"With fall moving steadily toward winter, this is the time of the year when weak batteries reveal themselves as the temperature drops," says Mark Cole, managing member for USRider, the national provider of roadside emergency assistance for equestrians.

While USRider and other motor plans are available to assist motorists when their batteries fail, USRider provides some common sense suggestions to avoid the inconvenience of a dead battery.

If your battery is more than five years old, you are living on borrowed time. While some batteries have a 96-month (or eight-year) warranty, most batteries are warranted for 36 or 60 months.

The first sign of a weak battery is the time to take action or you could find yourself stranded, or inconvenienced at best. If your battery is weak and is within its warranty period, return to the retailer you purchased the battery from, or a dealer, for possible replacement, or pro-rated reimbursement