Essential Items to Have in Your Car Emergency Kit

Spare Tire - Because tires don’t last forever, one may blow up on you.

Jack - You can’t put on a new tire without this

Tire Iron - To get those lug nuts off

Road Flare - To warn people at night that you broke down. Also great to put on birthday cakes!

First Aid Kit - You could get hurt…especially when trying to pull a MacGyver to save your blown engine.

Flashlight - Its hard to see at night

Batteries - For your flashlight, can also be used to start a fire, and if you have enough of them, you can start a car.

Knife - to cut stuff and creepy hitchhikers away.

Camera - To take pictures of an accident. This may come in very handy for those liars that that pulled out in front of you.

Fuses - Sometimes they blow for no reason (seemingly)

Jumper Cables - Its nice to help other sometimes. Or you can use it to receive a jump.

Water - to drink and put into your car that just overheated

Extra Oil - Cars do two things, leak oil and burn oil.

WD-40 - If you really need to know what WD-40 can be used for, you should be beat up.

Brake Fluid - When you just can’t stop.

Screwdrivers - Small screwdrivers are awesome and good for small cars. Used for screws and for prying and scraping AND breaking stuff.

Pliers - To grab stuff

Locking Pliers - To grab stuff and to keep grabbing it when you let go.

Electrical Wire - To repair electrical connections or even to tie things up.

Duct tape - If you really need to know what WD-40 can be used for, go here:http://thezac.com/ducttape/

Electrical tape - Great for things that duct tape might not be the best for. Like for quick electrical connections.

Rope - For holding down the hood of your car when it won’t stay shut on the freeway. Or for making that hitchhiker stay on his side of the car.

Rubbing Alcohol - for starting fires, cleaning wounds, and you can possibly run your car on it for a short time if necessary*

Lighter/matches - to start fires

Socket Set - nuts and bolts are easier to turn when you have sockets on them.

Wrench Set - Sometimes wrenches can get into places that sockets cant. I recommend carrying sizes that car common for the nuts and bolts on your car.

Zip Ties - Holding down stubborn body panels and hoses. Maybe you had to pull an “Apollo 13” on your air intake and you want to make sure that only air gets into your engine instead of air+tree branches+bugs+birds. A couple of zip ties in series can be used temporarily in place of a hose clamp.

Air Pump - to fill up balloons and tires. I prefer the hand or foot ones because they aren’t noisy. Besides, what if your battery dies and you have a blowout at the same time?

Fluorescent Rags- to clean stuff and away wipe oil. The color should also be highly visible so it can be used to flag someone down.

Piece of wood - if you happen to need to use your jack on sand, it won’t work unless you have something underneath it to spread the weight of the vehicle out on. Can also be place under a tire to help you get un-stuck from a sticky situation.

Tow Strap - Just in case you want to save $300 and get towed by a friend in his buick.

Tissues - You may need to sneeze while driving.

Pad paper - for jotting down notes, or a log of events.

Pen - a mostly permanent means of writing.

Pencil - an erasable means of writing.

Tool Bag - because you don’t want to spend most of your time trying to find the one socket that is missing. And, believe me, if you don’t have a bag or case for your tools, it will happen.

Plastic Bags - for insulation, preventing water from passing, and putting dirty grimy car parts in.

Allen Wrenches - Because that guy Allen had to design the inverted bolt

Tire Gage - if you overfill or under fill your tire it could potentially blow up.

Car Manual - contains useful information about your car.

Repair manual - contains useful maintenance information about your car.

Insurance - duh

Cell-Phone - To call for help or gossip about friends. (hopefully not while driving.)

Ice Scraper - to get rid of ice on your windshield.

3ft Steel Pipe - for hitting or beating. Can also be used as a levering tool if your car gets stuck in the sand. Anything more than 3ft is usually unnecessary.

Hose Clamps - when a zip tie just won’t work.

Vacuum Lines - Useful for many things in your engine.

Oil/Coolant Line - just in case something breaks

Small Funnel - to add fluids to your vehicle without spilling it on your engine or the ground.

Newspaper - to read or burn. Can also be written on and folding into a makeshift funnel.

Tire Chains - If you drive in snow and ice, then chains are very nice.

Wiper Blades - Because you only need new ones when it rains and your old ones suck.

*It is not my fault if your car explodes because you put rubbing alcohol in your gas tank without doing research first and making sure that it is safe and effective for your car.