell off and has become a habit over the decades of driving less than reliable vehicles.
But several years ago, my wife bought an old Sentra, with stick shift. She was cleaning out her old car, putting stuff in the new one, including jumper cables. I pointed out to her that she would not need them anymore. But she did, and I would, anyway, because you might come across someone who needs them and doesn’t have them. Or a lot of people have shitty cheap ones that aren’t good enough for a hard winter start. Those of us who live in the country are always prepared to help city people.
We thought we had roadside assistance, too, but had the results I detailed above. We were extremely pissed off, and my husband’s bad cold got worse after his long wet walk and he’s still not well.
We have a theory: our insurance company and all the towing companies local to that area (Santa Rosa, CA) all contracted out to the same four or five local guys. Those four or five guys were home watching the 49ers game that afternoon and couldn’t be arsed to go to work.
AAA has never let me down. I keep my vehicle in good shape, and trade for new when the mileage gets up to 130,000 or so. The few times I’ve called AAA someone arrives quickly and takes care of the problem!
I’ve been asked “for a jump” a few times and I always tell the person that if they have cables I’ll bring my Jeep over and jump them. The other person has never had cables, though.
Same for me. I actually still have the set of heavy gauge, expensive cables my parents bought me back in 1991 for Christmas when I bought my first vehicle (a high-mileage clunker). They surmised that having jumper cables might come in handy, and they were right.
I’ve hung onto that set ever since, and have used them on my own vehicles, as well as quite a few other people’s, when they needed a jump and didn’t have cables.
Most of the cars have them, as well as tools and goodies. A couple have dual-battery set-ups. The Jeep has more tools, spares, extra parts, food/water, blankets, chains and stuff that it borders on silly. But I always get home.
I cannot use either of my cars to jump another vehicle (Prius and Volt), and neither have ever needed or are likely to ever need a jump. I have AAA if such a need arises. In the “old days” I usually had jumper cables in my car.
I do. I’ve helped people out and occasionally been helped out because I had them. I had a big portable charger, too, but I didn’t keep it in the car. I’ve never tried one of the small chargers and just worry they wouldn’t have the oomph to jump start a car.
