It depends on the situation. Kind of a long story but I know from experience.
I had my car break down twice. The first time with my 2 young children in the car and my husband. It was at night in the winter and we were driving to my parents for the holidays. Our car broke down and luckily I was able to pull it off to the side of the road. I call AAA for a tow truck and the police because we were on a very busy highway and it was dangerous. The tow truck couldn't take all of us so lucky I had called the police and they gave us a ride to the nearest exit, which had a local airport and we were able to rent a car. We had the car towed to the nearest dealership and we continued on our way. After the car was finished we returned rental and pick up our car on our way home.
The second time was last summer while I was heading to my parents in Michigan. We had driven about 2 of the 5 hours and my car over heated. Luckily we were able to pull off at an exit with a gas station. I was by myself this time with our now 4 children. There ages 1, 5, 8 and 12. I ended up calling a tow truck again, a rental place and a local dealership. I had my car towed to the dealership and the rental place picked us up. Continued on with a rental car to my parent's house visited there for a few days. When my car was finished dropped off rental car and they dropped me off at the dealership. It all turned out pretty well. I would make sure that you always have a cell phone, roadside assistance like AAA and any other info you might think is helpful.
I usually have found that your car breaks down when you are out of town and not locally. It would be much easier if it is local. Good luck hopefully you won't need this advice.
C. S.