Roadside tyre help when you are stuck on a UAE highway

The first five minutes: getting safe

When a tyre fails on the E11 or E311, the danger is the traffic, not the tyre. Follow these steps in order:

1. Hold the wheel straight and ease off. Do not brake hard. Let the car slow down and indicate right.
2. Get as far right as possible. Use the hard shoulder, or better, take the next exit if you can reach it at low speed. A ruined tyre is cheaper than a stop in a live lane.
3. Hazard lights on as soon as you start slowing.
4. Everyone out on the passenger side and behind the barrier, away from the car. Never stand between the car and traffic.
5. Place the warning triangle well behind the car if you can do it safely.
6. Do not change the tyre yourself on the traffic side of a highway. Trucks pass within a metre of the shoulder.
7. If you are blocking a lane or anyone is hurt, call the police first. We come after that.

What to tell us when you call or WhatsApp

A clear message gets the right van with the right tyre:

• Your live location pin. On highways, also the direction of travel and the nearest exit or landmark, such as "Sheikh Zayed Road towards Abu Dhabi, after the Mall of the Emirates exit".
• Which tyre and what happened: a bang, a slow deflation, a nail you can see.
• The tyre size from the sidewall if you can read it safely, otherwise the car model and year.
• If you have a usable spare, and if the car has run-flat tyres.

What happens when we arrive

The technician parks the van behind your car with its lights on as a buffer, then assesses the tyre. There are three likely outcomes:

If the highway shoulder is too narrow to work safely, we may ask you to drive slowly to the next exit or petrol station with the hazards on, or we tow the car a short distance with you. We do not change wheels where it puts you or the technician at risk. More about the specific job is on our flat tyre service page.

Roadside does not only mean highways

Plenty of our roadside call-outs happen in places a tow truck cannot reach at all: a tower basement in Dubai Marina, a mall car park at night, a compound in Mirdif, or a sand track off the Al Qudra road. Our vans carry low-profile jacks for basements with low ceilings. If you are underground, tell us the level and bay number, and if mobile signal is weak, send the pin from street level first.

Electric cars and cars with no spare

Many newer cars, including the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y and most BMWs, leave the factory without a spare wheel. Some come with a sealant kit, which can get you moving after a small tread puncture but does not work on a sidewall cut or a blown tyre, and the sealant has to be cleaned out before a proper repair. If your car has no spare, say so when you get in touch so we can load a matching tyre before leaving. Electric cars are heavy, so we lift them only at the jacking points the maker specifies.

Avoiding the next roadside stop

UAE police have repeatedly named tyre blowouts as a leading cause of summer crashes. Most roadside tyre failures we attend share the same causes: under-inflation, an old tyre that has hardened in the heat, or a slow puncture ignored for weeks. Check pressures cold every two weeks, look at the DOT date, and do not leave a TPMS warning on. Our tyre maintenance guide sets out a five-minute monthly routine.

And check your spare. A roadside stop is the worst time to discover the spare has been flat since the car was new.