Homemade Emergency Car Kit

My Car Survival Kit

When I wrote my original post back in 2014 I had a list of only 10 things.  Now, however, I have put together what I feel is a pretty good Emergency Kit for my car.  Now, this is not focused on repairing the car, it is focused on its occupants and dealing with any emergencies they may have.  I am not a mechanic so I will not be fixing my car.  This emergency kit is for those emergencies that can happen along the way as I drive around.

Not everything in the kit is for an emergency, some of the items are just nice to have when you are traveling.  Many of the items in my car survival kit, you may already have around the house and it just may be a matter of collecting them up into an emergency kit and putting them in the car.  The purpose of this is to have these items with you when you travel.  If you need them around the house you can always get them out of the car.  By keeping them in the car, you will always have them with you when traveling.

My Emergency Car Kit has two parts.

Console or Glove Box Kit

This emergency kit is normally in my center console and consists of the following list of emergency items.  From left to right and top to bottom.

• A multitool with pliers, knife, file and other tools.  These are so handy I have thee of them, one in each car, and one in my camping kit.  I gave one to my son as a stocking stuffer one year for Christmas.
• A screwdriver that breaks down into a little kit like the pocket screwdriver I linked to.
• A note pad with 3 pens (not shown)
• 3 flashlights. A pen light, a LED  light and an Electromagnetic flashlight that needs no batteries.  All you do is shake the light and then you have power.
• 2 koozies.  A warm beer can be an emergency but these prevent that from occurring.
• A bottle and can opener.
• A small bottle of hand disinfectant.
• A tire air pressure gauge.
• An old pill bottle with some Aleve in it for those driving headaches.
• A small pair of binoculars.

All of these emergency kit items go in the plastic the bag to keep them dry and easy to grab if necessary.  I have also found it easier to take the bag out when looking for something rather than rooting through the console or glove box.

This is my small kit of day to day things that I like to have handy in my car.

Trunk Emergency Survival Kit

This kit has the larger items that I like to have along especially on long road trips.  I just keep it in my car all the time even when I am just running around town.  After all, on a day to day basis I don't use my trunk that much for anything else.  Well here is my Trunk Car Emergency Kit List:

From Left to right and top to bottom here what is in the photo and the car survival kit.

• A backpack which will be loaded with a few items as I will explain later.
• An emergency radio.  The green thing leaning on the backpack is a solar-crank-battery emergency radio.  It really is a neat little radio as I discussed at this link,  Emergency Radio Review.
• A BIC Flame Disk.  These are really neat because you can use them instead of charcoal for cooking.  I have 4 more in my camping kit.  I have this one here because it can provide heat if I need it.
• The flame kit is leaning on one of two hoodies that I have in the emergency kit.
• Next are two blue ponchos for those rainy days.
• Under the ponchos is a wool sports blanket.  I may get space blankets to add to my emergency kit as they take up very little room.
• On top of the blanket are my jumper cables.  They don't get packed inside the kit but are in the trunk for those times when a jump is needed.
• Starting over the left side again is another pair of binoculars, a bigger pair than in the console emergency kit.
• Below the binoculars is a bag of $5 to $10 of loose change and $20 in small bills.  You never know when you could use a little cash.
• To the right of the money are 3 bottles of water and 4 power bars that are placed in a gallon plastic bag just in the case the water leaks.
• Next is a first aid kit that you can get a drug store, or Amazon for that matter.
• Below the first aid kit is a deck of playing cards and container of wet ones.
• Next is a bathroom towel and couple of hand towels.
• On top of the towel are 2 trash bags and to their left is a small sewing kit and a couple of packages of eyeglass cleaners.
• Continuing to move to the left is a collapsible umbrella and a barbecue lighter.
• Next is a bottle of sun tan lotion and Off insect spray and finally 20 feet of paracord and 50 feet of string.

All of those items except for the jumper cables are packed into a plastic container that is then placed inside my trunk.  Some of the items are packed in additional plastic bags in case of leakage or to keep them dry like the first aid kit and emergency radio.

The backpack is preloaded with the water and power bars, the cash, one hoodie, the two ponchos, and the binoculars.  I find that I get a lot of use out of the binoculars, hoodie and ponchos so it is real easy to just grab the backpack and then I have them with me.

I also have two more umbrellas that I keep behind the front seat for those rainy days around town.

This is what the entire car emergency kit or car survival kit looks like.

I'm sure over time I will think of a few more things to include in my emergency car kit.

I do have a power inverter that I take along on road trips for A/C power if I need it.

Well, that is my car emergency kit list.  I think I have covered everything.  Can you think of anything I have missed?