For motorists, this is a nightmare. Wanting to get to your destination and the car refuses to budge.

Mechanic Andrew Brown, who works in Constant Spring, St Andrew, shares his 20-year experience on what to do:

1. Check your battery. Turn on your headlights. Try restarting the car. They should go dim. If not, turn them and the car off. Shift the gear in PARK or NEUTRAL. Ensure that the emergency brake is active and try to restart. The problem may be a loose neutral safety switch.

2. If the lights go dim when trying to restart, there may be a loose cable connection or, perhaps, corroded battery terminals. To check for loose connection, carefully grasp the cable clamp and twist it slightly. If it is not tight, it needs to be addressed. Mechanic Brown cautions that safety goggles should be worn when dealing with batteries.

3. When cleaning corroded connections, it is best to do the negative terminal or ground first. To clean, loosen the clamp bolt with an adjustable or open-ended wrench. Pry the clamp apart with an insulated screwdriver and lift the cable off. Motorists are reminded to keep the negative terminal disconnected until the job is completed.

4. At this point, scrape the contact surface clean with a knife, nail file or emery board. Afterwards, reconnect the cables to terminals. Remember the negative terminal should be replaced last. Fasten them firmly.

5. If the headlights on the vehicle are still dim when restarting, the battery is low. If they never light up, the battery is probably dead. A jump-start could help.

- Paul Messam