Quick facts
- Large bag
- Jump starter
- recovery rope
- ratchet straps
- plug kit
- hatchet
- saw
- shovel
- wool blanket
- Small bag
- Escape tool
- flashlight
- multi-tool
- gauge
- fuses
- ferro rod
- hard candy
- cash
- First three buys
- Jump starter with compressor
- wool blanket
- escape tool
- Check itTwice a year: charge the jump starter, swap the water, check the season's clothes
- CostAbout $250 for the large bag, $80 for the small, built over a few months
Most of what goes wrong on the road is one of four things: the battery is dead, a tire is flat, the vehicle is stuck, or you are waiting a long time somewhere cold. I keep two bags in every vehicle I own and they cover all four. The large bag lives under the back seat or in the trunk and holds the recovery, repair and warmth gear. The small bag lives in the glove box and holds what you reach for while you are still belted in. Nothing in either bag is exotic. Most of it came from a hardware store and a farm supply, and the whole kit builds over a few months at about $330.
Heavy canvas or a tool bag with a full-length zipper. Recovery, repair, cutting and digging tools, warmth for the season, water and first aid. About 25 pounds packed. If you cannot reach it without unloading the vehicle, it is in the wrong place.
A zippered pouch the size of a paperback. Escape tool, light, multi-tool, gauge, fuses, fire, sugar and cash. Everything in it is something you use from the driver's seat, in the dark, with cold hands.
Buy these three first
If the kit is going to be built over time, this is the order. Each one covers the failure that happens most, and the third covers the one that kills.
The large bag
Jump starter with air compressor
Large bag · buy firstA lithium jump pack starts the engine from its own battery; the compressor on the same unit airs a tire from the same battery. It also charges a phone and works as a flashlight, so one box replaces four.
- Rating: 1,000 amps peak or more for a gas engine, 2,000 for a large diesel. Mine is rated 1,500.
- Standby: a claim of a year or more. Charge it every six months regardless; a pack that sat two years in a hot trunk is a brick.
- Compressor: a preset pressure that shuts off on its own, so you can set 35 and walk away.
- Cables: clamps with reverse-polarity protection, so a mistake in the dark does not cook the pack.
Kinetic recovery rope and soft shackles
Large bagThe old kit carried a flat tow strap with metal hooks. I have replaced it, and you should too. A tow strap is for pulling a rolling vehicle at walking pace on a steady line. It has no stretch, so a yank to free a stuck truck puts the whole shock into the hooks and the frame, and a hook that lets go crosses a windshield. A kinetic rope stretches about 30 percent and pulls the stuck vehicle out in one smooth motion; soft shackles have nothing to become a projectile.
- Rope: rated at two to three times the vehicle's weight. A 7/8 inch rope covers most trucks and SUVs.
- Attach it to rated recovery points only, never a hitch ball, a bumper or a tie-down loop.
- Keep the flat strap too: it is still right for towing a car that rolls, and for lashing.
Ratchet straps
Large bagTwo 1-inch straps hold a load on the roof, a trunk lid that will not latch, a tarp over a broken window, or a door that has to stay shut. They are the fastest way to make something stay where you put it.
- Two straps, 15 feet, 1 inch wide, with S-hooks. A 500 pound working load covers anything you will strap to a car.
- For the knots that do the same job with rope, the four on the knots page cover it.
Tire plug kit
Large bagA nail through the tread is a ten-minute fix with a plug kit and the compressor: ream the hole, push the sticky plug in with the tool, trim it, air up. It gets you off the shoulder and to a tire shop, which is all it is for.
- A plug is temporary. Have the tire patched from the inside within a few days.
- Tread only. A hole in the sidewall or near the shoulder cannot be plugged safely; that is the spare.
- Check the spare's pressure when you check the kit. A flat spare is the most common surprise on the shoulder.
Hatchet, folding saw and folding shovel
Large bagA tree across a back road, a snowbank behind the rear wheels, a fire to wait out a night: three tools, and none of them needs power. The saw does more work on a downed limb than the hatchet; the hatchet splits and drives stakes; the shovel digs out wheels and, packed with sand in winter, gives you traction.
- Hatchet: a 14 to 16 inch handle and a sheath. Which to buy, and when an axe is the better tool, is on hatchet vs axe.
- Saw: a folding pruning saw with a 7 to 10 inch blade cuts a wrist-thick limb in under a minute.
- Shovel: a folding steel spade. The ones with a saw edge and a pick are heavier and worth it in snow country.
Wool blanket, wool socks and hat, leather gloves
Large bag · buy secondA vehicle that will not start in a storm is a shelter, and the people who get hurt are the ones who walk. Wool holds most of its warmth wet, does not melt near a fire, and lasts decades. The gloves are for the work: chains, a jack, a shovel, in the dark.
- Blanket: 80 percent wool or better, 60 by 80 inches, the military surplus pattern. How to break one in is on the wool blanket page, and why wool is on wool.
- Socks and hat: a dry pair of wool socks is the single warmest thing you can put on after a walk in snow.
- Gloves: leather with an insulated lining. Rubber-palm work gloves freeze stiff.
- A Mylar blanket goes over the wool, shiny side toward you, to hold in what the wool keeps. Alone it is a windbreak, not a blanket.
Water, and a filter straw
Large bagA gallon of water in the vehicle, swapped every six months, covers most waits. The filter straw is for the long one: it takes bacteria and protozoa out of a creek or a ditch, which is what a filter of that size can do. It does not remove viruses or chemicals, and it does nothing for water that is frozen, so the stored gallon comes first.
- Rotate the water when you check the kit; plastic jugs left in a hot trunk taste like the jug by summer's end.
- Which filters remove what, and when to boil anyway, is on clean water.
Paracord, a small tarp and duct tape
Large bagBetween them these fix a broken window, rig a shade or a windbreak, lash a load, splint a limb and tie down a hood that will not latch. Fifty feet of cord, an 8 by 10 tarp and one roll of tape.
- Cord: true 550 paracord, seven inner strands, so it can be gutted for thread and fishing line. Which rope holds a knot is on synthetic rope.
- Tarp: polyethylene with grommets, 8 by 10 feet. A bowline at one corner and two half hitches at the other holds it in wind; both are drawn on the knots page.
- Tape: a real duct tape or a gaffer tape, not the bargain roll. Wrap ten feet around the flashlight in the small bag too.
First aid kit and an ice scraper
Large bagNot the drugstore box of bandages. A kit with a tourniquet, a pressure dressing, gauze, tape, gloves, a space for your own medications, and a card with your family's allergies and doses. What belongs in it and how to use the pieces is on medical preparedness. The ice scraper is the one item everyone forgets until the first frost.
- Add a week of any prescription that cannot be missed, rotated with the kit. How to store them is on prescription supplies.
The small bag
The glove box bag is for the first two minutes of a problem, when you are still in the seat. Everything in it should be usable one-handed in the dark.
Car escape tool
Small bag · buy thirdA blade that cuts a jammed seat belt and a spring-loaded punch that breaks a side window. It has to be within reach while belted in, which means clipped to the visor or the console, not loose in the glove box.
- Check your glass. The punch works on tempered glass, which is most side windows. Many newer vehicles use laminated side glass, which a punch will not break; look for the word on the window's corner stamp. If yours is laminated, the rear windows are usually still tempered.
- Keep a second one in the large bag for a passenger.
Flashlight, multi-tool, tire gauge, fuses
Small bagA rechargeable flashlight that also takes AA batteries, so a dead charge is not a dead light. A multi-tool with real pliers. A dial tire gauge, because the compressor's gauge is the second opinion, not the first. A fuse assortment with a puller: a blown fuse takes out headlights, wipers or the fuel pump, and the fix is thirty seconds once you have the right amp rating.
- Fuses: match the sizes in your fuse box (standard, mini, or low-profile mini) before you buy a kit; the amp ratings are printed on the fuse box lid.
- Light: keep it on the charger at home and swap it into the car once a month, or buy two.
Ferro rod, hard candy, a marker and cash
Small bagA ferro rod throws sparks wet or frozen and never runs out of fuel; a lighter next to it is for the days you do not want to prove a point. Hard candy and honey packets are two hundred calories of sugar that keep for years and steady a shaking hand. A permanent marker writes a note on the window or a dose on a bottle. And cash in small bills, one to two weeks of local spending, because a card reader with no power is a brick and nobody can break a hundred.
- How to get a fire going from a spark is on fire making, and the pocket kit that lives beside this one is the pill bottle kit.
Stuck, stalled or snowed in
The kit is only half of it. Three rules for the night it gets used.
The scenarios this kit is for
What stops working hour by hour in a winter storm and how to leave in a hurry in an evacuation, both with their own checklists. The bag that rides with you when you leave the vehicle is the bug-out bag.
The checklist
Print this and put it in the bag. Twice a year, when the clocks change: charge the jump starter, swap the water, trade the clothes for the season, check the light and the first aid dates, and put back what you borrowed.
Large bag
- Jump starter with compressor, charged
- Kinetic recovery rope and two soft shackles
- Flat tow strap
- Two ratchet straps
- Tire plug kit
- Hatchet with sheath
- Folding saw
- Folding shovel
- Wool blanket
- Wool socks and hat
- Leather gloves
- Mylar blanket
- Gallon of water, dated
- Filter straw
- 50 feet of paracord
- 8 by 10 tarp
- Duct tape
- First aid kit with tourniquet
- Ice scraper
- Bag of sand or cat litter, winter
Small bag
- Escape tool, clipped in reach
- Flashlight, charged, spare AAs
- Multi-tool
- Tire pressure gauge
- Fuse kit with puller
- Ferro rod and a lighter
- Hard candy and honey packets
- Permanent marker
- Cash in small bills
- Phone cable and a small power bank
Questions this answers
Tap a question for the short answer.
What should I keep in a car emergency kit?
Two bags. The large one, under the back seat or in the trunk: a jump starter with an air compressor, a kinetic recovery rope, ratchet straps, a tire plug kit, hatchet, folding saw, folding shovel, duct tape, wool blanket, wool socks and hat, leather gloves, a water filter straw, paracord, a small tarp and a first aid kit. The small one, in the glove box: car escape tool, flashlight, multi-tool, tire pressure gauge, spare fuses, ferro rod, hard candy, a marker and cash in small bills.
How do I build a car survival kit?
Buy the jump starter, the wool blanket and the escape tool first; they cover the three things that go wrong most and the one that kills. Add recovery and repair gear next, then warmth for the season, then the small bag. Keep the large bag where you can reach it without unloading the vehicle, and check both twice a year.
What tools should I keep in my glove box?
A car escape tool clipped where you can reach it belted in, a flashlight, a multi-tool, a tire pressure gauge, a fuse assortment with a puller, a ferro rod, a permanent marker, hard candy or honey packets, and cash in small bills. Everything in the small bag is something you use while sitting in the driver's seat.
What is the best jump starter for a car kit?
One with a built-in air compressor, rated at 1,000 amps peak or more for a gas engine and 2,000 for a big diesel, with a standby claim of a year or better. One tool then covers a dead battery, a flat and a dead phone. Charge it every six months; a jump starter that has sat for two years is a brick.
What can I use tow straps for?
A tow strap with hooks is for pulling a rolling vehicle at walking pace on a steady line. It is not for yanking a stuck one out: the strap has no stretch, so the shock goes into the hooks and the frame, and a hook that lets go is a projectile. For getting unstuck, use a kinetic recovery rope with soft shackles, which stretches and pulls the vehicle out smoothly.
How do I stay warm in a car overnight?
Stay in the car, put on the wool socks, hat and gloves, wrap in the wool blanket, and run the engine ten minutes an hour for heat, only after checking the tailpipe is clear of snow. A blocked tailpipe sends carbon monoxide into the cabin. Crack a window on the side away from the wind. The Mylar blanket goes over the wool, shiny side in, to hold the heat.
How often should I check a car kit?
Twice a year, when the clocks change. Charge the jump starter, replace the water, swap the clothes for the season, check the flashlight batteries and the first aid kit dates, and put back anything you borrowed.
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