Five things you should ‘always’ carry in your car in case of emergency

A former car salesman suggests that there are five essential items drivers should always keep in their car. Posting on TikTok as @capturing_cars, the car photographer and ex-car salesman shared his advice in a post titled: “5 things to carry in your car in case of emergency.”

He told viewers: “Here are five things that you should always try to carry in your car in case of an emergency. Starting first of all, of course, with the thing in fifth place, which is a blanket, water and snacks.

“Now, of all the other things on this list, these are the ones that you are least likely to need. I can only think of one occasion where I personally could have done with these.

“I was stuck on a motorway overnight for about eight or nine hours in the snow, and I had nothing but my car and the suit that I was wearing. Didn’t have a lot of fuel in it, couldn’t even keep the engine running, that was a very uncomfortable night where these things would really have come in handy.”

He continued: “In fourth place, we have jump leads. Or better still, a portable jump pack. Now, having jump leads should be the bare minimum.

“Of course, the problem with jump leads is it does rely on you having to have another car to be able to jump start yours, whereas a jump pack, assuming it’s charged up, you can get yourself going from anywhere if you have a flat battery. And they’re only small. You don’t need to buy a massive great big thing these days. They are, you know, no bigger than an iPad, for example. Thicker, but no bigger.”

For his third tip, the blogger recommended packing a torch to use instead of relying on your phone’s torch. “Ultimately, your phone needs to be there for phone-type things. Having a torch with batteries in it, A) it’s a better torch anyway and B) it’s just gonna last a lot, lot longer without you having to worry about the battery that’s on your phone.”

Next, the former car salesman advised packing a fully charged power bank. He added: “Not only do you need your phone in case of emergencies, to be able to make phone calls or send texts, but even if the emergency is like it was for me when I was broken down in the snow, you know you’re going to get home, no one can come and help you, there’s lots of other cars around you, all stuck in the same position.

“In those scenarios, the power bank is there to keep your phone powered so that you could watch YouTube or movies, whatever it might be, it’s just going to help.”

He concluded: “One more thing left on the list, the thing in first place, which is a first aid kit. Now most cars produced these days will actually include a first aid kit in them. You can see the one from my car just here. Doesn’t have to be anything major, in fact, I mean, I’ve not even opened this one, but basic things like, for example, bandages, tape, gloves, those sorts of things. A first aid kit is gonna be useful not just potentially for yourself, but for other people that are around you.”

The blogger added: “Assuming your car has a first aid kit, it probably also has a high vis vest and a warning triangle. If you don’t have those two extra things, then they can be added to this list as bonus extras. I’m working under the assumption that most cars, even in the UK, will have them. In the EU it is law or it’s a legal requirement I should say, to carry a high vis vest, a first aid kit and a warning triangle. It’s not in the UK, but you will find most cars produced in the EU will have those things already in them.”