According to roadside assistance technology provider Agero, 69 million people a year experience some kind of vehicle event other than an accident that requires some kind of roadside assistance. Add to that the other 5.25 million car crashes, and you can bet that some time over the course of a year, you’re going to be left stranded by the side of the road.
Depending on the age of your car, your car insurance provider, and even your credit card company, chances are good that you have some kind of roadside assistance that can provide either a few gallons of gas to get you to a filling station or a flatbed to tow you to a service facility. That doesn't necessarily apply to new cars only: You can call your vehicle brand's roadside assistance number located in the owner's manual, and they'll likely come and pick you up. The only caveat is that instead of bringing you to the closest garage, they'll only take you to that brand's closest retailer. That's ok if you're driving a Ford. Not so great if you're driving a MINI and the closest retailer is four hours away.
The other thing to consider is that roadside emergency assistance providers are experiencing the same level of staffing issues as everyone else, and help can sometimes be more than an hour away. It’s one thing if your car breaks down in a mall parking lot; it’s entirely another thing when you’re out in the middle of nowhere in the cold weather with a disabled vehicle.
That’s why it’s important for every car owner to think about what you might need to have on hand in case of emergency. We’re not suggesting you have a full toolkit in the back of every vehicle you own, but these handy items can either make you comfortable and safer when you’re waiting for a tow truck or get you back on the road and help you make it to the next gas station safely.
We're going to assume everybody has some kind of cell phone to call for emergencies, but we're also going to assume that you may have a dead battery and no phone charger, or you may be out of range, and you've got to act in your own defense for a bit before help comes.
The goal here is that all of these items should fit neatly in a backpack, or split up between the glove compartment, the console, and the cargo area, and they shouldn’t cost a ton of money to assemble. You can buy fully assembled emergency kits, but they often come with the cheapest varieties of the essential items we’ve recommended here, and pre-assembled kits are often more expensive than the total it would take to procure the items individually.
First Aid Kit
Approximate cost: $13
You can get a first aid kit at any pharmacy for short money. We're not looking for a complete triage kit here, just something that will keep you safe until the cavalry arrives. Adhesive bandages, gauze, medical tape and antibacterial ointment are what we're after.
This one is optional, because you may already have one. Check around to see if your vehicle has a first aid kit in place already before you go spending the extra money.
Spare Tire:
Approximate cost: Free?
What we're recommending here is just making sure you know where your spare tire is, or, if your vehicle doesn't have one—an increasingly likely scenario—where the tire inflation kit is.
As manufacturers try to save money and weight, the venerable spare tire was first reduced in size to a temporary spare and then eliminated entirely in favor of a tiny air compressor and some aerosol fix-a-flat goop. Sometimes that can work, sometimes not. If your flat tire was the result of a slow leak, this may have you covered. If you've experienced a blowout, you're not going to get back on the road with just a compressor.
Also, know where your lug wrench and jack are located, and how to operate them. It's the absolute worst trying to figure this stuff out in a downpour while rush hour traffic whizzes by. If you're driving an older car that pre-dates tire pressure monitoring systems, a tire pressure gauge in the glovebox is a handy tool, too.
Flashlight
Approximate cost: $6
We’re truly in the golden age of flashlight technology. If you wanted a decent flashlight years ago, you had to carry something the size of a nightstick that weighed about 42 pounds thanks to the four to six D-cell batteries in it.
Today, you can get a decent quality LED flashlight that’s either rechargeable or runs on AA or AAA batteries for about $5 from Amazon, Harbor Freight, or any number of discount providers. Chances are pretty good you've gotten one for free in the last few years. We recommend one that's cheap and small and has an array of bright LEDs plus a magnet: That will take a lot of responsibility off your 10-year-old son.
Many these days run on AAs, which we like for an emergency light, because you can also stash a pack of spare batteries in your emergency kit rather than having to rely on 12-volt power to support your charger.
Work Gloves:
Approximate cost: $15
You want a pair of gloves not only for the warmth, but also to keep you from barking the skin off your knuckles if you happen to be beside the road changing a flat.
Mechanix Wear gloves are great. They fit tight, they’re durable, and they're available in a range of bright colors. They also have two strips of reflective material so you can be seen a bit better at night.
There are other versions of these gloves available at every home center in America. Just find a pair that will allow you to keep them on while working with tools. The loose-fitting, “$5 for a pack of 20,” one-size-fits-none gloves you often see at dollar stores just aren’t up to the task, and you’ll end up throwing them beside the road in frustration.
Hat
Approximate cost: $1
We’re not going for fashion here, just something to keep the heat from escaping when you’re waiting for a wrecker to arrive. Any dollar store will have dozens of these for a buck a piece, so buy one for the whole family and stick them in your pack.
We like the brighter colors, just to provide a little more visibility, but the choice is yours. One note: Mice will eat anything you leave in the car, and we’ve had them go through wool hats in older vehicles, so check on it every now and then to make sure there aren’t any extra holes you should know about.
Gaffer Tape:
Approximate cost: $9
Yes, you can save a few bucks buying the generic brand of duct tape, rather than the more expensive gaffer tape, but there’s a reason we recommend it. Duct tape is famous for leaving a nasty residue behind after you remove it. Gaffer tape is designed to not do that.
A roll of this stuff is handy not just for re-affixing something to the body that has flown off. If you’re crafty and careful, it’s also possible to fix a leaking radiator or heater hose with duct tape. Don’t try to do it when the coolant is hot, but once it’s cooled down, you can wipe off the hose, cover the offending leak, and wrap it tightly with gaffer tape, at least well enough to get to the next exit where you might be able to hole up in a McDonald’s rather than standing beside the highway.
Multitool
Approximate cost: $5
As was the case with the flashlight, we’re living in the perfect time to buy yourself a cheap multitool. These things used to be $35 to $50, and they still are if you buy a brand name. But every decently sized department store and sporting goods outlet will have a generic version on the shelf for short money, along with a sheath to hold it in. At a minimum, make sure yours has a set of pliers, a few screwdrivers (Phillips and flat), and a couple of knife blades.
These are handy for a lot of things, including pulling nails out of tires. We have an older version of the popular brand of these things, and the tools don’t lock in place. Put a little bit of pressure on the Phillips screwdriver and it folds up on itself, which is frustrating to say the least. Find one of these where the tools lock into position and you’ll avoid this issue.
Poncho or rain suit
Approximate cost: $15
The largest item we recommend for your emergency kit is a rain suit. A poncho is okay, but your pantlegs will get soaked if you’re out in a driving rain. A rain suit is a better option, and they’re typically very reasonably priced. Just don’t try to go finding one when it’s already pouring out, because the shelves tend to be bare.
As with the gloves, it’s probably a good idea to look around and find one in a bright color with some reflective material on it, but anything is better than nothing when you’re trying to keep dry.
A rain suit can also do double duty as an extra layer of warm clothing when it’s cold. One night on a motorcycle ride the temperature dropped from the 80s into the low 50s, and it was enough to chill your author to the bone. A stashed rain suit saved the day, providing an extra layer and just enough wind protection to get home safely.
Emergency blanket
Approximate cost: $3
For three bucks, you can provide yourself enough warmth to survive for an extended period in your vehicle. Cars have good heat now, but it’s useless if the vehicle won’t run. A thin mylar blanket can keep you warm in an emergency.
A blanket with a bright orange exterior will be easier to spot in bad weather. Pick one that opens to at least 84x56 inches, as that should be large enough for an average-sized adult, and consider grabbing a few. There are larger sizes available, too. A blanket like this not only provides warmth and protection from the wind, but also helps to keep you dry.
Warning Triangle
Approximate cost: $22
Many warning triangles have LED lights, which is a nice feature, but it's best to pick one that also has reflective material, which is key if the batteries run out.
There are cheaper versions of reflective triangles, but they tend to be made out of floppy plastic and don’t stand up well. Look for one that fits in a sleeve and has a rugged stand to help it stand upright even when heavy trucks go by.
Buy a solid warning triangle and it will literally last forever. Your writer has one that was in the back of his father’s 1967 Chevrolet Impala as far back as he can remember. It’s currently under the seat, and has probably been out of the sleeve three times since the Johnson administration, but it proved its mettle every time.
Recovery Strap
Approximate cost: $20
If you find yourself stuck beside the road in the snow, a snatch strap can make the difference between getting back on your way promptly and waiting hours for a tow truck to haul you out.
You need to understand a few things about recovery straps before you use one. First, a recovery strap is designed to stretch. The recovery vehicle connects to the vehicle to be recovered, and then carries a little speed to yank the subject vehicle out of its predicament thanks to the assistance of kinetic energy.
You don’t want a strap with hooks on the ends. Those hooks can come loose and become half pound projectiles, taking out everything in their path. With a good recovery strap, the ends should be loops that you affix to the vehicle’s tow points.
It’s also a good idea to invest another $12 in a set of soft hooks to make connections to the vehicles easier, in case they don’t have recovery points or those recovery points are eye-shaped instead of open-ended hooks.
Soft hooks will exert a lot less damage on the vehicle than a steel hook would, too.
Fire Extinguisher
Approximate cost: $22
This is one of those things you never think about until you need it desperately. You can get a relatively small fire extinguisher to keep in your car, and we recommend looking for one that has its own storage strap. You don't want it rolling around under the seat. It should be affixed to something solid, even if you have to secure it with zip ties.
Choose an extinguisher that's labeled "UL Listed," and don't expect it to put out anything that's fully engulfed. A unit like this is only useful to put out a small under-hood fire.
Jumper Cables
Approximate cost: $20
If there’s anything not to cheap out on, it’s jumper cables. Cheap jumper cables are the worst. The connection between the clamp and the cable will fail, the clamps won’t easily attach to side-terminal car batteries, and the cables themselves can corrode under the insulation.
A decent set of cables should be at least 16 feet long so that you can jump a car from either side. Longer cables will work even if it’s only convenient to park behind the car with the dead battery.
The key with these, though, is to know how they work BEFORE you need to use them. Your vehicle may include a jump post that makes hooking up to a hidden battery a lot easier. It’s a lot more convenient to know that ahead of time, rather than digging through the manual when you’re freezing in a parking lot.
We also like jump starters, or booster packs, because they only require one vehicle to operate. However, they also need to be charged, and if they aren't, you won't be able to jumpstart your car even if you have two vehicles available. The analog nature of a jumper cable is welcomed when all else fails.
Water
Approximate cost: $1
A couple of water bottles stashed in an emergency pack can really make the difference between a relatively minor inconvenience and a truly serious situation. This is true both in the heat and in the cold. The trouble with water is that it freezes, but the expanding nature of the plastic bottles that most bottled water comes in will keep it from busting out of its container.
If you’ve stuck a few bottles of water in your pack, it’s not a bad idea to replace them ever now and then. Water won’t necessarily go bad, but switching it out gives you an opportunity to make sure it hasn’t leaked inside the pack.
Food
Approximate cost: $2
Confession time: During a canceled flight a few years back, we consumed a Clif bar that had been rattling around in the bottom of a backpack for YEARS. It may have been a little dried out, but it was enough to take the edge off while waiting in a dark airport.
Choose food that’s shelf-stable and packed with energy. Beef jerky, energy bars, raisins, trail mix, and nuts will all do the trick. Just be sure to find something that’s in a package that animals won’t invade while it’s in your backpack. And since it seems like every food now has packaging that’s impossible to open without some kind of knife blade, here’s an extra vote for that multitool we mentioned earlier.
There’s no car emergency kit that’s going to get you out of every situation, but for only about $150 total, the recommendations on this list will get you a long way out of most of them.
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