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Calls for vehicle service go up as temperatures drop

40 views · Published 25 January 2018 · 2:32 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: LOCAL 12 · 2018 · News & Politics

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - If your car has ever broken down, you know that frustrating feeling of being stranded. The bitter cold is causing a spike in calls to road service workers.

This is one of the busiest times of the year for AAA Roadside Technician Steve Roberts. Roberts concentrates mainly on vehicle batteries. Monday, his truck was carrying 30 of them.

The plummeting temperatures are resulting in a lot of calls for service. According to AAA, there have been roughly 2,000 calls since Friday’s winter storm. Roberts says one of the main challenges is the volume of calls that have been coming in and getting to each driver as quickly as possible.

AAA says the average battery lasts between three and five years. A battery is 35% weaker at zero degrees and this Winter, we've seen plenty of days with a low temperature of zero and even colder.

“Let's say the battery is getting to be 3, 4 however many years old, if it's starting to get weak, any extreme temperature, you can have the real hot or the real cold like this, it just helps it go the rest of the way out,” Roberts said.

Roberts suggests winterizing your vehicle with a shop you trust to prevent getting stuck.

He said, “They'll check your fluids. They'll run a test on your battery and if you just want to get the battery checked, we come out and we come out and we do that. You don't have to be stranded to use AAA.”

Roadside technicians are also encouraging people to check their tire pressure more often. In cold weather, drivers see a lot of problems with their tires as well.

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