Cars are great things and larger cars allow you to store all manner of ‘stuff’ in them without worry. What I’m interested in here though are five things that you should have in your car, regardless of the size of the vehicle. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the list:
A Spare Tyre
No, that goop that you can use to re-inflate a tyre is not a good or adequate alternative. You should have, if at all possible, a good quality spare tyre in your car. You never know when you may need it. Consider buying one if there isn’t one snugly nestled in your boot.
A Pen/Notepad
Should the worst ever happen and you’re in an accident, then you might need this. Alternatively, if there are ever any incidents that you’re indirectly involved in (say you aren’t in an accident but others are) then these two items could become very important.
Your Car Manual
Not a lot of people actually know their tyre pressures off by heart, so to encourage you to actually inflate them to the correct pressure, keep the booklet that actually tells you what they should be close to hand. This may also come in useful when buying accessories or if your car needs work done.
The Tools To Remove A Wheel
Some wheels are secured by specialist nuts, to make sure that they can’t be removed by just anyone. If you ever need to get the wheel off (say to put on that spare we mentioned earlier) then you’ll need these to hand. It’s especially important to have them if you are going to buy a set of new tyres. The garage will thank you for bringing them.
A First Aid Kit
Again, this is one that you hope you’d never need – but it’s very much just-in-case. Whether you have first aid skills or not, you just might need this, even if for the kids when you go for a day out. They’ll always pick up a graze somewhere.
So there you go, there’s the five items that you should have in your car. You should be pretty well served by these and I’ll cover what you need for a long trip some other time. With reference to what you shouldn’t have in your car, the first is rubbish. Your motor is not a mobile rubbish tip, so don’t treat it like one. What would your other half say, or even worse, potential other half? Not a good look.
The second thing to NOT have in your car is extremely strong smelling air freshener. Your car should more than adequately take care of this by having its own in-built air con – and being regularly cleaned by you. If this isn’t the case, then you’re either driving quite an old motor or you need more house training.
The final thing I’d recommend not having in your car is any kind of car magazine, particularly of the ‘classic’ variety. Unless you happen to be James May. In that case, I’d of course let you off.
Danny says
August 18, 2008 at 2:24 pmMy recommendation would be some black plastic bin-liners, a blanket and baby wipes.
As you probably remember, we have an Auto Reconditioning centre, and we see loads of problems that could easily have been avoided by having bin liners or blankets, which cost little and weigh little.
About the most common problem we see is tins of paint which have exploded in the backs of cars. When the sun comes out, people think about doing DIY, so they buy a tin of emulsion or fence paint. But with the sun out, the car gets hot and the lids pop off. So when buying paint, or anything else that you wouldn’t want spilt on your interior, put it in a bin liner and tie it up tight. You can also throw a blanket over the top to help insulate it and keep it cool. You can also use a blanket to insulate your frozen peas on the way back from the supermarket.
The other thing that people do is buy things like cheap picture frames from Wilkingsons, and because they don’t want them getting broken in the boot of the car, they place them on the leather upholstery on the back seat. A picture frame may cost £6.99, but the cost of scratched or ripped leather can run into hundreds of pounds. Wrapping the frame in a blanket would have made life much easier.
You can also use a blanket as padding to stop things sliding around in the boot. Or just protecting the boot/back floor. A lot of people go for a Sunday drive and return with a boot load of potted plants.
The other one is that people set off for the beach, when they get there they cover themselves in sun tan lotion. They then get back in the car and sun-block the upholstery. The stains from this can not be removed or even recoloured, making it a very expensive mistake. A blanket will save your seats, especially if you have a wet dog.
The other thing you can do with a blanket is drape it over your steering wheel in hot weather to act as a sun shade. And the bin liners can actually be used as bin liners, or a sick-bag if need be.
So I never go anywhere without a travel blanket from Tesco’s and a roll of bin liners – much more useful than a tin of travel sweets and a box of tissues!
Having said that, baby wipes are very useful to have in the car, they are great for cleaning dashboards and greasy hands.
Mr Butterscotch says
August 19, 2008 at 11:35 amHi Danny,
Thanks for the comment. I’d like to add that regarding paint, I’d never advise keeping it in the car that long – you should really (if you want to avoid said incidents) get it in the house as soon as possible!
Love the idea of keeping a blanket in the car – though that would smell as bad as the wet dog after a single visit. My advice is to ban wet dogs from the car if at all possible 🙂
I got some ‘Demon Green’ wipes that do the job on the dash, and just about every other surface. Very handy.
Garvey Hyundai says
June 16, 2010 at 2:14 pmI so agree with the strong smelling air freshener thing, I am allergic to them and most of the people have a very strong smelling freshener which causes nausea