Useful Tools to Keep in Your Car
Everyone who owns a car knows that it is one of the places that they want to feel the most comfortable, relaxed, and experienced. After all, most car owners use their automobile nearly every single day of the week and form habits of driving to the same places and doing the same things. Sometimes, in the midst of our relatively simple routine, a problem will strike out of nowhere. As much as we hate to think about scenarios like this happening to us, flat tires, dead batteries, mechanical problems, and other unfortunate events could happen and cause you to be stranded on the side of the road somewhere, impacting our schedule, business, and personal lives due to delays. Fortunately, you can reduce these potentially tumultuous experiences by equipping your car with tools for the right situations. Here are some suggestions.
Spare Tire and Tire Pressure Gauge
Some people may think that a suggestion like this should be a given, but a surprisingly high number of people today are unprepared for tire problems. According to Fleet Equipment, about 54 percent of all roadside breakdowns have something to do with defective tires. An astonishing seven tire punctures occur every second, resulting in 220 million flat tires per year. As if these statistics weren’t frightening enough, a new AAA study indicates that 20 percent of all drivers don’t know how to change a flat tire at all, and almost 30 percent don’t even own a spare tire! An increasing number of cars today are not sold with a spare tire, so you need to be prepared to buy one if an extra was not included when you purchased your car. Besides storing a spare tire in your car for use after an unexpected flat, you can stave off the problem entirely by routinely checking the tire pressure and keeping your tires inflated. A tire pressure gauge can measure your tire’s air in mere seconds, and some gauges even include an electric pump so you can fill it up then and there. Investments in these items can save you a load of time, money, and anxiety, as well as save potential listings and clients.
Jumper Cables and Portable Battery Charger
Tire problems are not the only potential source of an unexpected delay when you are driving to your next destination. Another common problem that drivers are often not sufficiently prepared for is a dead battery. A variety of owner/driver errors can result in a dead battery, including forgetting to turn the headlights off for long periods of time and not closing the door or the trunk all of the way, causing some of the lights inside the vehicle to stay on. Alternatively, a battery problem may not be the result of your own mistake at all and could stem from a more serious issue, such as an aged or defective battery. Whatever the problem is, you should be prepared for it by keeping a set of jumper cables in your car. Even if the battery has become defective, jumping it off using the cables can keep it alive long enough for you to drive your car to an auto repair shop. Finally, though it is possible that someone may pull over on the side of the road to help you get moving again, it may be smart to circumvent this unreliable need by storing away a portable battery charger with your jumper cables. With one of these, you can plug in your cables and spark your car battery to life again almost immediately after the problem arises.
Survival Items
For obvious reasons, car tools would come in handy during a breakdown or some mechanical issue. Unfortunately, even more dire events could take place and it therefore behooves car owners to prepare for the worst possible situations. For instance, imagine that you are in a serious accident and you are left with a hopelessly dysfunctional car beyond all hope of repair. Also imagine that this takes place on a remote highway where it may take hours, or even days, for someone to eventually find the location. What items would you need? A First Aid Kit comes to mind immediately. After all, such an accident would likely injure you, potentially seriously, and it would be lifesaving to have emergency medical supplies on hand. A supply of water, additionally, would make sure that you have something to drink in the event of an accident. The chances of an accident such as this may seem remote, but these things happen! Even more importantly, you don’t have to be stranded to make use of items such as these. A First Aid Kit and a supply of extra water could prove to be immensely useful in a variety of circumstances, including random injuries or fires.
This list only scratches the surface of the tools that you may find useful when you drive somewhere and run into an unexpected setback. Options exist for virtually any potential problem, and you may have to prioritize accordingly. For instance, if you live in an area prone to winter weather, an ice scraper would be absolutely indispensable, whereas if you live on the Equator, it would be almost useless. Think about the auto problems you’ve had and the needs you’ve ran into and prepare yourself accordingly. The best way to marginalize potentially devastating and lengthy car problems is simply to prepare yourself and try to prevent them from happening in the first place. These items may not be completely exhaustive, but they would certainly be a great place to start!
