Standing on the side of the road with your hood popped open and your car battery dead is definitely not an ideal situation to be in when you’re on a road trip, headed home, or late to work. A dead battery is one of the only car fixes you can do without heading to the body shop, but how exactly do you use those jumper cables?
Before breaking out your cables or asking a stranger, determine that the battery is the actual cause for concern. If you turn the key and nothing happens, you’ll likely have a dead battery that will need to be jumped.
1. Enlist the help of a friend or fellow driver to park their car next to or across from yours with the hood of the cars near each other.
2. Turn both cars off.
3. Connect the red (positive) jumper cable to the positive terminal on the dead battery. It will most likely feature a plus sign. Do the same with the good battery.
4. Connect one end of the black (negative) jumper cable to the negative terminal made obvious with a minus sign on the good battery.
5. Connect the other end of the negative jumper cable to an exposed metal surface beneath the disabled car’s hood.
6. Start the car that is doing the jumping and let the engine run for 2-3 minutes.
7. Start the dead car. If it starts, let it run for at least 20 minutes before turning off the car.
8. Remove the cables in reverse order. This will prevent sparking.
Congratulations! Your car is up and running! If you’re uncomfortable performing any of these steps, contact a professional or roadside assistance to give you a hand.
Have questions? Give us a call! AZ Insurance Team 480-535-5709 https://www.azinsuranceteam.com
*All policies are a little different and this may not be applicable to your insurance policy, talk to your agent to see what your policy covers.*
Comments