Things to Bring in Your Car

8. Hand-held pump spray with water mixed with a few drops of hair shampoo. You’re caught inside the car with strong rain. Your air-conditioning unit fails or there is none and the windshield demister does not work. Spray the mixture and spread it even with your bare hands on the insides of your car windows and that guarantees clear vision until you get to where you are going. Duplicate car keys in your wallet or purse. You never can tell when you might misplace or lose your cars keys.

9. Vanity mirror. This has always been neglected but always of good help. Helpful for not needing to kneel or slide under a car to check on what could be wrong.

10. Troubleshooting lamp. A flashlight is only good for a short period until the batteries run out. A troubleshooting lamp that you could plug into your cigarette lighter or clamp onto battery terminals will do a better job. If your flashlight is one that self charges by hand pressing then it would also do the job.

11. A generous coil of small gauge galvanized wire, insulated wire and nylon rope. These will help in holding just about anything that comes loose while driving until a good fix is done. Blown out fuses could be temporarily solved by stripping off an insulated wire and use a small length as a replacement.

12. A small container that contains various sizes of screws, washers, nuts and various lengths of nail. These could be remedies or temporary fixes that could get you to a service shop or where ever you are going.

13. Funnel and at least 3 feet of rubber or fuel hose. This will make getting fuel from a container to your tank more convenient and safer from spillage. A good Samaritan vehicle might even allow you to siphon some fuel to get you to the next station.

14. Early Warning Device or Portable Flasher. This would come in handy when stalled in the middle of a road that has no shoulder and at night time, especially along highways. A safety measure so oncoming vehicles are forewarned.

15. Car Fire Extinguisher cannister.

16. A sheet of Clear Plastic larger than your windshield, duct tape, masking tape and electrical tape. Many emergency situations can be saved by these things.

17. Spare or reconditioned electrical fuel pump and fuel filter especially for vehicles that has some years in them. 18. Spare bulbs for headlight, signal or indicator lights, brake and tail lights.

19. Some reading material when there’s nothing you can do except wait for the towing service. Funny but this will get some stress relieved while waiting.

An Experience

Some resourcefulness and ingenuity is something you need not to carry in your car but in your mind. This reminds me of a friend who called me in the middle of the night because his propeller shaft broke loose from the differential 15 kilometers outside of our city. He couldn’t describe what happened so I got there with just tools. The propeller shaft flange to the differential flange lost all the 4 bolt and nuts holding it together. Knowing that his rear bumper was held by 4 similar bolts and nuts, I dismantled his bumper and used those bolts and nuts to fix the problem. There may be some who would not agree or think this is just too much. Mind you, they are small items, some to be put in the trunk while the others just beside the driver’s seat or glove compartment. I have made use of all of these that’s why I have them listed here.