Car out on street, hood up, steam rolling out from open hood, KNOCK KNOCK

[Lish]

You can't see the street from my front door, nor can you see my home from the street. There are plenty of houses on the street here, but there are a bunch of back properties too, and I'm a back property. Someone comes knocking on my door with car trouble, I'm suspecting trouble. Call me paranoid, but it makes no sense for someone to come HERE looking for help. Actually, a couple years ago through the window I spotted a truck coming up my grassy driveway while I was washing dishes. I watched him park, watched him walk around my house, then finally come back around to the front door. He was looking for "directions", yeah right. I told him to hit the road and I called the police, to report suspicious activity. The police even had a hard time finding my driveway and when they made it to my house, they completely agreed it made no sense for someone to come to my door for help with various houses street front. First words out of one of the deputies mouth was "m'am...you got you a gun? (at the time, the answer was "no") You better get you one" And he proceed to give me suggestions for home defense firearm choices. I love my sheriff's office!

It may not happen often, but the "car trouble" ruse is sometimes played. Recently here in Central FL... http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/...y-sunday-night

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[oakchas]

^^^^^^^^^^^Goes to show^^^^^^^^^^

some of 'em will try anything to get into a house....

[Bob O]

Any time I answer the door it is with Kel-Tec P-3AT in pocket, hand on grip.
Once I feel comfortable with the situation I may or may not remove my hand from the pocket.

In the situation described I would look out my windows near the door to see how many people are there, where they are located, and determine if I deem the situation too dangerous to open the door or not.
If I think it's too dangerous to open the door I would try to help them the best I could through the locked door.

Bobo

[ghost tracker]

There's only two houses on the "No Outlet" road which I live. And I've know my only neighbors since elementary school. If you're on our road you're either visiting us or them, period. So if I don't know the people or the car, I'm calling my neighbor to tell 'em to...come down here and see about your broke-down company!

[ElkSniper]

I'm related to a Marine. I would subscrive to one of their "rules":

Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

[scstarr]

I stand corrected. My opthalmologist will be happy to see me; the dispensing optician will be even happier.

Don't feel bad thats what I saw too.

[Hodad]

I'm on a cul de sac so it would be very unusual for that to happen, but if it did:

I never open the door before taking a look through a window (from a distance and to one side) to see who or what is on the front porch.

If I had any suspicions I would retrieve my downstairs pistol and have it and myself ready to go before even approaching the door.

Sometimes I actually exit in back and walk around the house and approach them from behind.

Paranoid? Maybe just a little, but better safe than sorry.

[TedBeau]

I listen to my gut. Where I live now, it would be totally backwards to stop here coz it's a circle drive neighborhood road so anyone who doesn't live here probably has a friend that they would go to - nobody is just driving through and there's a gas station in walking distance, and at my parent's house it would be 100% suspicious coz they are at the dead end and up a hill away from the road, but if your house was on a more main road and away from obvious sources of help, then given the info in the OP it would probably be best to help out.

I've helped people a few times, and told others a flat NO, just listening to my gut. So far, it's always been right. I feel like being aware of the risk and making conscious decisions is different than blindly jumping into anything because it's "the right thing to do" or whatever sentiment people naively cling to.

Not meaning to be a jerk, but I have a question, in the cases where you said no to helping, how do you know it was the right thing? Did your read in the paper that someone got robbed at the same location by somone pretending to be broken down? Perhaps the person you didn't help really was on the up and up. I understand not offering to help if it's outside your comfort zone, but we cannot know what might have happened.

As for me, I would probably help out unless I got a really bad read on the situation based on their looks and their story. My youngest daughter drives an older car and I would hope that if she couldn't reach me in a break down that someone else would be willing to help her out if needed.

[pir8fan]

What would I do? Go back to my to what ever I was doing.

[Gene83]

Well my house is at the end of a cul-de-sac and there's only one street entering the subdivision. People just roaming around and breaking down in front of the house would be pretty odd. But, it could happen. If it was a reasonable hour and I was home, I'd probably be upstairs in the office on my computer like I am now. Easy enough to look out the window, size up the situation, and give a friendly shout "I'm upstairs. What do you need?" If it's just water, the hose is by the front door.

By that time, at least three of my nosey neighbors have stuck their heads out the door to see what all the yelling is about. There's enough of us retired or semi-retired that we can turn into an elderly gang pretty quickly.

[mrwinkles]

Im not a mechanic, so what am I supposed to do to help?

They can use my hose if they need a little water and they can give me a number or place to call if they dont have a phone....neither of which require me to open my door.

I live kinda in the boonies on the last street in the back of the neighborhood and pretty much the only people that drive down "my " road are / or know residents(if you need help go to your house or your friends house...).
Now I suppose you could be joyriding but IMO you should not be joyriding down my street if you cant afford a phone or AAA, you should be looking for a job. anyone disagree?

I drive a twenty year old car and have had my fair share of breakdowns and ive never needed to knock on someones door to get help, id make a phone call or go for a walk.

[high pockets]

I would be very leery if this situation arose. As a shade tree mechanic, myself, my first urge would be to help, but then I would wonder why they were there at all. Mine is the last house, in a cul-de-sac, on a marked, Dead End, road. There are 19 other houses on my street that one would have to pass to get to my house.

[TheGreatGonzo]

Go out my back door, around the side of the house, and assess the situation (armed because I'm always armed). If things appear to be as they claim, I'll watch the surprise on their faces as I appear behind them and ask them if they need to use my hose. If something appears amiss or sets off my internal alarms, they never see me, I slip back in the back door, and I watch from inside to make sure they don't hang around.

Another alternative is to simply tell them through the door that you have called the local police/sheriff/state police barracks to have someone come out and help them. I got more than a few of those calls back in my small town patrol days. If they are up-to-no-good, they will be gone before the constabulary makes their appearance. If they truly need help, they will be just as glad to see the po-po as you are.
Gonzo

[GraySkies]

I'm a helper, too. But, I'm armed. And wary.

^This^

[elmacgyver0]

I would help them but at the same time be very cautous. Everybody these days carry a cell phone they are never more than a phone call from help, or their drug dealer.