8 things to keep in your car

If you spend a lot of time in your car, it’s probably best to have your essentials with you just in case you need them. Here are some of the handiest things you can keep in your car. 

Phone charger 

If you’re on a long car journey, it’s a good idea to have a spare phone charger in your car, especially if you’re using your phone to navigate on your journey. It’s also handy if you get stuck in traffic or have a breakdown – you know your phone won’t run out of battery.  

Water 

Not for drinking though!  

Keeping a large bottle of water in the boot of your car can help you out in more ways than one. If you really need to, you can use water as a replacement for windscreen wiper fluid. However, due to the freezing temperature of water being higher than the proper washer fluid, it’s advisable to only do this in warm weather, when the water isn’t in danger of freezing.  

And if you’ve had an outdoor day, you can also use the water to wash mud or sand off your shoes before getting in the car. 

Top tip: You should only use water as an engine coolant in a dire emergency. It doesn’t cool your engine down effectively, and could damage it.  

Travel games 

A road trip with squabbling kids or a group of bored twenty-somethings is never fun, so having the means to keep everyone entertained can only be a good thing. Consider keeping a couple of magnetic travel board games or a deck of cards in the glovebox to hand out when necessary. 

First Aid kit 

It doesn’t have to be a huge kit – just the basics can be more than enough. If you’re out and about and someone gets a papercut, or grazes their knee, you can be secure in the knowledge you have everything you need to patch them up quickly. 

Torch 

You never know when you might need a torch, so it’s best to keep one handy in your car. It’s perfect for looking for lost phones under seats, checking for issues in the engine and even for lighting the way on a nighttime stroll. 

Snacks 

Keeping dry snacks like nuts, cereal bars and crisps is very handy for long car journeys. They don’t take up much space and are usually very filling, so can tide you over until you can sit down for a proper meal at the end of your journey. 

Towels 

If you get caught in the rain while you’re out and about, the last thing you want is to get your car seats all wet on your drive home. Keeping a couple of old towels in the boot of your car means you can either dry yourself off or sit on the towels for the rest of the drive without worrying about getting your car wet. 

Recovery company number 

You should have easy and quick access to the number of your breakdown service. Even if you have the number saved in your phone, it’s wise to have it written down somewhere too. Otherwise you’ll have no way of contacting your recovery company if your phone runs out of battery. 

For more advice, check out our blog on things to keep in your car in winter.