All these recent natural and man-made disasters finally got me moving on something I’ve been neglecting: my car emergency kit. Now before you do anything, you must first assess the risks and then act accordingly or else you’ll end up with too much, or worse, too little. For car emergencies, based on my own experience, the risks are:
- Flat tire – punctures or gashes
- Dead battery
- Overheating
- Dead engine – Electronics or mechanical failure
- Out of Fuel – I actually haven’t experienced out of fuel. Just low on fuel.
With these in mind, I replenished and reassembled my car emergency kit:
- Early Warning Device – Required by LTO. Name says it all.
- Spare tire, jack, wrench – Comes with the car. If the flat is due to a gash or a big puncture, this is the only option
- Tire pump – Powered via cigarette lighter socket. Smaller punctures let air out slowly so sometimes you can re-inflate and get to the nearest service station or a safer area for a tire change.
- Tire inflator can – for expedient patching and rapid tire re-inflation, for use when in a dangerous area and/or at a dangerous time, to get to a safer area
- Jumper cable – Get a jumpstart from your wingman or if none, flag down a taxi or even a friendly motorist
- Water – For the engine. Or for drinking in a pinch
- Tow strap – It is NOT recommended to tow with your wheels on the ground but sometimes, this may be the only option to be able to get to a safer area.
Other items:
- Flashlight(s) – with spare batteries
- Poncho – preferably high-visibility if you can get one
- First Aid Kit
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Leatherman Wave Multi-tool
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Duct tape – They say duct tape can fix everything
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Wire – Has as many uses as duct tape, see here.
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Extra oil
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Extra brake fluid
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Extra power steering fluid/automatic transmission fluid
I’ll probably throw in a fire extinguisher and a fuel can in there someday. Anything else I should add?