What do you keep in your car

[Panicatthegarden]

At the grand old age of 33 I've finally passed my driving test and bought my first car 🥳

What essentials do you keep in yours?

I already have a foil blanket on the list and to get a faraday pouch for the car keys. Please hit me with anything else you think is useful/ good for emergencies/ helps keep the car safe

Thank you!

I have a kettle (for work), snacks, jar of coffee and T bags!
Dozens of cds.. Nice air fresheners.
Phone charger.

Earbuds and charger.
Baby wipes for sweaty face when stuck in the car for a while.. And cleaning sweaty steering wheel!
Ice scraper.
Tyre pump..
Spare wheel.
Shopping bags.

Ice scraper, a blanket, torch, loads of bags for life, a pair of trainers

Congratulations!

I have my reusable shopping bags, a 12v tyre inflator, woolly jumper and snow crampons. Basic first aid kit, with extra bits like anthisan for bug bites, my migraine tablets, paracetamol, saline for sandy eyes at the beach, a few plasters.
Notebook and pencil, in case of needing to leave a note.
A tool for breaking windows/cutting seat belts and scraping ice
glasses cloth
gloves
Box of replacement bulbs
Roll of small bags for rubbish
charging lead for phone, phone holder,
old towel for cleaning mirrors and windows

Torch, small tool kit, blanket, fluorescent tabard, hand gel, rain mac, waterproof trousers, phone charger, pen, nitrile gloves, bags for shopping, usually a stainless steel water bottle filled

Nuts, raisins, bottles of water, anti bac. One of those mini stands to put behind the car on a motorway that reflects light and a high vis vest - they do them on amazon.

I think a useful thing might be a Swiss army knife in case you ever needed to cut your seatbelt.

Boot - shopping bags, deicer, scraper, engine oil, washer fluid
Gloves box/arm rest - tissues, spare tights, mints, pen, paracetamol, CDs, locking wheel nut whatsits, spare sunglasses.

ETA: not sure if relevant for you, but when DD was little, in addition to all the usual kids stuff I also kept sand toys, a towel and a picnic blanket in the boot in case of impromptu beach stops.

Shovel
2 folding chairs
Shopping bags
Tyre pump
Water
Kitchen roll
Blue badge
Pad and pen
Ice scraper

Tons of old water bottles, sand, stones, dust, wrappers

Apart from all the usual stuff like scrapers, blanket etc I have all my breakdown info printed out and in the glove compartment, a Travel Jane ( or emergency she-wee !), wet wipes, tissues and sweets!
I drive a lot for work and need to always have a water bottle, flask of coffee, brolly and spare shoes too.
Congrats on passing your test by the way 🙂

I've got an umbrella, a blanket, first aid kit , shopping bags in the boot. In the front I've got pen, tissues , hand gel , sunglasses hand cream, ice scraper and a pair of gloves (for when I use the ice scraper) !

Warning triangle in case I crash, snow brush/ice scraper (winter only), mini shovel, blanket, cool bag with a couple of shopping bags in, and, because it fell out of my pocket into the door pocket, a Stanley knife which I figure might come in useful if I need to cut the seat belt off me. There's also a pair of safety glasses there that fell out of my pocket too but I'm not sure how useful they'd be.

Congratulations!!! I passed at 26, pregnant with dc3 - my god it made my life immeasurably easier 😂

Erm, other than an ice scraper in the front, a tyre pump thing and the red triangle in the boot, nothing! Well I mean ‘the book’ thing is in the glove box which is where the MOT certificates go. I’m not a prepared kind of person! If I’m going on a long journey I’ll bring a bottle of water with me but if the journey is 4hrs plus I’ll be stopping for fuel anyway so will just get something to eat when I’m doing that.

Well I have a pump and an aersol can to fill a puncture in the boot .. tescos club card that doubles up as a scraper, £1 and possibly a bit of toilet roll ....... and that's it !

As well as some of the stuff that’s been said about the other thing I keep and have found very useful is a cheap pair of sunglasses that don’t leave my car

I have a 1.5 year old so this is a great idea! It's one of the things I've most been looking forward to about being able to drive, we'll be able to have little impromptu days out 😊

Thanks for all the ideas everyone, got lots of things to add I wouldn't have thought of until it was too late!

Car jack, jump leads, hi Viz, socket set, screen wash, torch, shopping bags, blanket, first aid kit, ice scraper, umbrella, maps.

Sunglasses (any old ones just for use in car) tissues, hand sanitiser, wipes, chargers and a huge bottle of water . I’m in Scotland and been caught out many a time when freezing and the water won’t skoosh on wind screen (because completely frozen) when I have had to make a necessary journey. Having water allowed me to pull over and clear window and a quick scrape before freezing over 🤣

Pump, de-icer, scraper, roll of kitchen towel, couple of old tea towels to use as cloths, a tray (surprisingly useful in a variety of situations), one of those rotating seat things and a sturdy handle thing that helped my mum get out of the car, mini first aid kit, a couple of knives, forks and spoons, small tub of salt & pepper mix, notebook & pencils, tissues, torch, hand sanitizer, wipes, spare pair of glasses (I have a dread of breaking mine while I'm out and not being able to see to drive home), purse with change for parking etc, pair of scissors & roll of sellotape, sheet of paper with insurance & breakdown cover details plus phone numbers next of kin, AA Road map.

A pair of tweezers, sun visor mirrors are great for spotting those errant chin hairs!
You’re a bit young atm OP but you’ll understand when you’re older 🤣

Hair bobbles, tissues, vape liquid, sunglasses (spare ones) hand wipes, sun cream (convertible) hand gel, phone charger!
bags for life- I put a stash in there, use them & then forget to put more back in!

Decent compressor to inflate tyres.
Tool kit that is compatible to the car.

Less important but nice: waterproof jacket. Snow boots. charging cables.

Wow some people keep a lot of shit in their car! I've never kept anything except an ice scraper and cloth for demisting, and now that I have kids, car seats and a blanket. Otherwise just bring what I needed for each trip from the house.

I have a tyre repair kit/reinflator thingy.
A tool to use if I crash (if I can find it!) - it will cut my seatbelt, it has a metal pointy bit at the other end to smash the window and it has a light /torch.
A thin box of tissues in the passenger door bit.
Cloth for wiping the windscreen and my glasses.
Those free gloves at the petrol station, I pick up one or 2 when I fill up in car the next place has no gloves so my hand don't stink of petrol.
Antibacterial gel and hand cream.
Leather gloves for winter.
Phone charger.
Ice scraper.
A pen and little note book or post it notes. I'll stick a reminder in the dash of a road closure on the way to work, or a reminder to go to the chemist on the way home from work. Also came in handy to exchange details when someone crashed in to the side of me recently.
In winter, in bad snow, I will carry a shovel, tub of salt, brush and make sure I have snacks and a drink.
Congratulations 🎉

Paracetamol & piriton
Baby wipes
UV arm sleeves (I really like to avoid the sun)
Charger
Little purse for change for when parking apps don’t work
Mints
Spare shopping bags
Sunglasses
Hand gel
10 cm heavy metal rod, just in case I ever need to smash the windows to get out / someone’s head…!

Wellies, once got stuck in a blizzard and had to dump the car and walk.