I haven’t read all the replies so this may have been said already. On more than one occasion when I have been in a similar situation (and I have yet to own a cell phone!) I have driven on a flat tire until it burned off the rim and the rim itself had to be replaced when I finally got to a place to get it fixed.
There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
Now, if I were also out of gas, I’d be up the basic creek and would be forced to walk to wherever.
I’m pretty sure I’d be screwed. I know how to change a flat and changed many on my first car, since all I could afford were retreads and they never lasted very long.
However, I now own my mother’s car and I have no idea where the spare is and whether or not there’s a jack in the car. I have a tricky back from an old injury, so while I’m pretty sure I could figure out where the spare is located, I’m not sure I’d want to risk lifting a tire or jerking on lug nuts.
My guess is that I’d be enjoying a long walk. 
In my defense, I rarely drive on deserted roads, my phone is always charged and I have Triple A.
Last time this happened to me, I was back driving in about 7 minutes.
not a problem; not screwed at all
I’d just do what I always do: get out the tools and spare like I’m going to change it, then step aside and let the kind stranger that pulls over to help take care of the rest!
I have gotten so far as to try the lugs on a few occasions, and have bent the flimsy wrench without moving them a bit. Luckily these kind strangers tend to bring their own sturdy tools. The last time I had a tire problem was in someone else’s car and it turned out the spare was flat and there was no pump or anything. I started wresting with the lugs anyway and the fine fellow who stopped to help actually took the flat spare home, inflated it, brought it back and installed it for me. Nothing restores my faith in humanity like car trouble!
And yes, I do stop and offer help to other motorists.
I vote “Not screwed at all”. I make sure I have a spare, jack and lug wrench of some kind in all of my vehicles. I’ve changed so many tires in my life, both mine and for others, that I can generally get it done inside of 10 minutes even on the side of the road with a crappy scissor jack.
:shrug: Change the tire and I’m on my way in 15 minutes. It amazes me some of the simple things people don’t think they can do (baring physical restrictions of course).
Heck, if the car has a manual, and you can read, you should be able to figure it out.
There’s that, but there is also the fact that the force required to break the lug nuts free is often greater than the force required to make the car topple off the jack. Some jacks, especially the small scissor type included with most cars today, are very unstable.
This is also the reason, once the flat tire has been removed, I put it under the car until the new tire is mounted. That way, should something cause the jack to fall (or fail) the car lands on the tire instead of A) ruining the rotor on the concrete/rocks/etc and B) it leaves the car high enough that the jack can be reinserted and the car lifted again.
I will never repair a tire that has been run flat for any distance unless I have no choice, and then I will only drive it to the next place I can buy one. Once I loose confidence in something I will never relax again while using it. Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss.
I can change a tire. there is a spare & I know how to use all of the tools in the car.
One small can of WD-40 in with your tool can help out a Lot.
Cars don’t have flats and spare tires anymore, they have run-flat tires. They are designed to be driven to the nail salon and soccer practice on smooth roads in fine weather by people who have a cell phone and roadside service. Anything besides that is considered to be “off-road” use, requiring stunt driving skills and special back-country equipment, like a spare tire bolted to the roof (there is no well) and a jack.
Not all cars come with run flats. And what about the older cars on the road?
Both of my cars have full size spares and the necessary tools to change a flat. I’ve stopped and changed numerous strangers’ tires so I’m pretty familiar with the process. If I’m going on a road trip I toss my 1/2" cordless impact in the trunk which I’ve used a few times. It turns a ten minute change into a 3 minute change.
You must have a quota of dead-ass wrong things to post every day.
I’ve changed many flats. So I’d be okay.
In fact, my brother called me one time to change his car’s tires. I was astonished that he didn’t know how to do it himself.
I agree with jz78817, that crap needs to be banned. It is evil, vile, noxious crap.
To answer the OP’s question, having worked in a service station and a truck stop, I would have no problem changing the tire and wouldn’t even think about using the phone. I’ve had many a flat tire before cell phones became the ‘necessity’ people think they are.
Kimballkid, I too worked through high school (1980s) at a full service gas station & truck stop. While I don’t ever recall being blasted in the face with Fix-A-Flat like jz78817 did, I sure hated trying to clean that crap out of the tire before fixing the hole.
I’m in the group of people who wouldn’t be screwed at all. I’ve changed all sorts of flats in my day. Including but not limited to a semi tire with no inner tube when we didn’t have the proper equipment. I used a sledge and wedge to break the tire down, fixed the hole, and use starting fluid and a match to get the tire to seal back to the rim. Let me know if you want more details. It’s pretty cool, but dangerous as hell. Something you don’t think about when your 17/18. Speaking of being 17/18 my best friend and I once rotated the tires on his car using a jack, his spare and a 4-way. I guess we did it “because we could” because we both worked at the same gas station and could have used the lift and any number of pneumatic tools. 
The other reason is that if you forget to set the parking brake, and you are dealing with the front wheel of a front-wheel-drive car (or the rear wheel of a RWD car), then wrenching the lug nuts with that wheel in the air will cause the wheel on the other side of the car to turn, courtesy of the differential. Under the right circumstances, and with enough torque on the wrench, it may be possible to roll the car off of the jack, which is bad juju.
Not only that, but if the flat tire happens to be on the drive axle, then it’s likely to wreck the limited slip differential. The limited-slip mechanism is designed to tolerate minor, short-term differences between left and right wheel speed. Driving with one tire flat creates a large, sustained speed differential between the two wheels, dumping a lot of energy into that mechanism.
I realize it’s a pain in the ass when the rim sticks to the hub, but coating the interface with any kind of lubricant is a bad idea. The studs are not designed to take side loads due to the car’s weight, braking, or acceleration. They are supposed to hold the rim tightly to the hub so that friction between rim and hub can take those forces. By lubricating that interface, you’ve reduced its ability to tolerate those forces without slipping; if any slippage does occur, then the studs make up the difference by bearing a sideways load. If it’s cyclic (every time you brake/accelerate hard, or every time the wheel goes around, or every time you hit a bump), then you may be setting yourself up for a fatigue failure of the studs. Or maybe you’re not. Point being that you’ve reduced the margin of safety by a completely unknown amount, which is generally ill-advised.
For the OP: I’ve changed half a dozen flat tires by the side of the road, so no problemo. I swap summer/snow tires every spring/fall, so my rims are generally not too badly stuck to the hubs, and my lug nuts (tightened with a torque wrench) are reasonably easy to loosen. When I do the tire swaps, I have to top off whichever tires are being installed, which is a perfect time to also top off the spare in the trunk.
I’d like to say that I’m really pleased with the responses in this thread. I’m learning a lot. Many thanks!
Yeah, but to the person who is going to actually plug the puncture, fix a flat is evil.
To the person with a flat tire, in the rain, at night, on a dangerous road, fix a flat is a miracle.
Takes me around twenty minutes if it’s freezing and snowing and it’s Christmas Eve Eve 