Help, Safety & Advice

The winter breakdown top 10

Photograph showing a close up of a greenflag man looking under a vehicle bonnet

Wet, damp and cold weather plays havoc with your car and can cause major headaches with breakdowns due to battery faults, minor accidents and mechanical problems.

October to February are Green Flag’s busiest months, with calls for assistance rising by as much as 26% compared with the rest of the year. In fact, more than half of all calls for roadside assistance are due to winter-related breakdowns.

Non-starting vehicles, mainly due to problems with batteries, remains the number one cause of winter breakdowns, accounting for almost half of all calls. Second place goes to minor accidents, accounting for 10% of all breakdowns. The increase in calls for help arising from minor accidents underlines the need to take extra care when driving in wet and icy conditions.

Tyre problems account for a further 9% of calls received during the winter months. It’s always important to ensure tyres are in good condition, but particularly in winter conditions, when they require adequate (and legal) tread depth (1.6mm) to ensure maximum traction on wet roads. Many motorists come unstuck in the event of a puncture as they forget to keep the spare wheel maintained.

Further common causes of winter breakdowns include electrical and mechanical faults, problems with the drive system, problems with cooling systems, and lost or stolen keys.

Some more unusual causes of winter breakdowns responded to by Green Flag last year include fires, boot problems, mirror and windscreen wiper problems, and driver illness.

Green Flag’s top 10 winter breakdown causes

  1. Non-start/battery failure
  2. Minor accidents
  3. Tyre/wheel problems
  4. Electrical
  5. Mechanical
  6. Drive system
  7. Cooling system
  8. Keys locked in the car/stolen or lost
  9. Mis-fuelling/running out of petrol
  10. Cables

Next: Surviving a breakdown

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