A system and method for notifying emergency responders, family, and other contact parties of an urgent vehicle condition such as a breakdown or crash, by using a short-range wireless communicator mounted on the vehicle to employ a peer-to-peer communications capability to find and co-opt a nearby long-range communication device, such as a Bluetooth enabled phone, which is not mounted on the vehicle, such as a passer's-by telephone. The invention obtains authorization from the co-opted device to use it as a forwarding proxy, and transmits a notification message to one or more parties, such as emergency dispatchers, family members, etc., via the short-range link to the co-opted device, which then transmits the message to the recipient via the long-range network, such as via a telephone network.