<p>My child is at school 6 1/2 hours away. He had been driving an 8-year-old car, so we bought him a brand new Honda Civic so he (and us) wouldn’t have to worry about him having car problems. He goes out to eat tonight and the car dies! Battery, lights, yes…but just clicking when he turns the ignition. It is under warranty, of course. Anyone had any experience coordinating something like this? Should I call my car dealer here and let him contact the closest Honda dealer? Even the towing should be paid for by the warranty.</p>
<p>I can’t help you with this, Georgia. We made the mistake of letting our oldest have more freedom with our cars than he should have as he was not able to take responsibility for the car during that freedom. We are not repeating this with the rest of the boys. A young man who takes a car away from home has to know how to take care of that car and any problems that occur while he has it, barring a catastrophe.</p>
<p>I’m going to guess that he left the headlights on and the battery died. That seems more likely than a brand new car just not working. You can call the dealer and try to get them to drive him home or give him a jump if that’s what’s necessary.</p>
<p>I agree with Mike - it sounds as if he either left the lights on and drained the battery (headlights, interior dome on, door ajar, etc.) or the battery had an early life failure (unlikely). </p>
<p>He should get a jumpstart by calling AAA, the dealer, some other road service, or a friend. If it’s a manual tranny he can push-start the car - hopefully carefully. He should be able to resolve this fairly easily tonight.</p>
<p>If he can’t find a friend with jumper cables for a charge, he might be able to try contacting the campus police to see if they’re willing to give him a quick battery charge. I bet they run into this all of the time.</p>
<p>I don’t have a new car and just had an interesting battery experience. Battery died, needed a jump. Meant to get it to the shop the next day, but could not. Battery died again. I was lucky enough to have a passerby who is a mechanic stop by to help me. My battery was DRY. He put water in it–there is a place to put in water, and it now works like a charm. I would have gotten a new battery without blinking an eye, for all I knew!</p>
<p>Sounds like a dead battery. Hard to believe. </p>
<p>Everyone ought to carry a set of reasonably long jumper cables and know how to use them. They cost about 20-30 at autozone.</p>
<p>Sounds like the lights were working, no? If so, if could be the starter solenoid. I’d call your home dealership and have them arrange to have it taken care of, including the tow.</p>
<p>“I’d call your home dealership and have them arrange to have it taken care of, including the tow.”</p>
<p>I agree. As many parents do, I have considerable experience with “Dad, the car won’t start.” Most time lights have been left on, draining the battery. Of course it could be a bad solenoid or a poor connection between battery and starter, or a bad relay, or a bad battery, or even death rays from Mars (jk with that last one). If the boy can get the car jump-started and that ends the problem, great. Otherwise it’s worthwhile to have the dealer diagnose the problem, IMO.</p>
<p>Don’t we hate these phone calls?</p>
<p>Your auto insurance coverage may also pay for the tow. Good luck!</p>
<p>Does he have AAA? If so, that’s who he should call.</p>
<p>If I leave my lights on in my 2006 Honda CR-V and attempt to get out of the car, a buzzer sounds. Same thing if the keys are in the ignition. Even my old
'96 Honda Civic warned me if I left the lights on.</p>
<p>^Same with my '99 Chrysler.</p>
<p>But if you take the surfboard out of the back of the vehicle and don’t completely close the back hatch there’ll be no buzzer and the battery will be dead in the morning. My D knows all about this.</p>
<p>We had a similiar prob. with a Honda Accord. It turned out to be the starter gone bad but our car was about five years old at the time. </p>
<p>Tell S to call and have it towed. My S’s car died on him the first day of class his freshman year. He called the dealership who sent a tow truck to campus to get it. S took a cab to go retrieve his car the next week. Don’t worry. Your S can handle it. Hope it’s just the battery.</p>
<p>These are the times that help them become adults. You can help him find whom to call, but he should call and handle it all himself.</p>
<p>It could be as simple as leaving something on. When the problem is addressed, you may want to come up with a procedure he needs to follow if other problems arise. He should have an auto plan like AAA and he should know the number and location of the car dealer since it is a new car. Perhaps the dealership where you bought the car can call that dealership and make some introductions. Cars do cause troubles, even new ones. He needs to know what to do if he is towed, ticketed, gets into an accident, needs to replace a part (the oil, the oil, the oil… I know too many kids who killed new cars that way). He needs to know how to put on the spare, how to do a jump. A car is really heavy responsibility. Our oldest made just about every mistake he could with our cars and his first car.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice! This is our first child to go off to school and I just freaked out yesterday about this, especially since my husband wasn’t home when my son called and I certainly couldn’t tell from this far away whether it was simply a battery issue or not.</p>
<p>So, I called the local Honda dealer this morning, and they seemed to think it was probably a battery problem and gave me the Honda Roadside Assistance number. Unfortunately, roadside assistance needs the VIN number off the vehicle, which I did not have, so I had to call the dealership again and ask for it. The good news is that jumping the battery, towing, etc. sounds like it will be covered, so whatever it needs we won’t have to pay for it.</p>
<p>Moral: Make sure you have all pertinent details about your child’s vehicle in a safe place somewhere. And probably a pair of jumper cables and a few lessons in how to jump start a car would not be a bad idea.</p>
<p>Make sure your son now has the Assistance number and the VIN which he can get off of the car himself. He should learn to deal with this as it would save him the call to you when time is of the essence and not have to stress you with the situation. I have no doubt other automobile issues will arise and part of his growing up is learning to deal with them.</p>
<p>The Honda warranty is very good. I also recommend getting AAA. The roadside assistance from AAA is very good. In fact you are covered even if you are only a passenger and the car belongs to someone else. We always get our money back in free maps and discounts even if we do not need the roadside assistance.</p>