There are two groups of car owners: those who’ve broken down and those who will. It’s an inevitability of life that one day you’ll turn the ignition key and nothing will happen, or you’ll hear a pop and a hiss as your tire does its best impression of a sad hot-air balloon. But you’re a person of action, right? A small, affordable kit of items in your trunk will get you going in no time, and it will cost a lot less than a tow truck.
Not a mechanic? Not a problem. Most people aren’t. Everything here can be used by anyone, but it doesn’t hurt to open the car’s owner’s manual or look up a how-to video on YouTube. Even if we’re not driving much these days, we sometimes do need to head out of the house for essentials, and it can’t hurt to be prepared.
Be sure to check out our many other guides, including our roundups of the Right Gear for Your Home Tool Kit and the Best Smart Bulbs for your home.
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Photograph: Amazon
To Warn Other Drivers
Traffic Warning Triangle Kit
I used to laugh at the idea of keeping reflective triangles in my car, like it was a suggestion made by lawyers and not real people. Then one day I was driving an old Mustang and its electrical system crapped out. I was in the left-turn lane at an intersection busier than JFK airport, and my emergency flashers didn’t work. I couldn’t push the 3,400-pound car by myself up the slight hill, and I didn’t have a chance of getting it across three busy lanes onto the shoulder. People behind me honked, cursed me out, and threw things because, without flashers on, they couldn’t figure out that my car had broken down. Reflective warning triangles placed on the road behind me would’ve clued them in to just drive around.
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Photograph: Northern Tool
To Raise the Car
Strongway 4-Ton Hydraulic Bottle Jack
Bottle jacks are compact, and this one is more than strong enough to lift a heavy SUV or van for a tire change. If your car came with a jack, replace it with this one. Don’t ever go underneath the car when it’s supported only by a jack and not separate jack stands. You shouldn’t be under there to change a tire anyway, and jacks do fail, even good ones. Jack the car up on the thick-looking parts of the frame underneath, not bodywork. There will be images in your owner’s manual of the best jacking points.
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Photograph: Home Depot
To Replace Tires
Performance Tool 4-Way Folding Lug Wrench
There are no separate parts to lose when you’re using the classic X-shaped lug wrench. If your car has a spare tire, you’ll need one of these to swap it with your flat. This one folds so it takes up less space in your trunk and has four sockets sized for the most common lug nuts: 17 mm, 19 mm, 21 mm, and 23 mm, which are roughly and respectively equal to 11/16 inches, 3/4 inches, 13/16 inches, and 7/8 inches.
