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ALBANY, GA -- Before rushing out for Labor Day weekend, many people made a pit stop at the auto mechanic.

“Business been real busy. Everybody waiting until the last minute heading out of town, waiting until the last minute to do the oil changes, have the tires changes, things like that,” says James Stalvey, Owner of Premier Autoworks.

Based on AAA statistics, more people need to be doing the same before heading out on long road trips or vacations.

Last year during the Labor Day weekend, AAA says they responded to 7,800 calls, many regarding dead batteries.

In the past decade, AAA’s requests for battery assistance jumped from 4,000 calls a year to more than 400,000 per year. During the Labor Day weekend in Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, AAA says the call volume for AAA Service Technicians to provide jump starts and battery replacements to stranded motorists increased 12 percent from 2009 to 2010 and almost 40 percent from 2008 to 2009.

That’s why auto mechanics say to maintain your charging system.

“If it's three or four years old it's probably time to change it out. Especially in the heat,” says Gary Barbour, Owner of Interstate Batteries in Albany.

Heat is a prime culprit for the reason car batteries go dead.

“When it changes from one to the other, from hot to cold or cold to hot, that's when we see the biggest influx,” says Barbour.

If you do have to jump your car, hook the positive of dead battery to the positive of the jumper battery then “hook the negative of the battery that you're charging over to a good body ground, a non-painted metal surface as far away from the battery as you can get actually. You don't want to jump it battery to battery,” says Stalvey.

To avoid having to jump a car battery or call a tow truck, auto mechanics say to take your car for a checkup.

“Just have a certified mechanic, a good mechanic, check it out. They'll do it all for you, change the oil, check transmission, air in the tires, check the battery. Just get a good mechanic that you trust to check it out for you,” says Barbour.

Below is AAA’s instructions on jumping a car battery.
How to Properly Jump Start Your Car Battery:
-See your owner’s manual for detailed information on how to care for your vehicle
-Always wear safety glasses when jump starting a battery in case of an explosion
-Check for visible signs of failure
-Corroded connections
-Loose connections
-Attach positive cable to the dead battery and then the negative connection to the metal frame of the car to avoid sparks at the battery, causing an unsafe condition. (too much power going into the negative battery)
-Attach positive cable and negative cable last to the live battery
-Always double check connections to make sure you have correct polarity to avoid damage to the car’s electrical system
-If in doubt, you can always use your AAA Membership and call on AAA’s service technicians to assist you with your car battery