Car Emergency Kit Essentials: How To Prep Your Car For A Disaster

How prepared are you on the road? Make sure you have car emergency kit essentials in tow so you’re always well-prepared wherever you go!

7 Important Things to Have in Your Car Emergency Kit

We spend a lot of time in our car. When you really start to calculate it, you might get a little embarrassed about all the time you spend sitting in your car or sitting in traffic. We drop off kids, we drive to work, we drive to lunch, we drive home, we drive to the evening events and then we drive back home.

Depending on the distance between those places you are likely talking about hours in the vehicle! The funny thing about all this is that most of your preps are at home. So, what good are they if you are facing a crisis away from home?

This might have had a vastly different taste to it before the pandemic and the ensuing issues. Now, you are going to see many more people understanding that concept. This is because more of us understand what is going on around us. We understand that life is not as armored as we thought.

So how can you outfit your vehicle to be prepared for chaos, calamity, or disaster on the road? Let’s look at a number of preps that add up to create a car emergency kit to keep you and yours safe while you are on the road.

1. Car First Aid Kit

It’s not hard to understand why you need a first aid kit on the road. Everything you need a first aid kit at home for, you need one in the car for the same reason.

I have had terrible experiences with store-bought first aid kits. Now, I simply build my own kits. I use some of the components from store-bought kits but making our own is simply better.

My car first aid kit contains the following:

• Band-Aids
• Pressure Bandages
• A Tourniquet
• Shears
• Activated Charcoal
• Single-use pack OTC Meds
• Sunscreen
• Burn Cream
• Neosporin
• Rolled Gauze
• Tape

2. Get Home Bag

One of the most important things I carry in my vehicle is a get home bag. This bag is filled with everything I will need to get from wherever I am at my home base.

There are tools, knives, clothes, and all things survival in my get home bag. I also keep snacks, drinks, and another first aid kit inside. This is an essential piece of car kit preparedness.

We have other great articles on building get home bags here at Survival Life.

3. Seasonal Weather Preps

You can build seasonal weather preps in a Rubbermaid kit. The most important season to do this in is winter. Your kit can contain things like

• Heavy Blankets
• Candles
• Hats
• Gloves
• Sleeping Bags
• Emergency Communications

Basically, your seasonal weather preps are designed to help your body maintain its core temperature and to get you rescued. Use the same concept to prepare for summertime.

4. Jumper

 

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A post shared by The Gentleman Pirate (@gentlemanpirateclub) on Nov 30, 2019 at 1:19am PST

The technology for jumpstarting vehicles has really improved.

You don’t need to have jumper cables in your car if you invest in a high-quality jumper for your car. One of these can act as a phone charger and a portable power source for a number of things. They are well worth the investment.

5. Tire Inflation

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You can also get a dirt-cheap tire inflation system that will allow you to fill your tires when they are either leaky or just need to be topped off.

Keep that with a bottle of fix a flat and you have everything you need to deal with tire inflation issues that don’t require a spare.

6. Fire Extinguisher

Electrical fires can be a serious problem in your vehicle. Not only could your car catch fire and be ruined, but you might have a family member trapped inside a burning car. Your car fire extinguisher will make quick work of most electrical fires. These are small and affordable.

Look for a 2lb, 100psi dry chemical extinguisher.

7. Road Safety Kit

Flares, reflectors, bungee cords, and the like can all be purchased in a simple road safety kit.

Now, this kit should not be your only car survival kit but save yourself the time and just buy a basic road safety kit to add to your overall kit.

Be Prepared When Disaster Strikes

Much of our lives happens behind the wheel and if a disaster strikes you might find that your trunk offers you a whole lot of nothing. This puts you in a bad position, and no prepper wants to find themselves unprepared for something like this.

You can make an investment in your vehicular readiness over time. You don’t have to go out and spend tons of money on all of this stuff right away. All of the preparedness happens in small bites.

Most of the items we talked about in this article are affordable. You might even be able to repurpose extra items like Rubbermaid containers and winter car kits from items already in your home.

Do you have other car emergency kit essentials to add to this list? Let us know in the comments section!

Up Next:

• Survival Emergency Car Kit | The DIY Kit That Could Save Your Life
• How To Build A First Aid Kit
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