But if it can’t contact the car wouldn’t even asking it to flash the lights fail?
The point is that the "flash the lights" command will likely fail if your car is asleep, but it will start by trying to wake the car up.
That way, by the time you issue your second command (the one you really want to do), the car will be awake and responsive.
And if the car happens to be awake, or wake up quickly, then the flash the lights command is relatively harmless.
The point is you want the first command to be something that actually makes the car do something, rather than just retrieve status.
I tried changing my Google routine from:
"How far can I drive"
"Turn on climate"
(which failed for me, even when I put in a significant delay (count to 100) in between those two commands)
to:
"Flash my lights"
"Turn on climate"
(with no delay in between)
and it worked great! Give it a try!