In November 2011, somewhere in the proximity of Asbury Park, N.J., Billy Bauer found himself in every winter driver’s worst nightmare. “For seven hours, my girlfriend and I were trapped in a snow bank while I was driving my BMW home from work,” says Bauer, a marketing director for his family’s firm, Royce Leather. Being trapped in a BMW isn’t quite as nice as it sounds. With snow engulfing the car, Bauer turned off the engine to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning and desperately tried to make his cell phone work. “There was absolutely no cell phone reception,” Bauer says. “This…

Question: On buying a car, they say that you