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26 Best Car Travel Accessories [2024 Car Travel Products Guide]

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Do you plan on going on a long drive soon? If yes, you should consider getting some travel accessories to ensure a safe and pleasant journey.

Finding the best car travel accessories can get challenging, as thousands of products are available in the market.

Road trips have a unique thrill, which is only dampened by inconvenience and discomfort.

But when it comes to car travel accessories, the most critical factor to consider is the level of comfort and convenience provided by them.

How can we make that road trip more fun and more enjoyable? Especially if you will be spending big chunks of time driving from point A to point B?

That’s why we have shortlisted 26 of the best options you must consider. These car travel products reviews will surely help you select the ideal accessories for your next trip.

We have divided our recommendations into two parts – accessories for adults and accessories for kids.

So, give it a read!

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Our Picks for the Best Car Travel Accessories

Without further ado, let’s take a look at, in our opinion, the best car travel accessories for adults.

1. Lebogner Insulated Car Console Organizer

The first accessory on our list is an insulated car organizer to keep your food warm or cold. It measures 18 x 12 x 12 inches and can fit most of the standard vehicle seats. It has convenient carry handles and is made from water-resistant fabric. You can keep small items in the three outside mesh pockets.

We especially liked how this organizer can fold flat, which allows for secure storage when it is not in use. You will also appreciate the fact that it comes with a 100% Lifetime Money-Back Guarantee.

YES! This sounds like a fabulous product – buy it now!

2. Huicocy Car Visor Mirror

You cannot expect your makeup and hair to hold up for long hours of a car journey. Huicocy understands this problem and offers the Car Visor Vanity Mirror as a solution. It features a tri-fold design to ensure multiple viewing angles and secure storage.

You can easily mount this vanity mirror on your car’s sun visor using the Velcro design. It comes in a universal size that will fit the visor in most standard vehicles.

3. Hot Logic Mini Portable Oven

One of the essential travel accessories for the car, when you are going camping, is a portable stove. The Hot Logic portable stove kit not only heats leftover food but also cooks meals.

You will need to plug it into a standard 12-volt or 120-volt socket to power it up.

We especially liked the compact size (7.5 x 9.5 x 3.5-inch) and that you can use a variety of containers including glass, plastic, metal, aluminum, and cardboard in this stove. The only bummer is that these pans need to be purchased separately.

4. High Road Heavy-Duty Hanger Bar

If you ever had to drive for a long time to get to a meeting, you know how annoying creases can be on a three-piece suit.

If only there were a way to carry your clothes without risking any wrinkles or fold marks.

The car clothes hanger bar from High Road is the perfect accessory in that scenario.

It has a sturdy metal construction and can be expanded from 35 inches to 59 inches, which makes it suitable for all kinds of vehicles.

5. 6-Port USB Car Charger

A list of travel accessories for car trips cannot be completed without including a portable charger. Jelly Comb offers the USB Multi-Port Car Charger in two colors – black and white. It features 65W 13A rapid charging and comes with six ports, ensuring enough simultaneous charging power for half a dozen devices.

We especially liked that its cable length is over four feet, which means it can reach backseat passengers too. It also comes with 1-year friendly after-service, in case you were wondering.

6. Janiste Mirror Dash Cam Touch Screen

The next accessory we have included is a must-have, irrespective of whether you will be traveling a long distance in a car or not. Jansite offers an exceptional, touch screen rear-view mirror with a dashcam. It has a G-sensor and parking monitor to ensure a safe parking experience. With it, you can switch between five view modes with a single key.

We especially liked the 1080P FHD recording capability and 10-inch IPS touch screen of this accessory. You can record picturesque road views while traveling. Moreover, it allows simultaneous recording through the front and rear cameras.

7. Mini First Aid Kit

One of the most common problems during a family camping trip arises in the form of minor injuries or health problems.

That’s why you must keep a comprehensive first aid kit in your car.

The Mini First Aid Kit contains 100 pieces of all the essentials you could need and more.

It comes with a bag that features a durable waterproof case and is easy to carry.

We especially liked the thoughtful inclusion of equipment that is hospital grade.

8. Nulaxy Bluetooth Car FM Transmitter

Nulaxy offers the Bluetooth Car FM Transmitter in three colors – black, mint green, and peacock blue. If you buy this accessory for your car, you can answer calls with a single button press.

And you can play songs in three different ways (TF Card, Aux Cable, or Bluetooth connection).

We especially liked its LCD and voltmeter function, which shows you the voltage of your car battery.

You can also charge a device using its built-in USB port as it is compatible with all kinds of mobile devices.

9. ComfiLife Gel Enhanced Seat Cushion

If you experience lower back or tailbone pain when sitting for a long time, you should get the ComfiLife Gel Enhanced Seat Cushion.

It is made of a non-slip rubber bottom and comes with a zippered velour cover that can be washed in a machine.

It is, in our opinion, the best foam car seat cushion with gel memory you can find.

Although it is highly unlikely, if you are not satisfied with this seat cushion, there is a money-back guarantee backing it.

10. Coffee Gator Pour Over Brewer Mug

The next accessory on our list of recommendations caters specifically to caffeine lovers out there.

If you are a coffee drinker who is about to embark on a long car journey, you should get the Pour-Over Brewer Mug from Coffee Gator.

It allows you to brew and take coffee on the go and does a surprisingly good job!

It is available in seven different colors. We especially liked that it’s 100% BPA-free and comes with a 100% satisfaction promise.

It fits all standard car cup holders. You can use it to keep your coffee hot for over six hours or cold for over 20 hours.

11. MIKAFEN Universal Car Seat Belt Pads Cover

MIKAFEN offers seat belt pad covers, which feature a top-notch foam lining and a high-quality cotton blend.

These covers ensure optimal comfort if sudden brakes are applied.

As a bonus, it also comes with 2-year quality insurance and a 30-day unconditional refund, so you can rest assured about its quality.

We especially liked how easy it is to use these covers. You can choose from two colors – black and gray – depending on the interior of your car.

12. Swigzy Car Cup Holder

Although nine out of ten recently manufactured vehicles have cup holders, most of them fail to hold all sizes of cups and bottles.

What if you could expand and adjust it so that it may hold any cup or bottle?

Swigzy has answered that question with the help of its Car Cup Holder.

The base of this accessory can expand from 2.5 inches to 3.75 inches in diameter to fit several built-in cup holders.

The extender expands from 3.4 inches to 3.8 inches in diameter, which is enough to hold nearly all 32 oz. to 40 oz. bottles.

We especially liked the one-inch slot on the side of this accessory, which allows you to place cups or mugs with handles.

13. CamelBak Chute Vacuum-Insulated Stainless Bottle

Imagine having to travel in a car for hours in the middle of nowhere with no water.

Such a road trip could quickly go from pleasant to nightmarish!

A water bottle is perhaps the most crucial thing you want to pack into the car.

But why take a regular bottle when you can get CamelBak’s Vacuum-Insulated Stainless bottle?

It is made from 18/8 stainless steel and is available in seven colors. It is capable of keeping fluids hot for 6 hours and cold for 24 hours.

What makes it even better is its lifetime guarantee.

14. Lebogner Auto Steering Wheel Desk

If you have traveled on an airplane, you definitely know how drop-down trays on the seat in front work.

Those trays function as desks for eating and working on your laptop during long flights.

Have you wondered if you could get something similar for a long car journey?

Lebogner’s Steering Wheel Desk brings that idea to life!

It securely hooks onto the steering wheel of your car and can be used for various purposes.

It is durable enough to hold a meal, notebook, or laptop. And we’re sure you will appreciate its 100% lifetime money-back guarantee.

15. QBUC Car Back Support

Driving a car for hours on end can get tiring. So, having a travel accessory that adds some comfort can pay huge dividends.

We recommend the QBUC Car Lumbar Pillow to prevent backache while driving continuously.

You also get a washable cover and adjustable slip-proof straps.

We especially liked its perfect design with a focus on the anatomy of the spine to ensure maximum comfort by relieving tightness and soreness.

The memory cushion will return to its original shape after use and you can choose to get it in any of six different color options.

16. Beam Electronics Universal Smartphone Air Vent Mount Holder

Beam Electronics offers an excellent air vent mount holder for your smartphone.

It is not only easy to install and operate, but you can place your phone in the holder and press the arms on both sides to securely lock it in place.

It features 360-degree rotation to ensure the best viewing angle for you.

This mount holder is compatible with all mobile devices, except the Pixel 5.

We especially liked its 1-year warranty, which shows that it has top-notch quality.

17. FOVAL Car Power Inverter

The penultimate recommendation on this list of car travel accessories is the powerful 200W car inverter from the reputed brand FOVAL.

We especially liked its compact and lightweight design – it measures slightly more than a credit card!

It comes with a built-in fuse that will protect your device against overloads, overcharging, overheating, and short-circuiting.

There’s also a user manual and an 18-month customer service guarantee.

The inverter includes four USB ports and two standard plug outlets.

18. Heroway Magic Headrest Hooks

One of the simplest yet practical accessories that you can get is the set of four headrest hooks from Heroway.

You can attach and remove these hooks easily without elevating the headrests.

You can also ‘hang’ these hangs on the front or back side of the seats, as required.

These hooks can be used for hanging various things like water bottles, backpacks, umbrellas, groceries, and so on.

It comes with a free-hanging car trash bag that is big enough to hold all the garbage.

19. Coghlan’s Pop-Up Trash Can

If you are going on a road trip and will be camping overnight, you should be taking Coghlan’s Pop-Up Trash Can.

It is an excellent way to ensure that your campsite is clean.

It can expand and contract easily and quickly, which allows for hassle-free storage when it is not in use.

We especially liked the lower-edge grommets to prevent them from blowing away and the inside clips on top for securing garbage bags.

It serves as the perfect portable trash can to keep your camp clean.

Our Pick for the Best Car Travel Accessories for Kids

Find below a list of some of our favorite kids’ car travel accessories. You can also find some other fabulous products for travel in our best travel gear for kids guide.

20. Kids Backseat Organizer

My Specialty Kids Shop offers the Kids Backseat Organizer. You can adjust it to suit your child’s comfort perfectly.

The material used in this product is the same as laptop bags for adults and is PAHs and lead-free.

If you are not satisfied with this product, you can return it within 90 days for a full refund, no questions asked!

21. Car Sun Shade

Kinder Fluff offers a pack of four sun shades for your car windows.

The package consists of two semi-transparent and two transparent shades along with a storage pouch.

We especially liked these sunshades because they can be installed easily without any suction cups or adhesives.

When not in use, you can fold them for convenient storage in the free pouch. Pretty neat, right?

22. JUCAINHI Backseat Car Organizer

JUCAINHI offers a pack of two backseat car organizers that also serve as seat back protectors.

We especially liked the adjustable straps, the eight mesh pockets, and the two extra pockets for travel accessories.

You can use these organizers to keep snacks, toys, books, water bottles, and more.

It is 16 inches wide and 24 inches long, ensuring that it fits in most cars. The kick mats can also hold iPad and tablets.

23. Lusso Gear Car Seat Organizer

One of the most significant challenges faced by parents who travel with kids in the car is the mess that is left in the backseat.

It can be a daunting task to clean and organize toys, spilled food, baby gear, and more.

The Car Seat Organizer from Lusso Gear has nine compartments and four cup holders.

It is available in five different colors and stitching options. You also get a lifetime money-back guarantee with this accessory.

24. Shynerk Baby Car Mirror

Traveling with a baby on board is no joke! You need to ensure that your kid is safe in the backseat.

And what better way to do that than having continuous surveillance?

You can install the Shynerk Baby Car Mirror on the head of the rear seat within seconds.

The mirror has 360-degree rotation and pivot features to ensure that you get a complete view of your kid and the surroundings.

25. Papablic Portable Travel Baby Bottle Warmer

If you are looking for car travel accessories for toddlers, you should get the Portable Travel Baby Bottle Warmer from Papablic.

You can use it to warm milk or water on the go without using electricity.

It has a portable design, making it easy to carry in a standard diaper bag.

It is compatible with most of the typical baby bottle brands. You also get a 100% money-back guarantee.

26. Travel Booster Seat

One of the best car travel accessories for families who love road trips in countries overseas is a lightweight portable booster seat.

You can find inflatable booster seats that can be inflated for use and deflated to make it easier to pack. They are lightweight and portable and comfy to use for shorter road trips.

Find the best inflatable booster seats for travel here.

Each of the 26 accessories we have shortlisted and reviewed today provides exceptional comfort and convenience for adults and kids. It helps to make long road trips more enjoyable.

One last thing you can add to your list if you have kids or if you are planning on sleeping in your car a few nights is to grab a comfy travel blanket and pillow set .

We hope you will find some interesting and useful products that you will be getting before you start planning your next road trip .

Till next time!

Tip:  You might also be interested in checking out our guide on the best flight accessories here.

Jolene Ejmont

3 thoughts on “26 best car travel accessories [2024 car travel products guide]”.

Thanks for given this type of information. we know safety is a top priority. baby mirror features a shatter-proof safety which has been crash tested and certified to provide peace of mind that in the event of an accident, your little one is safe. The black polymer plastic holds the mirror tightly in place, furthering the safety of the mirror and making it both lightweight and durable. In online market place you can get multiple designable walkie talkie. But from here i can recommend a site that given multiple unique products.

Thank you for the info 🙂 Much appreciate it!

These accessoires are amazing Thank you for the info much appreciate it!

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41 road trip essentials: what you need on your next road trip.

Add these items to your road trip packing list to help you travel more comfortably.

Road Trip Essentials

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A road trip is a great way to see the country. Consider stocking up on these accessories before you go.

If you're planning a road trip, you're going to have a lot of work to do before you pack the car and head out of town. You'll need to map out a general itinerary, plan your overnight stops and create a list of must-see sights along the way. And don't forget about all the stuff you need to pack to ensure your family is safe, comfortable and entertained.

While you don't necessarily need a lot of things to make a road trip a success, U.S. News searched far and wide to find the best gadgets and gear that will make your time in the car the highlight of your trip. These are all items you'll want to consider adding to your road trip packing list.

As you pack your bags and get ready for an epic road trip, here are a few last-minute road trip essentials you might want to add to your arsenal, organized by category.

Personal care and hygiene

Entertainment, comfort and convenience.

Keeping a reliable flashlight stored in your car is a good rule of thumb for all drivers heading out on a road trip. In roadside emergencies, the Anker Rechargeable Bolder LC90 LED Flashlight can illuminate a distance of nearly 1,000 feet with a battery life of up to six hours. Its durable design makes it ideal for use in inclement weather, and its five settings include an SOS signal and a strobe light. Meanwhile, the Black Diamond Spot 400 Headlamp – which features a 400-lumen beam and red LED night vision – is ideal for when you find yourself changing a tire in the middle of the night. Both products earn rave reviews from consumers for their powerful light.

Portable power bank

Goal Zero's Sherpa 100AC power bank is a portable power bank you can use to recharge tablets, phones, cameras and laptops on the go. It features two USB ports, plus four cables are included and it's lightweight at just 2 pounds. Recent customers loved the power bank's versatility, but recommend charging it every two to three days for the best results.

Jumper cables

Jumper cables from AUTOGEN can easily fit in your trunk and could save the day if your battery dies and you're unable to start your car while out on the road. Many travelers also say you can't go wrong with these heavy-duty cables from Energizer. These 25-foot-long cables are perfect for any car type and come with a travel bag for easy storage – they're a must for any road trip packing list.

Portable tire inflator

A portable tire inflator can be a lifesaver if you find your tires have a slow leak during your trip. The AstroAl Air Compressor Tire Inflator is compact, so it won't take up much space among the other gear in your trunk, and it includes an LED flashlight with independent switch control. It is programmed to stop automatically once it hits the preset tire pressure and it comes with a 36-month warranty. Other travelers prefer the ViAir 88P - 00088 Portable Compressor Kit , noting it works well with a wide variety of vehicles. In addition to a 12-foot air hose and 9-foot power cord, the kit comes with alligator clamps that power your air compressor by attaching to your car's battery.

Jump starter

Picture this: You're having the time of your life on your road trip when your car battery dies in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, a high-quality jump starter is all you need to avoid this disastrous scenario. In addition to being water-resistant and compact, the NOCO Boost Plus GB40 comes with a built-in flashlight and a USB port for charging devices like smartphones and tablets. The Hulkman Alpha 85 2000A Jump Starter also comes highly recommended by travelers thanks to its easy-to-use design and powerful battery life (a single charge can hold up to 60 jump starts).

Waking up in the morning to an icy windshield isn't a pretty sight. Prestone AS244 Windshield De-Icer instantly melts ice upon contact, so you don't have to worry about waiting for your car to defrost when you're in a rush. As an added bonus, the can comes with a built-in scraper tool for easy ice removal. Recent customers have called this product a lifesaver during harsh winters.

Bringing a trusty multi-tool on your road trip is a simple way to make sure you're prepared no matter what situation you run into. Leatherman products impress consumers time and time again thanks to the company's high-quality and lightweight multi-tool designs. Customer-favorites include the Leatherman Bond and the Leatherman Wave+ , which offers 18 powerful tools like pliers and wire cutters.

Car charger

Frequent car travelers recommend always staying connected with the TECKNET USB Car Charger . Featuring four fast-charging ports, this adaptor can be used to charge smartphones, tablets and more. If you're hitting the road with the whole family in tow, or you simply want to charge more than one device at a time, travelers say this powerful charging adaptor is a must-buy. Pair it with an extra-long charging cable that can easily reach everyone in the back seat.

Dashboard phone mount

Keep your eyes on the road by installing a dashboard phone mount before your journey starts. The iOttie Easy One Touch 5 comes with a telescopic arm, a magnetic cord organizer and a strong-hold suction cup. Plus, its easy one-touch lock-and-release mechanism (a feature that is much appreciated among recent customers) makes taking your phone on and off the holder a breeze. If you don't like the rigidity of traditional dashboard phone mounts, consider choosing a phone mount with a flexible arm instead.

Document holder

Whenever you're hitting the open road, you want to prepare for the worst. In the event that you get into a car accident or are pulled over by the police, having easy access to your car's registration, insurance information and owner's manual is crucial. Recent travelers say that this Samsill car registration holder is great for keeping all your important documents organized.

Roadside emergency kit

To give yourself peace of mind while you're on the road, travelers recommend this STDY car roadside emergency kit from Amazon. Equipped with a tire pressure gauge, a utility knife, safety gloves, cable ties, a tow rope, tire repair tools, a raincoat and more, this compact kit has everything you need when life throws you an unexpected curve ball.

Extra-large body wipes

Extra-large body wipes from Busy Co make it easy to wash up when you can't take a shower. Cloths are suitable for dry, oily and combination skin types, and address a variety of skincare needs, including clarifying, toning, soothing and nourishing. Recent customers appreciated the large size of the wipes and said using them made them feel refreshed while traveling.

Lysol wipes

Disinfecting Lysol wipes are a must-have on your travel packing list. These cleaning wipes kill 99.9% of viruses and bacteria, so you can feel protected while on the road.

Disposable toilet seat covers

Disposable toilet seat covers from Amazon will help you avoid germs and stay clean when you stop for restroom breaks at gas stations, port-a-potties and campgrounds.

First-aid kit

A comprehensive first-aid kit can't be overlooked when packing up the car for your next road trip. Recent customers say this 298-piece kit from Amazon will get you the most bang for your buck, with bandages, antibiotic ointment, gauze, Band-Aids, pain reliever and much more. Although this will arm you with the basics of what you may need in a medical emergency, it's always a good idea to personalize your kit according to your needs.

Nausea Relief

Long hours in the car might sound daunting to anyone prone to motion sickness. In those cases, having preventative nausea medicine like Dramamine can be a lifesaver. If you prefer a drug-free alternative, Sea-Bands are anti-nausea wristbands that use acupuncture as a natural remedy to reduce motion sickness. Travelers say these bands are highly effective at reducing nausea.

Hand sanitizer

From gas pumps to ATMs, you never know what germs you may encounter on a road trip. Protect yourself against viruses like the cold and flu by adding a travel-size hand sanitizer to your road trip packing list and keeping it in the car during your trip.

If you'll be spending long hours in the car, it's important to remember to wear sunscreen. Sun Bum's SPF 50 Sunscreen Spray is broad spectrum, moisturizing and water-resistant for up to 80 minutes. And if you'll be heading for the ocean on your trip, make sure you pack a reef-safe sunscreen like this one from Reef Repair to protect marine life and coral reefs from harmful chemicals. Although some customers reported a white cast upon application (due to the zinc oxide), many reviewers thought the trade-off was worth it to maintain healthy ocean environments.

Toiletry bag

This chic Sonia Kashuk Weekender Makeup Bag features two zipper compartments, a center organizer and carrying handles that make it perfect for transport. Customers particularly love that the bag is compact without sacrificing storage space. For durable, leak-proof travel bottles, check out this Getaway Travel Kit from Ban.do . It comes with four pearlescent bottles, two jars, a spatula, a funnel and a zippered pouch for storage. Plus, it includes a fun set of sticker labels so you can organize your toiletries in style.

[Read:  The Top Travel Toiletry Bags .]

Sitting in the car for hours can be painfully boring at times, but there are plenty of ways you can enjoy your time while road tripping. With the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite , you have access to thousands of books at your fingertips. The device boasts up to 10 weeks of battery life, adjustable warm light and a glare-free display, which recent reviewers said made marathon reading sessions a breeze. Meanwhile, kids can enjoy the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Kids , which offers a special font for children with dyslexia and comes with a two-year warranty.

Carefully curated Spotify playlist

Whether you prefer jamming out to tunes or listening to thought-provoking podcasts, having a Spotify playlist ready to go before you get on the road is a must. Take some time before your trip to curate a playlist or two so you can keep your eyes on the road and your hands off your phone while road tripping.

Audible subscription

Long drives call for catching up on all those books you've been saying you were going to read this year. With an Audible subscription, you can make the most out of traffic jams by enjoying some words by your favorite authors.

Choose a reliable duffel bag like the Eagle Creek Migrate Duffel for your next road trip. This bag is water-resistant, strength-bearing and perfect for when you need your luggage to fit in a small space. It also comes with lockable zippers and can be worn as a backpack or carried as a tote, a top feature according to recent reviewers. And if you're planning on hiking during your trip, travelers say the Daylite Duffel 30 from Osprey can fit everything you need with room to spare. This bag can be worn comfortably all day long and comes with a mesh water bottle pocket and functional harness straps.

[Read: The Top Rolling Duffel Bags .]

This YETI Hopper Soft Sided Backpack Cooler makes it easy to bring drinks anywhere without worrying about leaks. The cooler, which comes with a dryhide shell and a magnetic closure, can hold up to 18 cans (or 26 pounds of ice), and comes highly recommended by travelers thanks to its durable design. It's ideal for road trippers who plan to get out and explore, and need to stay hydrated or keep food fresh.

Rooftop Cargo Carrier

Save some space inside your vehicle by opting for a car roof cargo carrier. With an anti-slip mat and reinforced adjustable straps, the waterproof FIVKLEMNZ 15 Cubic Car Roof Bag Cargo Carrier from Amazon is suitable for any car type. Recent customers say that they had no problem getting it to stay in place even on high-speed roads.

Car organizer

A car seatback organizer lets you arrange road trip essentials on the back of the driver's or passenger's side seat, where they're within reach of small hands. Many buyers said this seatback organizer from Amazon.com took some of the stress out of traveling with kids, thanks to its multipurpose storage compartments, including a place for a tablet and plenty of other spots to store key items for your trip. You can also maximize your space by stashing your essentials in a trunk organizer. This one from Drive Auto comes with multiple storage compartments, waterproof lining and tie-down straps to keep items in place while you're driving.

Car trash can

There's no doubt about it – road trips can generate a lot of trash. Keep your car clean on your next adventure with this Hotor car trash can from Amazon. Complete with an adjustable strap, mesh side panels for storage and a leak-proof interior lining, this useful accessory comes highly recommended by travelers who find themselves frequently on the road.

Reusable bags

Whether you're stopping for snacks at a gas station or running into the grocery store for those last-minute essentials, a reusable bag is an easy way to reduce your plastic consumption. Recent reviewers said these versatile and water-resistant reusable bags can even be used as laundry bags, garbage bags or beach bags in a pinch.

Electric car blankets

Electric car blankets allow you to stay warm on the road no matter the temperature outside. This Stalwart electric car blanket takes up very little space, is surprisingly lightweight and plugs into any vehicle with a 96-inch-long cord. While some travelers noted that this blanket alone won't be enough to keep you warm in extremely cold weather, many say it was a welcome addition nonetheless.

SleepPhones soft headband headphones let you enjoy the open road while listening to music, audiobooks, meditation, white noise or talk radio. These headphones are expertly padded, which reviewers say makes them more comfortable for long-term wear than earbuds. You can buy the classic version or a wireless version at SleepPhones.com.

Travel pillow

Pick up an ergonomic travel pillow from Cabeau if you need extra neck and shoulder support when you ride in the passenger seat. The pillow features supportive memory foam, a front clasp to ensure it stays put and a removable cover that you can wash. Recent customers also loved that the pillow comes with straps that can be attached to any headrest, making sure you don't fall forward while catching some shut-eye. For kids, this Cloudz plush animal neck pillow comes in a variety of colorful animal options, such as a unicorn, a ladybug, a dinosaur and more.

[Read:  The Top Travel Neck Pillows .]

A battery-operated mini fan from SkyGenius can help you stay cool and comfortable. This fan comes with a rechargeable and replaceable battery, and is ideal for the car and for camping. For even more cooling capacity, opt for a fan with dual heads like the XOOL Electric Car Fan from Amazon. Both mini fans earn glowing reviews from travelers thanks to their powerful airflow capabilities.

Shield your eyes from the sun by picking up a good pair of sunglasses before your trip. Choose sunglasses that protect against the sun's UVA and UVB rays, and are polarized to block glare. Travelers love that these Ray-Ban Aviator Classic sunglasses come in a variety of tints and can even be customized to fit your needs. For a more budget-friendly option, check out these SUNGAIT Ultra Lightweight Rectangular Polarized Sunglasses from Amazon, which recent customers say are very comfortable and perfect for road tripping.

Window shade

The sun beating down on your car all day can heat it up quickly. To keep your car cool, travelers recommend the EcoNour Car Windshield Sun Shade , which protects your vehicle from UV rays and helps maintain your car's interior temperature at a comfortable level. Pair it with these car window shades to protect your backseat drivers from UVA and UVB rays while you're on the road. The shades come in two different sizes and transparency levels, and previous buyers say they are very easy to install.

Travel towel

A travel towel is one of the most versatile accessories you can bring on a road trip. Whether you are cleaning up a spill or want to go for an impromptu beach day, having a spare towel on hand is always a good idea. This odor-resistant and quick-drying 4Monster travel towel from Amazon comes in several sizes and includes a compact EVA box, which recent reviewers say makes it perfect for travel.

Reusable water bottles

Skip the plastic bottles and opt for a high-quality reusable water bottle on your next trip. This 40-ounce bottle from Hydro Flask keeps drinks hot for 12 hours and cold for a full day. It also comes with a lid with a built-in straw, which consumers say makes it convenient for driving. For kids, a durable water bottle like this 12-ounce YETI rambler fits the bill – its stainless steel bottle is dishwasher safe and shatter-resistant, a feature that parents love.

Cubcoats are two-in-one stuffed animals that transform into hoodies. Your child's furry friend (think bunnies, sloths and puppies) doubles as a soft, zip-up sweatshirt, and you get to save some space in your suitcase.

Inflatable car booster seat

If you're flying to another destination to pick up a rental car for your road trip, consider bringing inflatable car booster seats along. This BubbleBum backless inflatable booster is suitable for kids 4 to 11, and comes with a seat belt positioning clip for optimal comfort and safety. Recent buyers said it was portable and extremely easy to use.

Kids travel journal

A kids travel journal makes it easy for your child to document their road trip and all the fun things they see and do. This one from Peter Pauper Press includes world maps, puzzles, fun facts and more, and many parents said it made their kids' time in the car fly by.

Activity books

A family road trip means long hours in the car, and bored children are every parent's worst nightmare. Activity books can keep your kids occupied for long periods of time while you catch up on some much-needed quiet time.

Backseat travel tray for kids

If your co-pilot is constantly turning around to pick up toys or pass out snacks, a backseat travel tray is in order. The LUSSO Gear Kids Travel Tray comes with a safety strap that can be secured to any car seat, and includes a dry erase board table, a cup holder, a storage compartment for toys and a no-drop tablet viewing stand. Reviewers loved the tray's whiteboard area and said it was a great way to keep kids entertained on long car rides.

Shop in bulk

Check out Boxed.com for specially curated bulk items that are perfect for road trips and other types of travel. From sunscreen, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes to Fruit Roll-Ups and snack-size packs of Pringles, Boxed.com is a convenient site to order bulk hygiene and snack items in one place.

Bring spare cash

Debit cards, credit cards and mobile phone payments may be the way of the world nowadays, but you may still run into a few places on your journey that are cash-only (for example, some national and state park entrance fees must be paid in cash). Be on the safe side by keeping some spare cash on hand in case of emergencies.

Save on gas

It's no secret that sky-high gas prices can put a damper on your vacation. Save some money on fuel by using apps like GasBuddy , which will show you the cheapest gas prices in your area. Go the extra mile by signing up for a gas rewards credit card to get the most bang for your buck.

You might also be interested in:

• The Top Travel Backpacks
• The Top Sleeping Bags
• The Top East Coast Road Trips
• The Best Travel Insurance Companies
• The Best Cheap Travel Insurance Companies

Tags: Travel , Vacations , cars , Road Trips , Travel Gear

World's Best Places To Visit

• # 1 South Island, New Zealand
• # 4 Bora Bora

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The Best Travel Gadgets and Tech For Your Next Road Trip

The experts at Good Housekeeping have tested and reviewed some of the best travel electronics and tech gadgets on the market. Here are some of the picks that will make your next road trip more memorable.

Our Top Picks

Best Travel Dash Cam

Garmin dash cam 57.

Best Travel Portable Coffee Maker

Cera+ portable electric coffee maker.

Best Travel Gadget Wi-Fi Hotspot

Verizon jetpack wi-fi hotspot.

Best Travel Action Camera

Gopro hero9.

Best Travel Gadget Radar Detector

Escort max 360 mkii radar and laser detector.

Best Travel Gadget for Portable Power

Anker 325 power bank.

Best Travel Headphones

Bose quietcomfort overear headphones.

Best Travel Mug

Ember travel mug.

Best Travel Gadget Cooler

Koolatron thermoelectric iceless cooler and warmer.

Best Travel Tracker

Apple airtag.

We all have our own ideas about what tech we need and which gadgets and devices we enjoy, so the Gear Team could have simply thrown together a list of some of our favorites. But Good Housekeeping has been testing and evaluating products for parents and homes for over a century, and its testing processes have become an industry standard. So we hit up our colleagues over at the Good Housekeeping Institute for some tips, just to make sure we weren't missing anything.

Relying on the expertise of the Gear Team and the testing acumen of Good Housekeeping, here are some of the Best Travel Gadgets and Tech for your next road-trip adventure. Note: Car & Driver has paraphrased Good Housekeeping 's findings to reflect our purposes here; we have omitted some of the Institute's non-automotive selections and included other products more suited for our audience.

Dash cams can be a fantastic tool for recovering damages, beating tickets, or recording incredible situations. The Garmin 57 mini dash cam takes the functionality up a notch with a Swiss Army knife–like list of features. It can record in 1440p and features incident detection, forward-collision and lane-departure warnings, and a cool option that lets you turn hours of driving into a time-lapse video. Best of all, it measures just about 1.0 by 2.0 inches.

Don't settle for whatever truck-stop cup of joe you come across while on the road. The CERA+ portable coffee maker will allow you to indulge your inner coffee snob wherever you are. It can perform cold or warm brews, and its rechargeable battery allows you to make several cups, no matter the type of coffee you choose.

Wi-Fi on your road trip can be a game changer. For those who lack the luxury of integrated Wi-Fi found on many newer cars, the Jetpack allows Verizon customers to connect up to 15 devices to their personal Wi-Fi network in more than 200 countries. During Good Housekeeping’s testing, the battery showed impressive all-day life. As a plus, it includes an extra USB port for charging other devices.

GoPro has been offering compact action cameras since 2004, and the HERO9 is perfect for road-tripping. It's durable and waterproof up to 33 feet, allowing you to take it with you just about anywhere. It shoots in 5K so you're guaranteed sharp, high-quality memories once your trip is over. GoPro also offers an array of accessories for attaching it to a helmet, your chest, your car—even a toddler.

Even if you don't consider yourself much of a speeder, having an additional layer of protection against hefty fines is a wise move. The Escort MAX 360 will keep you covered, just in case you lose track of your speed over hours of cruising. It's loaded with features, including dual antennas for increased range, 360-degree awareness, an easy-to-use app, and many more we don't have the space to list here.

Charging ports can be a point of contention in cars and trucks, particularly when a family is on the road for extended periods. This Anker portable battery will help nip back-seat fisticuffs in the bud. The 20,000 mAh Li-ion battery allows you to charge up to two devices at a time via dual USB-A ports, and it can be recharged through either its micro-USB or USB-C ports.

If you plan to spend many hours in a packed car, you will inevitably be met with conflict when everyone disagrees on what to fill your collective ears with. These noise-canceling cans from Bose provide a convenient solution, allowing your passengers to escape to their own audio reality for a bit. Testers found them very comfortable over extended periods and really appreciated being able to switch between Quiet and Aware modes to filter outside noise.

Caveat: No matter how tempting it may be to drown out the world around you, and despite settings that allow you to control ambient noise, we don't recommend over-ear cans like these while driving. Opt for a pair of AirPods or earbuds , if you must—but be advised, state laws vary on their use behind the wheel.

When you're on the road for hours on end, a warm beverage can be key in getting your body's motor started and keeping it going. This travel mug from Ember won't just keep your beverage warm, it will keep it exactly the temperature you prefer. The temperature can be controlled from an app on your phone, and its two-hour battery life can be extended by placing it on its charging coaster.

Staying hydrated and keeping your appetite at bay while on the road can be tough if gas-station jerky and drive-thru fare aren't your thing. Koolatron 's thermoelectric cooler and warmer plugs into your vehicle's 12-volt outlet and keeps the contents as cool as 40 degrees Fahrenheit and as warm as 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The 18-quart version can hold up to 23 standard soft-drink cans; the much larger 45-quart version is ideal for families.

Many are already familiar with the invaluable functionality that Apple 's tiny tracker provides. It can be used to track anything from your valuables to your luggage and even your car, right from your phone. It does require you to use Apple's digital ecosystem, but its overall functionality could just be enough to convert Android users. Its one-year battery lifespan makes it an easy set-and-forget tool.

Leatherman Wave Plus Multitool

If you don't already carry a good multitool, it's about time you do. The Wave Plus from Leatherman is a handy everyday tool for popping bottle tops, tightening screws, opening packaging, and a plethora of other odd jobs. Out on the road, it's great for small inconveniences and quick fixes, such as replacing burnt-out bulbs, tightening hose clamps, or whatever other mishaps may arise.

DJI Mini 3 Pro Drone Bundle

This DJI camera drone will elevate your ability to log your road-trip memories. When you're no longer limited to the ground, the photo and video opportunities you'll realize are pretty vast. The GH Institute testers loved that it can fold away into a compact carrying case and lauded its sharp picture quality. The included Fly More Kit opens up the potential to capture professional-quality aerial shots of your car ripping through the twisties. It includes spare batteries, chargers, parts, and more.

DJI Osmo Mobile 6 Gimbal Stabilizer

The DJI Osmo gimbal is a nice piece of kit to keep handy if you’re even remotely serious about capturing solid images of you and your flock while out on the road. Even if you're solo-tripping, it's an excellent way to capture photos or videos of your car in action. During testing, the gimbal held the phone stable and has a nice feature that allows it to rotate in a single sweeping motion. The magnetic clamp attaches easily to almost any phone.

JACO ElitePro Digital Tire Pressure Gauge

Before and after long drives, it's important to keep tabs on your tires, as they are the only thing keeping you and your family on the road. Investing in a quality tire pressure gauge is key, especially if you drive an older car that doesn't come equipped with a tire-pressure monitoring system. JACO 's gauge is calibrated accurately to professional ANSI 2A standards and offers a full lifetime warranty.

Rolling Square Keychain Charger Cable

Rolling Square's keychain charger is the perfect accessory to keep alongside your keys or in your glovebox. It offers multiple outputs and inputs including USB-C, USB-A, micro-USB, and even a lightning port for your iPhone. It complements the Anker portable battery above very nicely.

Reliefband Classic Wristband for Motion Sickness

Lots of us are burdened with the unfortunate affliction known as carsickness. This can get pretty messy on long drives, particularly if you have little ones prone to nausea. The Reliefband is a drug-free remedy to general motion sickness. If it really works—and most users claim it does—it's definitely worth it.

BUBM Electronics Organizer

Keep your wires and other small gear organized with this neat-looking organizer from BUBM . It comes in ten different colors, and the testers at Good Housekeeping loved the compact fold-flat shape and zipper enclosures.

How do I determine which items are essential to my trip?

A good rule, particularly with gadgets, is if you can't name around two-thirds of the buttons on your device, you probably won't use it (or at least to its fullest potential). Carry only what you might need and use.

I'm new to road-tripping. Will all these gadgets be daunting?

Some gadgets like a DJI drone can indeed have somewhat steep learning curves. We recommend trying out your gadgets at home to familiarize yourself with their features and controls. Apps are a requirement for some gadgets, so having those pre-loaded onto your phone can save time and hassle.

Can I buy stuff on the road?

Lots of gear can be a hassle to keep track of, so sometimes it is more efficient to forgo some of the less essential pieces and just pick them up as you need them. Rechargeable electronics are a great solution—they keep working and alleviate the need to carry around or purchase extra batteries.

Why Trust Good Housekeeping ?

The Good Housekeeping Institute has been testing products and providing expert reviews and advice on all types of travel gear in their labs, from luggage trackers and noise-canceling headphones to drones and mobile hotspots. The gadgets chosen for this list were evaluated by product testing analyst Selina Tedesco and updated by media and tech reviews analyst Olivia Lipski .

Why Trust Hearst Autos?

Hearst Autos combines the talent, resources, and expertise of three of the largest, most influential automotive publications in the world. We get our hands on each and every product we test. Most are purchased; some are supplied by manufacturers. If we're unable to test a product or category ourselves, we'll sometimes turn to noted experts such as the Good Housekeeping Institute .

Hearst Autos doesn't need to game SEO algorithms for traffic or promote lousy products to earn a buck. We're far more concerned with our legacy, our reputation, and the trust that our readers have in Autoweek , Car and Driver , and Road & Track to deliver honest opinions and expert evaluations. Read more about our product testing and evaluation process here .

The Assistant Commerce Editor for Hearst Autos, Justin Helton is an enthusiast with a passion for heavily depreciated autos and a penchant for philosophical debate. As a lifelong Manhattanite, he has mastered the ins and outs of classic car ownership in one of the least car-friendly cities in the world.

Rachel Rothman was the chief technologist and executive technical director of the Good Housekeeping Institute for over 15 years , overseeing testing methodology, implementation and reporting for all GH Labs. She also managed GH's research division and the analysis of applicants for the GH Seal and all other testing emblems. 

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The Best Gear for Your Road Trips

By Kit Dillon and Wirecutter Staff

A road trip is an adventure. It doesn’t matter how far you go. But all adventures require a little planning (and one or two backup plans, in case things go sideways).

We took our first testing road trip in an age far less complicated than these past few years, but the gear we tested and the advice we’ve gathered here should still help you navigate the roads safely and comfortably.

Our original trip, in 2016, included 60 hours of researching and testing gear to take on the open road. We packed all of our top contenders into a Honda Fit EX and headed out on a four-day jaunt to determine what’s nice to have, what’s great, and what’s absolutely essential for your next road trip.

In 2020 we added a few items to help you adhere to safe-travel guidelines, and those things will always come in handy during flu and cold season. We’ve also added several selections to take on challenging winter car trips.

After traveling for 1,500 miles, through four states and six national parks, we think we have a good grasp on what makes an excellent road trip. In addition to performing our own research and testing, we consulted with half a dozen engineers, mechanics, and other experts to bring you these picks. Our hope is that the recommendations in this guide will help you see more and explore farther down the road than you thought possible.

Below, you’ll find recommendations for cargo boxes , binoculars , coolers , emergency beacons , a first-aid kit , a folding blanket , an ice scraper , an instant camera , inverters for your electronics , a multi-tool , phone mounts , a portable jump starter , ratchets and tie-down straps , a road atlas , stain remover , a stowable daypack , sun shades , sunglasses , a tire-pressure gauge , a toolkit for cars , a travel game , a travel pillow , water jugs , windshield water repellent , wipes , and so much more. These items will help you have a successful road trip, regardless of region or weather.

However, even if you have the best gear in the world, it’s always best to address small problems before they become emergencies. That’s why we asked Christopher Smith , a veteran automotive journalist with a penchant for restoring fixer-uppers, to help us put together some advice on how to prepare your car for a trip . (And he lives in South Dakota, where things are spread out, so he’s always prepared.) We cover everything from checking your tires and dipsticks to knowing what you should do if your car starts smelling like rotten eggs for seemingly no reason.

This guide isn’t specifically geared toward families, though most of the picks would be useful to a family traveling by car. We do have guides to infant car seats , travel car seats , booster car seats , and water bottles for kids —all things that are of particular interest to families on the road.

The research

Stowing your gear, in the driver’s seat, health and cleaning supplies, staying comfortable, refreshments, entertainment, just in case, preparing for a road trip.

Being able to find what you need when you need it—whether it’s water, emergency lights, a change of clothes, or a granola bar—can make the difference between a short, easy stop that rejuvenates and a long, frustrating one that makes you question why you left home in the first place.

It all starts with packing. Don’t overthink it. We like to keep items grouped: emergency gear in the back right of the trunk, water in the back left, spare batteries in the glove compartment along with the power inverter, and so on. After a few days, double-checking that everything is where it should be before heading off becomes a comforting ritual, and it helps mitigate the worry that you left … something … in the motel last night.

And don’t overpack. As with a bag, a well-packed car is one that has less than you think you want to bring but everything that you truly need. You don’t have to bring everything—just the things that are essential. Remember, you want to enjoy the drive. Not having to worry about countless items that someone might lose or misplace is a big step toward that enjoyment.

Cargo boxes

Yakima SkyBox NX 18

The best cargo box.

This cargo box offers great aerodynamics, easy mounting and operation, and a lot of storage at a reasonable price.

Buying Options

A cargo box effectively allows you to double your trunk space by moving bulky items from your car’s interior or trunk to its roof. After gathering up as much intel as we could about rooftop cargo boxes from experts, retailers, manufacturers, customers, and outdoor-gear reviewers, we’ve concluded that of the 21 boxes we surveyed, the Yakima SkyBox NX 18 offers the best combination of features, build quality, and value pricing for most road trips.

The NX line replaces the Carbonite line of Yakima boxes, which included our previous cargo box pick, the SkyBox 16 Carbonite .

The cargo box’s low-drag aerodynamic design minimizes wind noise and reduces the impact on fuel economy. Its 18 cubic feet of space allows it to hold skis, duffle bags, backpacks, sleeping bags and other camping gear, or any random (though fairly lightweight) stuff, and it does so securely—both in solidly mounting to your roof rack and in resisting theft. If you don’t have a rack already, this REI car rack buying guide is a good place to start, but be sure to consult your car’s owner manual to see how much weight its roof can bear.

The SkyBox NX 18 is easy to use. Like most cargo boxes these days, it uses sliding brackets, rather than one or two fixed spots, for attachment to the crossbars, making perfect positioning a snap. To secure the brackets to the crossbars, you use a simple torque wrench (included) that will announce with an audible click—like a gas-tank cap—when you’ve tightened the four installation bolts down securely. The tool lives inside the cargo box, though out of the way of your gear, for safekeeping.

Once installed, the SkyBox NX 18 allows easy access from either side of the car, and its newly redesigned dimensions (a change from the previous model) make it less likely to interfere with a liftgate if you put it on a hatchback or station wagon.

If you need more space, Yakima’s older-generation 21-cubic-foot model (the company has not released an updated, NX 21 version so far) may still be available for purchase. Be aware, however, that this box weighs more and can encourage overloading past your car rack’s weight limit, which might be lower than you expect. It may also be too long in the back to clear some liftgates. As Ken Klaes, general manager of ReRack , a Portland, Oregon–based cargo-box retailer and rental company, explained to us: “A rack designed to carry 150 pounds doesn’t forget that the box is there; the weight of the box itself (often 50-ish pounds) needs to be subtracted from the weight rating to give you a real capacity for the box.”

Roof straps

Keeper Endless Loop Ratchet Tie-Down

The best ratcheting straps.

Easier to use than non-ratcheting straps, these straps ensure that your stuff stays put.

I spent many years working in rigging and rope access on offshore oil platforms, where I played with loads, angles, line pulls, and sheave-block friction percentages—in other words, I know a thing or two about strapping things down. You can find two common types of roof straps: ratchet straps, which have a mechanical lever and gear, and cam straps (sometimes called “lashing” or “loop” straps), which connect to themselves through a cam buckle . If I could choose only one type, I’d get ratchet straps because they’re easier to secure. More specifically, I’d get the Keeper Endless Loop Ratchet Tie-Down .

We spent several hours examining 22 strap options before landing on the Keeper version. Keeper is a reliable brand, and the ratchets are easy to tighten and loosen, thanks to their all-metal construction. ( Cheaper ratchets are hard to release and prone to sticking or breaking due to their reliance on plastic parts.) At 13 feet long, these 1-inch straps are long enough for all but the most strenuous loads on the largest of vehicles, and their nylon webbing’s 400-pound working load limit and 1,200-pound break strength put them right in line with similarly priced straps. You could get something that’s heavier-duty or longer, but you’d be paying more for strength or length you don’t need.

On our trip, driving in a car without a roof rack, we used the Keeper straps to great success. The straps held a full water jug to the roof of our Honda for a few dozen miles through the backroads of Arizona with no issues. Other Wirecutter staffers have owned Keeper straps for years and vouch for their overall strength and durability.

NRS 1″ HD Tie-Down Straps

The best cam straps.

Simpler and cheaper than ratchet straps, these straps have above-average strength ratings.

If you prefer the simplicity of a cam strap or don’t need the extra force that a ratchet strap provides, we like the NRS 1″ HD Tie-Down Straps , which come in a variety of lengths. They’re pricier than more popular options, but their webbing is rated to a 1,500-pound breaking strength (the cam itself has a 2,000-pound breaking strength) and a 500-pound working load, in contrast with the 600-pound breaking strength and 200-pound working load of this best-selling Keeper set . Equipment of this grade may seem like overkill, but Wirecutter’s Mark Smirniotis had several weaker cams fail on him when he was strapping loads to his Jeep. He noted in 2016 that of all the straps on Amazon with more than 25 customer reviews, the NRS straps were the only ones that had no reviews complaining of failed cams. NRS is primarily known as the premier kayaking- and rafting-accessory company, so the folks there probably know something about strapping awkwardly large loads onto cars.

Thule Quick Loop Strap 530

For smaller cars.

This strap offers a quick way to add load-stabilizing anchor points to a small car.

For owners of compact cars who want to move long or oversize loads, such as a kayak, we also like the Thule Quick Loop Strap . You secure these straps under the hood of your car (or the trunk, if you don’t have a hatchback) to create a set of forward anchor points to help stabilize the forward section of whatever it is you’re carrying. Judging from our testing, these straps are very quick to set up, and they can add a welcome level of versatility to tough packing situations.

• Always check the maximum load of your car’s anchor points, such as the roof rack. Ratchet straps can apply a lot of force beyond just the weight of your belongings, so knowing your maximum load will help you avoid over-tensioning the straps.
• If the straps vibrate against the roof while you drive, adding a few twists in them can sometimes stop them from slicing the air.
• Don’t put knots in your straps, especially if you’re applying tension. Knots can cut through nylon with surprisingly little force. A knot also significantly reduces the overall load that the strap can handle.
• Never use bungee cords to hold anything down. They’re fine for stabilizing items but not for securing heavy loads.

Driving can be fun, meditative, exhausting, and torturous. After five hours of driving through the desert, it can sometimes be all of those things at the same time.

A thousand little gadgets promise to make a long drive somehow easier. Most of them are useless and seemingly designed to distract you more than anything else. Try to avoid these items. The best gear is durable, unobtrusive, and easy to use—so you can keep your eyes (and your thoughts) on the road.

You will get bored—500 miles on cruise control with an automatic transmission can be a pretty dull time. Not always, of course, but sometimes it will be boring, and maybe that’s the point. In this frenetic age, that feeling is practically a luxury, and it’s essential to the trip. Revel in it.

It would be impossible for us to pick the best overall sunglasses, since your choice ultimately depends on your personal style. We have picks for cheap sunglasses in a separate guide. But driving sunglasses are different because they’re designed to help you perform a specific task: driving safely. In that regard, Maui Jim makes the best sunglasses around, though they are something of an investment.

The best sunglasses

These are the clearest driving sunglasses we’ve found, with no perceptible distortion.

We compared a Maui Jim pair with more than 20 types of sunglasses, driving or otherwise, and found this pair to be the best of the bunch. The Maui Jim sunglasses had the clearest lenses, with no perceptible distortion, on the lightest frames we tested (0.6 ounce, or about half the weight of a wooden pencil). I’ve never encountered sunglasses that I can wear for hours on end without somehow hurting my nose, ears, or both. But during my trip there were a few afternoons when I had completely forgotten I was even wearing the Maui Jim sunglasses—despite five-plus hours of driving with them on.

The clarity of the lenses was another surprise. The Maui Jim lenses are so clear that it’s borderline unsettling the first time you try on these sunglasses. Thanks to the lenses’ exceptional clarity and polarization, everything—including the scenery around you and the road ahead—looks sharper through them.

As far as specific model recommendations go, I suggest scanning the offerings on the Maui Jim website and reading the fit descriptions to find something that matches your aesthetic sensibilities. Unlike companies that go by lens size only, Maui Jim lists face shape as part of its fit guidelines. That means you’re more likely to find what’s most comfortable for you on your first try. Just keep in mind that bigger lenses tend to be better because they offer more coverage.

Maui Jim glasses come with a two-year warranty . After checking with the company, we confirmed that it fulfills warranties on its sunglasses no matter where you buy them. However, Maui Jim services only authentic lenses and frames that haven’t been modified in any way. You can tell whether the pair you have is genuine (and not a knockoff) by confirming that the Maui Jim logo is etched, not just painted onto the lens.

Smartphone mount

In an ideal world, people wouldn’t use a phone at all while driving, and if you have a copilot, you shouldn’t have to—you can delegate the phone-related tasks to them. But in reality, for many drivers, a phone is the source for navigation, information, messages, music, and (of course) phone calls. However, if you hold the phone in your hand as you drive—or look down at it in a cup holder or center-console bin—it can be a major distraction and safety risk. That’s why we recommend using a smartphone mount.

iOttie iTap Magnetic 2

The best dash- or windshield-mounted smartphone mount.

Whether it’s on a dashboard or windshield, this model is easy to set up, grips securely, and has a strong magnetic mount that supports most phones in any position.

iOttie iTap Magnetic 2 Air Vent Mount

The best vent-mounted smartphone mount.

This model is easy to set up and remove, and it has the same strong magnetic mount as the dash version. It securely held on to our cars’ vent slats.

iOttie iTap Magnetic 2 CD Slot Mount

The best cd-slot-mounted smartphone mount.

This mount attached quickly and firmly to our cars’ CD slots and has the same magnetic mount as the other iTap Magnetic 2 versions.

I enjoy the simplicity of my phone with no accessories, so I like that the iOttie iTap Magnetic 2 mounts offer an attractively easy way to mount and unmount my phone with one hand. In our tests , the magnets in all three versions— dash/windshield , vent , and CD slot —were strong, supporting most of our phones vertically and horizontally over even the roughest terrain. Only the large, 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max gave them some trouble when they held it horizontally; the mounts were solid with a 6-inch Google Pixel 2 XL.

To use the magnetic mount, you have to attach a small metal plate to the back of your phone or to the case. Doing so is safe for your phone, and we found this detail to be small, subtle, and attractive enough that we didn’t mind it. Often you can hide it entirely by attaching the plate to the inside of a phone’s case. But the plate could interfere with your ability to wirelessly charge your phone; if you want to be able to continue to use that function, consider the following options from our guide to wireless charging phone mounts .

iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2 Dash & Windshield Mount

Best mount for charging a smartphone on a dash or windshield.

This model delivered some of the quickest charging speeds and earned top results for stability. It lets you easily mount and unmount your phone, too.

iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2 Air Vent & CD Slot Mount

Best mount for charging a smartphone on a car’s air vent or cd slot.

This is the sturdiest vent-mounted model we tested, with fast charging speeds, a firm grip, and a quick way to attach and remove your phone.

The iOttie Easy One Touch Wireless 2—available as a dash and windshield mount or a vent and CD player mount —offers a convenient way to charge your phone in the car while also giving you easy access to audio controls, directions, messages, and more. In our tests , both models ranked among the quickest at charging our phones. Their spring-loaded tension arms made attaching or removing a phone of any size simple, and they held the phone steady while we drove. Both models offer a wide range of adjustability for positioning your phone where you can readily see it, regardless of the vehicle. iOttie also offers a magnetic mount (for vent use) that’s compatible with wireless charging.

Rain-repellent coatings

Rain and snow add stress to a road trip, and they decrease your visibility and your reaction time in an emergency. Along with wipers, rain-repellent windshield coatings can help keep your windshield clear. If you want the most effective rain repellent, pick up the classic Rain-X spray bottle and commit to applying it once a month. If you simply want to give your windshield a boost, Aquapel is almost as effective and can last six times longer between applications—but it is very expensive.

Rain-X Original Glass Water Repellent

Cheap but short-lived repellent.

This affordable hydrophobic spray offers effective protection, but it wears off after a couple of weeks.

Most auto-supply shops offer a huge variety of Rain-X products, including wiper blades, gels, and washer-fluid additives, but you should stick to the original Rain-X formula in the 16-ounce spray bottle because it has the most reliably positive reviews from buyers. Once applied, Rain-X forms a hydrophobic coating , which causes water to bead up and quickly slide off your windshield. Most people who have used Rain-X agree that maintaining its effectiveness requires reapplication about once a month. If your wiper blades start “chattering,” that probably means the coating is beginning to wear unevenly, and it’s time to reapply.

Aquapel Glass Treatment

Long-lasting but pricey repellent.

Aquapel bonds to your windshield for up to half a year, but it costs more than twice as much as Rain-X.

If you can’t commit to applying Rain-X once a month, consider Aquapel . Instead of coating your windshield, it bonds to the glass chemically , and it should last for three to six months before you need to pull out another one-time-use sponge and reapply. YouTube user jwardell posted a 30-day comparison video that shows how Rain-X is more effective initially, but after a month Aquapel still works even after the Rain-X has all but worn off.

For either repellent, proper application is the key to getting the maximum benefit. You need to start with an extremely clean windshield. Then clean it again just to be sure. Both of these repellents dry best in warm weather, out of direct sun. Even when perfectly applied, however, these substances have potential drawbacks. Some people who have used them complain that the repellents cause noticeable haziness at night. Others report that they had trouble getting windshield chips professionally filled after learning that the chemicals interfered with repair methods—though Aquapel’s site disputes such claims. Still, if you’re stuck in inclement weather on a road trip or a commute, either the original Rain-X spray or Aquapel can help increase visibility and decrease your stress levels.

Ice scraper and snow brush

Hopkins SubZero 80037

The best ice scraper and snow brush.

Efficient at clearing ice and sweeping snow, this scraper works on vehicles of all sizes.

The Hopkins SubZero 80037 tool combines a scraping blade and ice-crushing teeth to make quick work of thick or thin ice, and its plow-like bristle broom is the best we’ve tested —equally adept at shoveling snow off body panels and brushing it out from tight spots around mirrors and wipers. The Hopkins SubZero has a self-locking extension that’s easy to use when you want to fold the scraper away to make room in the trunk of your car. It’s of average size—39 inches folded up and 60 inches fully extended. But no other contender offers such a complete scraping-and-sweeping package with so few weaknesses.

Paper road atlas

Rand McNally Road Atlas

The best road atlas.

This atlas is large enough to use while you’re in motion, with a logical, straightforward layout.

With the advent of GPS units and smartphone navigation apps (both of which we recommend over the onboard navigation systems that might come with a car), the age of the paper road atlas would seem to be over. But don’t let anyone convince you of that. A road atlas is the heart of every road trip. It’s the inspiration.

Planning a road trip starts with imagining the places you could be next weekend, if you threw a few granola bars and some clothes into the backseat and left everything else behind. Of course, you could bring up Google Maps, look up the top 10 travel destinations near you, plan your exact route, and save a PDF to your digital device so you’d know exactly where to go and how to get there at each stage of your trip.

Or you could pull out a physical map and highlight a route. You might not know exactly what to expect when you get there, but you’ll definitely know that you can get there. And regardless of electronic-device failures, you will always have a map in hand.

For use in the car, we like the classic Rand McNally Road Atlas —just make sure to get an updated edition. Its oversize shape makes it simple to read and easy to spread out on the hood or in your lap, and the user-friendly design can’t be beat. This atlas’s arrangement of state and keyhole maps is the best for navigation.

As a test, we used the Rand McNally atlas to complete the first leg of our trip, from Ventura to Joshua Tree, California, with no phones and no GPS, on roads we had never driven before. The Rand McNally atlas was simple, functional, and easy to follow. Most important, it was fun to use.

We did read one complaint from somebody who began using that year’s map early: Some of the roads it listed as passable were still mid-construction at the time. If you’re buying a map in the middle of the year or later, you could play it safe and stick with the current year’s edition.

Garmin DriveSmart 55

The best car gps.

Best-in-class directions, driver alerts, points of interest, and free map updates—combined with the best screen we’ve seen on any GPS unit—set this model apart from the pack.

For most shorter trips, a smartphone can provide all the navigation assistance you need. But should your journey take you off the beaten path (and out of your coverage area), we suggest the Garmin DriveSmart 55 . Like the best GPS units, the DriveSmart 55 can also connect to a smartphone via Bluetooth, which lets you send destinations to the device, get incoming messages on screen, and receive extra trip and traffic info. The DriveSmart 55’s extensive points-of-interest database helps guide you to an area’s best sites and businesses through integrated Tripadvisor ratings, Foursquare listings, a database of sites from the History network, and US national park directories (something that other brands’ models don’t offer). Similar to a smartphone, the DriveSmart 55 allows multi-touch gestures, such as pinching or spreading for easier zooming on a map; this feature is a clear step up from the resistive displays of less-expensive units, which allow only single-finger gestures and require you to tap on the plus and minus buttons to zoom in or out.

The DriveSmart 55 also provides helpful traffic info in many metro areas. It responds to voice commands as effectively as the best GPS units, and like other top models it includes free lifetime map updates—in contrast with the pricey updates you need to buy for many cars’ built-in navigation systems.

Sea to Summit Wilderness Wipes

The best body wipes.

Not quite a shower but pretty darn close, these wipes are amazing after a sweaty day in the desert.

Road-trip and backpacking veterans know just how much better a shower can make an adventure after three days and a lot of smelly clothes. When taking a shower is not an option, or even if you just want to tidy up a bit after a long drive, body wipes can provide some much-needed relief.

We considered 22 brands and tested nine different body wipes, including some that were popular on Amazon and others that were recommended on the blogs of seasoned outdoorspeople.

Cheap, portable, and durable, the Sea to Summit Wilderness Wipes were the clear winners.

The wipes come in a resealable package, which helps keep them fresher for longer. You can find them in two sizes, XL (8 by 12 inches, in a pack of eight) and Compact (6 by 8 inches, in a pack of 12). On our trip, we preferred the XL wipes for their extra coverage and longer cleaning power. The fully compostable Wilderness Wipes were among the most lightly scented ones we tested, and their lack of alcohol left our skin feeling clean and moist.

Surface wipes

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

The best disinfecting wipes.

Effective, EPA-approved, and (usually) easy to find, these pre-soaked wipes need only four minutes of contact time to neutralize the coronavirus—and they’ll kill other nasty bugs you might come across in your travels, too.

Most disinfecting wipes are the same. Although we recommend Clorox Disinfecting Wipes , we advise getting any pack of wipes you can find that contains a disinfectant on the EPA’s List N (most have a bleach or quaternary ammonium base). Clorox’s bleach-free wipes are usually sold in single canisters or in four-packs at a range of retailers. These wipes can eliminate the coronavirus and other pathogens on hard surfaces—countertops, door handles, and bathroom fixtures—in your home, vehicle, or motel room, but not on fabric or other soft materials.

Surface spray

Lysol Disinfectant Spray

The best disinfectant spray.

This aerosol works in 10 minutes and is fabric-safe, but it’s guaranteed to eliminate the coronavirus and other pathogens only on hard surfaces.

Instead of bleach, which can damage car interiors, Lysol Disinfectant Spray uses quaternary ammonium. It’s safe on hard surfaces and most fabrics, and it’s gentler on skin than bleach. It also produces fewer harsh fumes—which is good if you’re disinfecting the same space frequently. The spray eliminates the coronavirus, for instance, on hard surfaces in 10 minutes, but on soft surfaces it only sanitizes (kills most but not all pathogens).

One thing we’ve learned in the past few years is that face masks can be useful whenever you’re sick (with COVID-19, a cold, the flu, whatever) and don’t want to share your misery with fellow passengers, people at rest stops, or anyone else. Fortunately, compared with the situation in early 2020, medical-style N95 and KN95 masks (which many experts recommend as the best protection) are widely available these days. They’re easy to tuck into a bag, which we do now whenever we travel. You can find out where to buy these masks in our guide .

Stain remover

Shout Wipe & Go Instant Stain Remover Wipes

The best stain remover.

By keeping a pack of these in your glove box, you’ll remain tidy through multiple meals at drive-throughs.

In our testing, we’ve found that if you spend five hours a day in the car on a drive-through-fueled cannonball run, there’s no way you’ll get to your final destination without having some kind of condiments disaster. I met my own inevitable conclusion outside an In-N-Out Burger on the last leg of our trip.

When the unavoidable happens, you’ll need something more than a napkin and ice water to clean up the mess. We recommend Shout Wipe & Go Instant Stain Remover Wipes . We tested them against other instant spot removers and assorted DIY methods to see how they handled wine, coffee, lipstick, and mustard stains.

In our tests, the Shout wipes easily outperformed the popular Tide To Go pen , and the Shout option was the only stain remover that erased almost all traces of lipstick on the collar of a shirt. These wipes also did pretty well on the ketchup I spilled.

The single-use towelettes don’t occupy much space; you can throw a dozen into your glove compartment and barely notice they’re there. Plus, by using a single wipe per stain, you don’t risk depositing an old stain on another piece of clothing, as you might with reusable stain-remover sticks.

Hand lotion

Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Lotion

The best moisturizing lotion.

Once it’s rubbed in, this moisturizing lotion is lighter and drier-feeling than competitors. It’s better for people with normal to oily skin.

You might find yourself washing your hands a lot on the road, which can result in cracked and dry skin. Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Lotion is thick enough to stay neat in your hand and thin enough to spread quickly and smoothly onto your skin. Unlike its competitors , this moisturizing lotion dries nicely without leaving a greasy film in its wake. And its neutral scent won’t follow you out of the bathroom or into your car.

Can a long road trip be comfortable? I didn’t think so: Long hours of sitting in one position, nights spent camping or sleeping in cheap motel beds, and breaks for indigestible fast food are a terrible combination. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

With a little planning and a few small luxuries, you can keep the enthusiasm of your trip alive. Skip the fast food and instead pack your own snacks and water. Keep off the main highways and pull over when the scenery strikes you (not when you’ve gone a certain number of miles). And stop for as long as you need. The cliché is unavoidable: It’s the journey that’s important, not the destination (though that should be good too!).

Folding blanket

Nemo Victory Picnic Blanket

Comfortable and easy to carry.

Our favorite picnic blanket travels easily, feels comfortable to sit on, and holds up to wear and tear.

There’s only so much time you can spend in a car without needing to pull over to pause, stretch your legs, and take in the scenery. We stopped dozens of times on our trip, and we were glad every time we were able to take a side road, pull out a blanket, and find a place to sit down and share some food.

In 2023, Nemo enlarged the Victory Blanket, which previously fit just two people, to fit four people. At roughly 95 by 95 inches, according to our measurements, the Nemo Victory Picnic Blanket is now bigger than most blankets we looked at; it’s well suited for larger groups of people or for two people who want room for more board games and snacks. For those who need even more space, the Victory Blanket is also available in a truly mammoth extra-large version (120 by 120 inches). Both sizes come with two adjustable, clasping straps that keep the blanket rolled up tight, and those clasps can perform double duty as bottle openers.

Travel pillow

Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow Cinch

The best travel pillow.

The redesigned-for-2022 Therm-A-Rest pillow remains a firm and supportive choice that packs down to 50% of its expanded size. It now has a sewn-in cable that you can cinch down to make the pillow firmer.

price may vary by color or size

A good travel pillow is hard to find. It shouldn’t take up much space, and it should be able to expand when it needs to. And, ideally, it should allow you to shape it for use as a shoulder or neck pillow when necessary, such as when you’re on a plane or in the passenger seat of a car.

We found that the foam-filled Therm-A-Rest Compressible Pillow Cinch fit all of those criteria exceedingly well. During the day, it can fold in on itself (a loop-and-toggle closure holds it tight), which makes it easy to stow in a backpack or to toss into the backseat. When it’s in this tightly packed configuration, you can also use it as a shoulder and lumbar pillow. The Therm-A-Rest pillow is a bit larger than your typical travel pillow when it’s packed down—about the size of a tissue box—but saving space is less of a priority when you’re driving instead of flying.

At night, the pillow unrolls and expands into a decent bed pillow, though side-sleepers with larger frames may say it has too little padding. But this is a travel pillow, of course, so it will never feel like your home pillow, which is all part of the fun somehow. I sleep on my side and back, and I found it exceptionally comfortable compared with camping pillows I’d used in the past, although I did have to supplement it with a flannel shirt when I wanted to sleep on my side. In spring 2022, Therm-A-Rest released a slightly redesigned version of the pillow. The “regular” version is roughly the same size and weight as the old “medium” version, but the integrated pocket is now larger (9 inches deep instead of 6), which we found makes the pillow easier to roll up. The pillow also has a cord sewn in a loop into its back; you can tighten the cord and cinch it securely to make the pillow firmer. One other change: A thin layer of polyfill backs the brushed polyester fabric on its face and softens the lumpiness of the foam filling.

The Therm-A-Rest pillow is well reviewed on Amazon and on REI’s site. It’s available in a variety of colors and sizes, but we prefer the regular/medium for its mix of portability and support.

Silk sleeper wrap

Sea to Summit Premium Silk Travel Liner

The best sleeping bag liner.

This liner is a lightweight, moisture-wicking, easy-packing fix for scratchy motel sheets.

Not all motels are created equal. Some are fantastic, with their bright neon signs truthfully advertising a cheap, clean, and convenient place to stay. But out there you can stumble across other motels—desperate, last-chance places you wouldn’t wish on anyone, and cursed by all of the bleary-eyed travelers who’ve been forced to stay in them for a night.

Sea to Summit’s Premium Silk Travel Liner is the best accessory to bring along for these situations. Inclement weather, unexpected traffic, or poor planning (my personal downfall) may at some point prevent you from reaching your expected destination for the night and force you to stay somewhere you wish you didn’t have to. We can’t help you accept your fate, but we can make that night just a little easier to tolerate.

Nidra Deep Rest Eye Mask

The best sleep mask.

Lightweight and contoured, this mask fits comfortably and blocks light well for a wide variety of face shapes (though it’s best for those who sleep on their back). And the mask’s deep eyecups allow your eyes to flutter during sleep.

Not every bedroom on the road is as dark as some people would like. That’s why we recommend the Nidra Deep Rest Eye Mask . Its contoured eyecups rest over your eyes, giving them space to move, which makes this mask comfortable to sleep in—even when you’re sitting upright (as you might in the passenger side of a car). Although the mask is adjustable, with Velcro straps, restless sleepers may want to consider other options in our full guide to sleep masks . If the Nidra mask fits you well, its weightless feel can make you forget you’re wearing a mask at all as you continue to sleep in bright cars or poorly shuttered hotel rooms.

Puffy blanket

Rumpl Down Puffy

The best outdoor blanket.

This blanket offers the greatest warmth and durability for the lowest relative weight, price, and size. It also stuffs away very well when not in use.

The Rumpl Down Puffy blanket, which has a soft yet durable nylon shell that’s stuffed with water-repellent and sustainably sourced down, wards off the cold better for the price than the competition. It helps you to stay warm longer, inside or outside. (A puffy blanket has come in handy for us especially on winter road trips in an EV, when we don’t have the heat of a combustion engine warming the interior of the vehicle.) So far in our testing , the Rumpl blanket has survived four rounds in the washing machine without a snag, and it dries within an hour. And it’s been notably stain resistant after encountering dirt, dew, and even coffee.

Van camping mattress

Hest Sleep System

The best vehicle camping mattress.

Predominantly for van camping or long-term car camping, this blowup mattress takes up a hefty amount of space when stowed away but provides the most comfort of any camping mattress we’ve tested.

Although the size of the Hest Sleep System limits its use to either vans or pickup trucks, we’re including it on this list because of its impressive night-over-night comfort. If your road trips tend to include lots of outdoor activities such as biking, hiking, or climbing, a good night’s sleep is fundamental to having the energy you need to enjoy your days. The Hest mattress takes up about the space of a small cot mattress (78 by 25 inches). Half consists of a dense foam layer, and the other half is a high-pressure inflatable base that needs a pump system to inflate. The Hest mattress is not a small piece of kit when rolled up: It weighs 26 pounds and packs up into a 28-by-16-inch bedroll, including the air pump. If two of you are camping, you can connect two Sleep Systems together, though Hest also makes the Dually two-person foam mattress, which we haven’t had a chance to test yet.

Tinkle Belle Female Urination Device

The best pee funnel.

Sturdy and accommodating yet packable, the Tinkle Belle funnel is easy to use and clean when you’re on the road or hiking a trail.

It’s not always easy to find a secluded spot on the side of the road or a clean-enough public restroom. The Tinkle Belle funnel has a stable, rigid base and a flexible spout, so it won’t collapse under you during use, as Wirecutter senior staff writer Nancy Redd learned while researching the topic. One of the longest and widest of all the single-piece reusable funnels Nancy tested , the Tinkle Belle funnel makes less mess and is easy to use, as the more coverage a funnel has, the lower the risk of leakage or spills. While you’re on the road, a simple rinse works fine for cleaning the funnel. Although the Tinkle Belle funnel is larger than most, it folds up for more-compact storage. You can also buy it with a matching case .

Windshield protector and sunshade

A1 210T Fabric Sunshade

The best windshield shade.

This shade provides effective sun protection and fits a wide variety of windshields. It’s easy to store, too.

If you’re traveling through a sunny area, a sunshade for your windshield is a worthwhile investment. We like the A1 Windshield Sun Shade , which we found to offer the best combination of low cost, decent coverage, and ease of setup. Its pop-up design made it much simpler to install and stow than the accordion-style shades we tested.

Recommending just one sunshade for all cars is difficult because vehicles vary so much in size. But A1 offers several sizing options ranging from 59 by 19 inches to 69 by 36 inches (when the shade is fully expanded). You can compress each of these size options down to fit into a circular carrying case, which you can easily store on the door or underneath the seat. When you take the A1 sunshade out of the case, the compressed plastic arcs inside the sunshade spring open to create a rectangular shape, which you can adjust to fit your car’s windshield. Amazon reviewers mention that the build quality is solid and that the metallic finish does a good job against the sun, particularly in hot Southern states like Florida and Texas. Several reviewers also recommend , however, that you buy a size smaller than you think you need to avoid excessive overhang.

Although we prefer the A1 shade’s pop-up design, it’s not completely foolproof. Even with the choice in sizes, you still might have difficulty arranging the two plastic circles (which provide rigidity) within the A1 shade into a shape that hugs both edges of the front window and balances off the rearview mirror. Gaps, loose corners, or overhangs are almost unavoidable. In the end, what you gain in compactness and decent price, you lose in rigidity and reflective power. If you’re uncertain, measure before buying, or look into a custom shade like the WeatherTech shade described below, which is guaranteed to fit.

WeatherTech SunShade

A custom-fitted, maximum-protection shade.

This custom-fitted shade will ensure that no sun gets in, even in the sunniest climates.

If maximum temperature reduction is your goal, invest in a custom-fitted WeatherTech SunShade . Thicker than the A1 shade, WeatherTech’s shade completely blacks out the windshield when you install it. This shade is also notably bulky—about the size of a yoga mat when rolled up—and difficult to store discreetly. But if you frequent sunny climates, it’s well worth the cost, which at this writing starts at $55.

Passenger window UV protector and shade

Britax EZ-Cling Window Shades

The best passenger shade.

This shade sticks easily to car windows and provides great sun protection for passengers.

We researched 14 shade models and tested two finalists before determining that the Britax EZ-Cling Window Sun Shade is the best around. Available in a pack of two, it’s dead simple to install, and it’s effective. The Mylar on the back provides some protection against UV rays, and it acts like a large sheet of cling film that seems drawn to your windows once you pull the shades out of the box; the black mesh on the inner surface blocks a good amount of sunlight while still allowing you to see through the shade. We like the EZ-Cling shade better than film-only shades because the EZ-Cling design has a support ring of firmer material around its perimeter that makes it easier to install without prompting wrinkles and bubbles. I have way more fun than I rightly should when I’m putting these things onto car windows.

Unlike similar models with suction cups, the EZ-Cling shade doesn’t have any secondary or removable parts. Wirecutter’s Dan Frakes tried four other shades of various types and was dissatisfied with all of them, so he brought two EZ-Cling pairs for testing on a four-day road trip with his family. “They clung to the windows well,” Dan said. “They were a lot easier to install than both the suction-cup models and the flimsy film ones we’ve tried. We also removed them and reapplied them many times as our position relative to the sun changed, and it was easy to do so. Our only real complaint is that they’re small—they don’t cover an entire backseat window.” That kind of half-coverage can’t keep the sun off young children for too long, especially when the sun is low on the horizon.

Quick tip: Be sure to wipe your EZ-Cling shades with water when you first get them. A thin film protects the Mylar sheets during production, and it can leave a waxy residue on your car’s windows if you use the shades right out of the box without first wiping them down.

Portable extending shade

Shade extension

This extending shade attaches to a variety of vehicles, whether you have a roof rack or not, and whether you attach it to metal or a composite material such as a pickup-truck bed cover.

Although the MoonShade works best on SUVs and trucks, it’s lightweight and adaptable enough to work with smaller vehicles. When deployed, the MoonShade covers 9 by 7 feet, and its height adjusts from 78 inches to 96 inches. The shade mounts in three ways: directly to a roof rack, with very strong magnets, or with surprisingly robust suction cups for composite materials. We found that all three methods are secure enough for most situations, though as you might imagine, the suction cups are somewhat less stable than a direct mount on a rack. The MoonShade weighs 8 pounds and stows away into a carrying case that measures 28 by 6 inches, which is small enough to fit in the trunk of most cars. The MoonShade is great if you like to pull over in the middle of the day and set up a lunch, or if you tend to do activities outdoors in predominantly shadeless areas, as in the Southwest.

You could cross America with no plan at all and survive solely on fast food as your nourishment, without ever having to leave your car. But we don’t recommend that. Packing your own snacks and bringing your own water is not only healthier but also safer—you never know when you might be stranded somewhere along the way.

We got stranded on our second day of driving, somewhere east of Joshua Tree, California, when we pulled off the side of the road onto a soft, sandy shoulder (we were new in this part of the country). The car’s dash thermometer read 105 degrees Fahrenheit. As we waited, I was thankful that we had full water bottles, more water in the trunk, and plenty of food.

A highway patrol officer drove up, gave us a little lesson about sand, and pushed us out with no trouble. So things turned out fine. The beauty of a road trip is in the unexpected moments. You can be prepared for most of them by having a little food and water on hand.

RTIC Soft Pack Cooler 20 Can

Best soft cooler.

This simple lunch-box-style cooler is insulated with thick closed-cell foam and made from a durable coated nylon.

Capable of carrying everything from healthy snacks to emergency ice packs, a cooler is one of those items that can make long trips a lot more enjoyable. After several 500-mile days on the road, having a chilled container filled with cold drinks and body wipes is a gift. We recommend bringing along our favorite soft cooler , the RTIC Soft Pack Cooler 20 Can .

The lid of the RTIC cooler is capped by more than 2 inches of closed-cell insulation , and its walls are a touch thicker than those of the far more expensive Yeti Hopper Flip. When we tested them head-to-head, all that extra insulation seemed to give the RTIC cooler an insulating edge. The exterior of the RTIC cooler is made of a durable, thickly coated nylon—waterproof and tough—and the zippers are waterproof, as well. Still, don’t leave the cooler out in the sun, as the light and heat can degrade the material and slowly wear it out.

When the RTIC cooler is open, it stands erect like a grocery bag, providing easy access for loading and unloading.

Coleman 70-Quart Xtreme 5 Marine Hard Ice Chest Cooler

Our hard-cooler pick.

Better insulated and less expensive than the competition, this cooler keeps ice for a week. And its well-designed drain port makes it easier to clean.

If you need extra insulation for longer hauls and don’t mind sacrificing a little extra space, we recommend the Coleman 70-Quart Xtreme 5 Marine Hard Ice Chest Cooler . Our testing shows that a hard cooler will almost always outperform a soft cooler in insulating ability (five-plus days, versus a soft cooler’s two-day average) and durability. So the hard cooler is a great pick for RVs, trailers, or boats. But hard coolers are huge, so you might not have room for one if you’re carrying a bunch of other equipment.

Water bottles

CamelBak Eddy+ (25 ounces)

Great for the car.

A bottle with a straw is the easiest way to quaff water and keep your focus on the road since you don’t have to tilt your head back while drinking.

The 25-ounce CamelBak Eddy+ is the most reliable, most versatile water bottle for road trips that we found. This bottle has an integrated straw in the lid that features a plastic bite valve to keep it sealed (something that anyone who has owned a CamelBak hydration pack will be familiar with). Just bite down to open the straw, and release to seal it shut. That leak-free lid makes this bottle an ideal driving companion—it fits in a cup holder and is easy to sip from while you’re keeping your eyes on the road. The straw lid twists off to reveal a wide mouth that makes adding ice to your drink easy, which is handy if you like to keep your water cold. However, this is a plastic bottle, so adding ice could also make it sweaty; if you want to avoid that, the insulated version should prevent moisture from accumulating on the outside of the bottle.

Contigo Autoseal Transit Mug

The best mug for road trips.

Contigo’s Autoseal Transit is a wider mug that may fit better in cup holders than our top travel-mug pick. It doesn’t retain heat as well as our top pick, but some people may find its flat lid easier to drink from and to clean.

The Contigo Autoseal Transit Mug is a very different mug from the Zojirushi Stainless Steel Mug—our top pick for travel mugs —but it offers several features we like for road trips. The lid has fewer parts, is easier to clean, and prevents spills with its Autoseal button, which you have to hold down to keep the sipping port open. Plus, the flat lid won’t bump your nose or get in your line of sight while you’re drinking, as can happen with the Zojirushi model’s flip-top lid. Although this Contigo mug doesn’t keep drinks nearly as hot as the Zojirushi mug over a long period of time, some people might prefer that (we’ve heard complaints of the Zojirushi model keeping drinks too hot in the past). In addition, the Transit is a little wider than the Zojirushi mug, which is good if you want your mug to fit more snugly in a car cup holder or if you use a device such as an AeroPress, a pour-over dripper, or a tea steeper directly with your mug.

Edward Abbey wrote an entire book about being alone in the desert , long before portable screens, streaming music, and the best and worst of what instant entertainment can bring. He saw incredible things. But then again, Abbey wrote that book before he had kids.

Being in close proximity on a road trip can bond families and friends. Of course, a packed car could also become a pressure cooker. Some games, toys, and electronics can provide welcome relief.

Even more important, on our trip, every 100 miles the scenery around us changed drastically, and being able to charge our cameras allowed us to capture some wonderful personal moments.

Bestek 300W Power Inverter

The best inverter for simple devices.

More-sensitive gadgets may not function correctly while using this DC-to-AC converter, but a smoother converter costs $100-plus.

Lots of newer cars have USB ports capable of charging plenty of smaller gadgets. But to plug in bigger items, such as a computer, or certain items that have larger batteries, you need an inverter to transform your car’s round-plug, 12-volt direct current (12 V DC) outlet into a three-prong outlet with the same 120-volt alternating current (120 V AC) you have in your home. After sending our three favorites, culled from a list of 18 top-rated inverters, to physicist Jim Shapiro for testing, we recommend the Bestek 300W Power Inverter for simple devices such as water boilers. Not all inverters are equal, however, and you need to know what you’ll want to plug in before deciding which one to buy.

The Bestek unit—like every inverter that sells for less than $100—creates AC power, but in what’s called a “modified” sine wave. Shapiro examined this phenomenon using an oscilloscope. “Although the Bestek and similar units produce voltage at the same 60-hertz frequency as house voltage, the waveform has sharp corners, unlike the smooth, curvy sine-wave signal from your local power company,” Shapiro explained. “Those sharp corners give rise to higher frequency harmonics that are not friendly to electronic devices.”

However, because many electronics, including laptop computers, use power supplies to convert AC back into DC before delivering the power to your device, a higher-quality power supply can make the arrangement work—as owner reviews attest. Shapiro was able to charge an iPad without any problems via the AC outlets on the inexpensive Bestek inverter. Charging a Dell Chromebook, on the other hand, caused some problems: “The screen flickered, and I noted that when I asked the computer to display the charging time left, it oscillated between giving that time and ‘calculating,’ indicating that the software was having problems.”

While we were on the road, we realized that the Bestek inverter’s dual USB ports and dual outlets offered a nice benefit, particularly for people traveling in an older car that didn’t have USB ports built in everywhere. You shouldn’t have issues charging USB devices because they charge on DC voltage anyway. And though you can’t see the inverter’s safety features, such as over-voltage and low-voltage shutdown, they’re included as well.

For powering a TV (for tailgating) or any other demanding piece of electronics during a road trip, we used to recommend the Go Power GP-SW150-12 Pure Sine Wave Inverter. It now appears to be out of stock almost everywhere (or discontinued). As an alternative, we recommend looking into a portable power station , which is basically a large battery in a protective box, with AC outlets and other ports built in. They tend to be expensive, so for road-trip purposes we recommend our budget pick, the Jackery Explorer 300 . If you need to power only a laptop during your trip, we have several recommendations for portable laptop chargers . Note that portable power stations and laptop chargers both charge on wall outlets and can’t draw power from a car outlet.

Nekteck PD 45W Type-C Car Charger

The best car charger.

This model can charge phones, tablets, and computers from its USB-C port, plus it has a second port for charging USB-A devices. It adheres to USB-C fast-charging standards and includes a quality cable.

If your electronic gear doesn’t require AC—for instance, you’re charging smartphones or Bluetooth speakers more than laptops or portable TVs—you can save a few bucks and a lot of space by getting a car charger . Compared with the familiar USB-A port, the smaller USB-C port can charge most modern phones faster (if you’re using the right cable) and can even charge tablets and laptops. And the Nekteck PD 45W Type-C Car Charger provides the best of both worlds. When you’re using a USB-C–to–Lightning cable , the charger’s USB-C port can charge an iPhone about three times faster (at 18 watts) than the USB-A wall charger that comes in the box from Apple; your phone can charge from empty to roughly 50% in just half an hour. This Nekteck charger’s 45-watt output and included USB-C–to–C cable also support the maximum charge rate on Android phones (such as the Samsung Galaxy S10), the 2020 iPad Pro, and even many laptops. And you can use the 12-watt USB-A port at the same time to charge a second phone or other device with any USB cable you already have.

Bluetooth kit

Besign BK01 Bluetooth Car Kit

Best bluetooth adapter for cars with an aux-in jack.

The Besign BK01 kit offers great sound quality for music and good sound quality for phone calls. It also lets you pair two phones and access your voice assistant with the press of an easy-to-find button.

If your car lacks Bluetooth support—which you may want for wirelessly listening to music or connecting your phone calls over the car’s stereo system—and you aren’t willing to swap out the stereo for a new one that has such a feature, your best option is a Bluetooth kit. The best and easiest way to add Bluetooth to cars with a line-in jack is to get an aux kit. The Besign BK01 Bluetooth Car Kit provides good sound quality for music, clear-sounding voice audio for hands-free calls, and access to Siri or Google Assistant at the press of a button. It also allows you to connect two phones at once, so you and your passengers don’t have to duke it out for the aux cord.

iPad headrest mount

Depending on the length of your trip and the temperament of your passengers, you may need to find a way to keep folks occupied. Providing their favorite movies or TV shows on a tablet is an option. After testing six top tablet-mount contenders, we determined that Arkon’s Center Extension Car Headrest Tablet Mount is a great pick for viewing by multiple backseat passengers.

Arkon Center Extension Car Headrest Tablet Mount

For multiple viewers.

This model positions a tablet solidly between the front seats for easy viewing by all backseat passengers.

The Arkon mount anchors with a pair of adjustable clamps that tighten around the metal rods that support a front seat’s headrest; the tablet holster is located on the end of an extendable pole that you can move to a position between the front seats, where all three passengers in the backseat can view it.

We had recommended the LilGadgets CarBuddy Universal Headrest Tablet Mount for people who preferred a mount that’s best for just one backseat passenger. It appears to have been discontinued, but it’s a good find if you can get your hands on one.

Instant camera

Fujifilm Instax Mini 12

The best instant camera.

Fun and simple to use, this camera takes good-looking wallet-sized photos for 60¢ per print.

Fujifilm Instax Mini Film (Twin Pack)

Instax mini film.

Buying Instax Mini film in twin packs helps you get the best price.

With a smartphone, showing a photo to hundreds of followers is as easy as pressing the share button. But if you want to create something tangible, an instant-film camera can add a fun and welcome dose of analog charm to your digital world. Our pick is the Fujifilm Instax Mini 12 , which provides high-quality, retro-cool prints at a reasonable price.

Also, when your phone is serving as a radio, a map, a restaurant guide, and whatever else, you’ll appreciate having a dedicated tool that does one thing: take instant shots that look great.

After doing extensive research , we found the Instax Mini 12 to be the best instant-film camera. Its compact body feels durable, and thanks to its minimal controls, anyone can easily learn how to use it. The 3.4-by-2.1-inch prints cost only about 60¢ apiece , so documenting your trip won’t break the bank. Its photos aren’t perfectly sharp, but they are pleasingly colorful and creamy, with a classic look that we love.

Travel game

Chat Pack: Fun Questions to Spark Conversations

The best silence-breaker.

The questions are not always the most thought-provoking, but they sure can spark a conversation.

You can find countless travel games for all ages, from magnetic chess boards to Adult Mad Libs , and we’re not about to review them all here. (You know what kinds of games you like to play.) So instead we’ll tell you about the game we chose, Chat Pack: Fun Questions to Spark Conversations .

I am, as a rule, generally wary of anything designed to prompt conversation. But by day three of our trip, with 1,100 miles behind us and 400 miles ahead, my then girlfriend (now wife) reached for Chat Pack and told me it was time.

It’s hit or miss with Chat Pack. Some of the questions are oddly inspiring, if clunkily written: “What is one item you own that has virtually no monetary value but has such sentimental value that you would not sell it for $1,000?” So, what item do I have that has no value but remains precious? My grandmother’s wire glove stretchers. And that became an hour-long conversation.

Some of the questions were abrupt duds: “If rain could fall in any scent, what scent would you want it to be?” “Like rain,” we both answered. Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh rain? The feeling of camaraderie in the car was strong; we agreed that it was a dumb question. We were a young couple on an open road in full accordance with each other, and that’s not a moment you take lightly.

So get a Chat Pack. Your mileage may vary. But this pack helped us pass the time, and it takes up barely any space.

Make time in your trip for the detours. If there’s one bit of non-gear-related advice we can give, it’s that the complicated route always proves to be more interesting. There will be times in the car when a sort of tunnel vision can set in, and the destination becomes all-consuming. At my worst, as I pressed down on the accelerator, I found myself mentally calculating the time saved for every increase in miles per hour—as if the scenery I was flying past wasn’t what I’d come to see in the first place.

The first time we pulled over without a plan was on some Bureau of Land Management stretch east of Zion National Park in Utah. We were alone, on an outcropping overlooking a shallow canyon. Someone had built an impromptu fire pit. But somehow it wasn’t until we finished lunch that we realized there was no point in going any farther.

You can find many ways to plan a trip. But once in a while, take a risk and make a left when all the maps and devices are telling you to go right. You won’t know where you’ll end up—and that’s the whole point.

Athlon Optics Midas ED

The best binoculars for nearly everyone.

Amazingly affordable with great optics, these binoculars offer performance comparable to that of many models costing thousands more.

Binoculars might not be a necessity. But when you’re standing on the edge of a trail in Zion National Park and looking for nesting peregrine falcons or lying at the edge of your campsite in Joshua Tree watching a pack of coyotes move under a full moon, will a good pair of binoculars come in handy? Yes. Yes it will.

The waterproof and lightweight Athlon Optics Midas ED binoculars boast a rugged shock-absorbing exterior. And this pair’s optical clarity and extra-wide field of view allow you to see more of the scene, more clearly and accurately. In fact, the professional ornithologist who tested binoculars for us said that things looked every bit as good through the Athlon binoculars as they looked through his $2,500 Leica Ultravid pair.

And the optics of the Midas ED pair aren’t the only strong suit: These are exceptionally durable binoculars that easily withstood the humid, dusty, and hostile environment of the Mexican rain forest and the harsh sun of the Californian desert. Also, their focus dial adjusts reliably and smoothly across a wide range of depths, making it easy for you to focus on what you’re trying to see, no matter where it is.

Stowable tote or daypack

It’s always a good idea to have a bag on hand for spontaneous off-the-road excursions. But anything that will take up space on a trip needs to be functional enough to hold cameras, snacks, jackets, maps, and souvenirs. And it needs to be durable enough to survive beach trips, sightseeing excursions, picnics, and museum tours.

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Travel Day Pack

A pack that won’t crowd your trunk.

Toss this lightweight, phone-sized packable bag into your trunk or under your seat, and you’ll never get caught without a spare bag again. If you need something to carry every day, though, you’ll probably prefer one of our more-structured picks.

After researching dozens of packable daypacks across a spectrum of portability, features, and prices, and then packing, unpacking, loading, wearing, and drenching the top-rated finalists during multiple rounds of testing, we’ve found that the Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Travel Day Pack is the smallest and lightest packable backpack of the bunch. Packed up, it is very discreet, nearly the size of a keychain accessory. The bag itself is a no-frills sack made from a paper-thin siliconized Cordura nylon, so it’s very light and water resistant. The Ultra-Sil bag also has reinforced stitching at stress points, which allows it to carry more weight than you might expect. That said, since this pack is made of such thin, light material, carrying large or awkwardly shaped loads is somewhat uncomfortable, especially in comparison with our more structured picks.

If lightness, waterproofing, comfort, and organization are more important to you, check out the alternative picks in our review of packable daypacks for travel .

Blue Lizard Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50+

An easy-to-spread physical sunscreen.

This physical sunscreen lotion absorbs easily and is free of added fragrance. Though this water-resistant formula can feel greasy, like most physical sunscreens, and leave behind a white cast (especially on darker skin), we’ve found its dependable coverage to be worth the trade-off.

On most road trips you’ll be exposed to the sun, whether it’s your arm out the window or your legs and neck during a pit stop, so we recommend bringing our favorite sunscreens along for everyone to apply. (The one exception: your youngest passengers. Do not put sunscreen on an infant. The American Academy of Dermatology recommends keeping children who are younger than 6 months out of the sun entirely.) Although most sunscreens containing only physical UV blockers are notoriously harder to spread and more visible on skin than sunscreens with chemical UV filters, Blue Lizard’s Sensitive Mineral Sunscreen SPF 50+ formula spreads relatively quickly and easily, and it absorbs nicely. Formulated with both zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, this sunscreen provides broad-spectrum protection, from both UVA and UVB rays. Blue Lizard says this formulation, which contains no added fragrance, is sweat resistant and water resistant for 80 minutes (the highest such claim allowed by the FDA). It comes in bottles that uniquely change color, from white to blue, in the presence of harmful UV light.

Banana Boat Light As Air Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50+

A lightweight, oxybenzone-free chemical sunscreen.

Although it contains added fragrance, this easy-to-apply chemical sunscreen lotion doesn’t have an overpowering sunscreen-y scent. It rubs in nearly transparently and appears colorless on most skin tones.

Banana Boat Light As Air Sunscreen Lotion SPF 50+ is our favorite chemical sunscreen that doesn’t contain oxybenzone. Fairly runny and lightweight, it blends seamlessly into a variety of skin tones. Although it contains added fragrance, it’s not strongly scented. It’s water resistant for up to the maximum-allowable claim (per FDA guidelines) of 80 minutes, and it costs far less per ounce than our physical-sunscreen pick.

Having an emergency kit in your car is a great idea for day-to-day driving, but it’s pretty much a necessity for long-distance road trips. Although it’s tempting to buy a preassembled kit and be done with it, we haven’t found a great one yet. Even the most promising options suffer from having jumper cables that are too short, too thin, or both. Basically, if you want a good kit, you have to make it yourself, and we’re here to help.

We spent hours researching and testing each of these essentials to confirm that they’ll be useful in case of an emergency, whether it’s your own or someone else’s.

On a desolate stretch of two-lane highway in northern Arizona, we were driving behind a rental camper van just as it had a rear-tire blowout after hitting a rumble strip. The couple driving the van couldn’t find their jack, didn’t know where the spare tire was, and had come to a stop just past a low dip in the road. It wasn’t a good scene. But it couldn’t have happened at a better time (for them, at least), and it gave us a great opportunity to put our emergency gear to the test.

It’s also wise to get a membership to a roadside assistance program. We don’t have a single best recommendation for everyone, since your options and needs vary depending on what car you have, how you use it, and where you live, but here’s a good guide by Popular Mechanics on what to look for in choosing a plan. Basically, make sure your plan fits your needs. For example, if you live in a city, 3 miles of free towing may be enough. But if you’re going on a road trip across the desert, paying for more range is worthwhile.

First-aid kit

First Aid Only 298 Piece All-Purpose First Aid Kit (FAO-442)

All the basics.

This kit is chock-full of bandages and cleaning supplies that are suitable for minor incidents.

On the road, a first-aid kit is useful for keeping someone comfortable until people with real medical expertise can help. It’s much more important to have a basic kit with you—and to be sure that the bandages haven’t degraded and the disinfectants haven’t expired—than to have a 432-item, war-zone-worthy kit sitting at home.

We like the First Aid Only 298 Piece All-Purpose First Aid Kit . It lacks some of the higher-quality tools that we recommend for a wilderness first-aid kit , but it comes with plenty of bandages, alcohol prep pads, pain relievers, and equipment to treat up to four people’s minor cuts and scrapes on a weekend trip. (For an extensive list and comparison chart, see our full guide .)

Snow shovel

Voilé Telepro Mini Avalanche Shovel

The best car shovel.

This small shovel slices through icy snow and can be disassembled for car storage. It isn’t cheap, but it’s what we’d want to have in a roadside emergency.

After spending two years researching car shovels and testing five contenders, we found that the best one to keep in the trunk for an emergency is the Voilé Telepro Mini Avalanche Shovel .

The tool, popular with ski patrols and people clearing backcountry trails, has a solid metal scoop and a two-piece handle that clicks together to form a sturdy shovel. Our tester keeps the Voilé shovel in her truck every winter, and it has come in handy more times than she can count. Though the Voilé shovel is too short to be a primary shovel, it’s perfect for any kind of fast shoveling. When you aren’t using it, you can tuck its three pieces neatly under a car seat or in the back.

Accu-Gage RRA60X

The best tire gauge we’ve found.

This is the favored tire gauge of all the professionals we interviewed.

May be out of stock

Checking your car’s tire pressure (including that of the spare tire) is like flossing: It’s something that everyone should do but many people don’t do. Proper inflation is vital . Too much, and you’ll feel every bump and have more difficulty stopping your car; too little, and your tires will wear faster. Worse, they’ll also overheat, which can separate the treads and blow the tires, something we saw happen right in front of us in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. Don’t let that happen to you.

When we asked three different San Francisco Bay Area tire shops which gauge they used, they all pointed to the Accu-Gage 60 PSI gauge with shock protector . After our testing, which included road-tripping with the tool ourselves, the Accu-Gage model has emerged as our favorite tire gauge for several years running. It’s accurate and durable, and unlike a digital gauge, it has no battery to wear out. The Accu-Gage model is available in several different configurations , but the performance is largely the same. We prefer a version with a hose attached and a straight chuck, because that design makes it easier to hold the gauge and check the tire pressure at the same time. The version we tested even comes with a removable rubber bumper in case you drop it.

Portable jump starter

A portable jump starter is essentially a lightweight battery attached to two jumper cables that you use to jump-start your car. It’s easier, safer, and less intimidating than old-fashioned jumper cables that you attach to another car—and it’s something that you can use if you’re alone, instead of waiting for roadside service/a kind stranger/a friend/a relative to show up and bail you out.

Weego Jump Starter 44s

Staff-favorite jump starter.

This jump starter has the right safety features and contains enough juice in a small package to start most cars and SUVs.

Wirecutter has recommended Weego gear since we first published our guide to portable jump starters in 2017. Guide writer Mark Smirniotis researched 40 lithium-ion jump starters and tested 12. Two Weego portable jump starters (both of which are now discontinued) became picks: the Weego 22s (the top pick; about $60) and the Weego 44 (the upgrade pick; about $150). Though we no longer maintain that full guide, many of us at Wirecutter still keep a Weego jump starter in our cars . But now, in many cases, it’s an updated version, namely the affordable Weego 44s , which hovers around the same price as the 22s model, its less powerful predecessor.

Measuring 5.62 by 3.44 by 1.04 inches (LWD), the Weego 44s jump starter is about the same size as a cell phone in length and width. It also weighs less than a pound (around 12 ounces, according to my kitchen scale) and has safety features that help prevent you from hurting your car or yourself: If you incorrectly attach the jump starter to your battery (which can potentially damage the battery or your car’s electrical system), the unit’s reverse-polarity protection feature activates, issuing a red light and an alarm alerting you not to proceed.

The Weego 44s is rated to work with a wide range of vehicles, including gas engines up to 7 liters and diesel engines up to 3.5 liters. It can jump-start pretty much any gas- or diesel-powered passenger-vehicle engine—anything from a Mini Cooper (2 liters or less) to a Dodge Ram (as much as 6.7 liters)—and it fits that power into a package that’s small enough for most glove boxes.

The Weego 44s comes partially charged out of the box and takes about 2.5 hours to charge from zero. A USB-A–to–Micro-USB charging cord is included, but it doesn’t come with a charging cube, so you need to plug the USB-A end into your own USB phone charger that works in regular household outlets or use an outlet with a USB-A port . According to the company, the unit can stay charged for more than a year in storage, though you should make sure to top it off every three to six months. With regular use, it’s rated to last for about three to five years or up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Plus, it can provide multiple jumps before it needs a recharge itself (five lights on the side of the unit indicate its remaining battery life).

The Weego 44s has checks and balances to ensure that you safely jump-start a car, but its lithium-ion polymer battery comes with certain caveats. Though the manufacturer indicates that the unit will operate in temps of -4 °F to 140 °F, leaving it in a car in extremely hot or cold conditions is not a great idea. “Most devices that contain a lithium-ion battery, whether it’s your smartphone or a portable jump starter, should not spend long periods of time in extreme temperatures since it can cause permanent damage to the battery,” says Wirecutter senior staff writer and battery expert Sarah Witman. “You should also keep in mind that car engines need more power to get started in freezing temperatures, so it’s especially important to keep your jump starter fully charged when driving in cold climates.”

Jumper cables

If you’re a die-hard jumper-cable partisan, make sure that the cables you get are long enough for most scenarios and thick enough to carry sufficient current to jump most vehicles.

Lifeline AAA Heavy Duty 16-foot 6 Gauge Booster Cables

The best cable option.

This cable is long and durable enough for any situation, with a current rating that can handle SUVs.

After scrutinizing the specs of dozens of jumper-cable options and having an electrical engineer analyze three top-rated models, we recommend Lifeline’s AAA Heavy Duty 16-foot 6 Gauge Booster Cables . As this image illustrates, these cables are long and thick enough for most situations, and their 400-amp current rating means they can handle most vehicles, even trucks and SUVs. They also come with a surprisingly sturdy and convenient mesh storage bag.

One thing that sets these Lifeline cables apart from other cables we found on Amazon is that the 6-gauge description is accurate. For example, Capri sells a 4-gauge, 20-foot cable that reviewers say is closer to 8-gauge. That’s no good, because thinner cables can fail to deliver sufficient current to start trucks, SUVs, and other larger vehicles.

If you’re unfamiliar with how to use jumper cables, familiarize yourself . But lest you forget, Lifeline includes a handy diagram in the bag. The important thing to keep in mind: Do not attach the black clamp to the black post of the dead battery. Instead, clamp it to an unpainted metal surface under the hood. Also, don’t touch the exposed parts of the clamps together while the cables are hooked up to a battery; they will spark.

Decked x BoxoUSA Tool Bag with Tool Roll

For the at-home mechanic.

This tool roll is designed for off-road emergencies. The handy roll and its mix-and-match tool configurations offer almost everything necessary to keep a vehicle on the road.

If you don’t own any tools for car maintenance, this kit is a great start. With 65 individual tools, the Decked x BoxoUSA Tool Bag with Tool Roll has nearly every tool that a home mechanic (especially those who own a truck) might need to keep their vehicle on the road. As the kit was designed originally for off-roading, bringing the whole thing and all its contents would be overkill for most people (the entire kit weighs 31 pounds). But selecting the necessities—the ratchet and wrench set, for instance—depending on the kind of journey you’re planning is easy and efficient due to the built-in compartmentalization. Included within the kit are combination wrenches, sockets, impact sockets, hex and torx keys, breaker bars, and a family of hammers, pliers, and screwdrivers. The heavy-duty Cordura nylon bag is built to last, too. If you’re at all interested in doing some of your own car maintenance, or if you want to be prepared in case of emergency, this toolkit offers a solid foundation.

Petzl Actik Core

A rechargeable headlamp.

This headlamp emits bright light with the highest beam quality. And it stays charged for days, whether you charge it via USB or use AAA batteries. It’s the perfect headlamp for backpacking trips.

We’ve been testing headlamps since 2012, including our latest round of research and testing in 2022. For a road trip, we like the Petzl Actik Core because it’s rechargeable, so you won’t ever get caught with a dead battery, as long as you have a USB car charger on hand. Its 450-lumen light ranks among the brightest of all our picks. (As of early 2023, the Actik Core was updated and now has a 600-lumen beam ; we’re currently testing the new version.)

Twice during our trip we pulled into our camping site late, and our headlamp was the first thing we reached for. Knowing that it was always charged meant that we didn’t have to hunt for batteries or use our car lights and disturb neighboring campers.

Right out of the box, the Actik Core was easy to use. It has just one button and three brightness options: low (6 lumens), medium (100 lumens), and high (450 lumens). If you hold down the button for several seconds, the color turns to red; double-pressing lets you access the strobe setting. Compared with some other rechargeable headlamps, which require complicated button-press configurations to reach the desired setting, we found this one to be simpler, though we lamented its lack of a flood beam. We also liked the double-button setup of the Black Diamond Spot 400 and the Vitchelo V800 a bit better than the Actik Core’s single button.

Flare alternative

StonePoint LED Emergency Beacon

The best emergency beacon.

Crushproof and waterproof, this set of three beacons comes with magnets for car mounting. And these are much safer than traditional flares.

To keep yourself safe while your car is parked on the side of the road, we suggest StonePoint LED Emergency Beacon flare alternatives.

We like the StonePoint set because, for the price of one high-intensity model like the PowerFlare device, you get three separate lights that are all crushproof to 20,000 pounds, waterproof, magnetic, and easy to set up and turn on. The magnets are important because they let you mount the beacons on your car, which adds height; having a flare anywhere above the surface of the road greatly increases your visibility. By putting one on the road (preferably elevated on something and located about 100 feet before your car), another on the trunk, and another on the hood, you create a very visible early warning for drivers.

Traditional magnesium flares will almost always be brighter and more visible. But their hazards—both to your health and to the environment around you—are substantial. (Read the health and environmental hazards section in this report [PDF] for a breakdown of the risks and the potentially harmful chemicals involved.) Combine that with the fact that you can mitigate any differences in visibility simply by elevating an electric flare, and you end up with a compelling argument against using traditional flares.

Of the three beacon models we tested, we couldn’t figure out how to open or turn on the Wagan model. And the Smittybilt U.F.O. safety light, though tough, wasn’t especially effective during the day and came only one to a package. Only the StonePoint beacons were easy to fill with batteries and place on the road exactly when we needed them. They also happened to be the brightest flare alternatives we had with us.

I should take a moment here and repeat what the responding officer told us when he arrived on the scene. Regardless of what safety beacons you have laid out behind you, “Stay off the road, and when in doubt stay in your car.”

Leatherman Skeletool CX

The best multi-tool.

This light, slim multi-tool is easy to carry and built to last.

No emergency kit is complete without a multi-tool. Most minor situations—such as a loose Phillips-head screw or a need to create a rag for checking your oil—are easily fixed as long as you have the right tool. Multi-tools are small enough to carry in a jeans pocket or to attach to a belt, so you can take a set of useful tools almost anywhere. Our choice is the Leatherman Skeletool CX , which comes with pliers, a bit driver, a pocket clip, and a carabiner/bottle opener, in addition to a high-quality, 2.6-inch 154CM carbon-fiber stainless steel blade. The Skeletool CX stood out from the other 22 multi-tools we tested because it focuses on the functionality, ergonomics, and solid construction of a few essential tools, instead of cramming dozens of different tools into a single bulky body that makes it difficult to use. That means it’s easy to carry but still has just about everything you could possibly need (short of a hammer and a socket set) to make an emergency repair in the field and on the road.

Duck Brand Max Strength Duct Tape

The best duct tape.

This tape is super strong and sticky, flexible enough to wrap around corners, and easy to tear in a clean, straight line.

If you can’t duct it, fuhgeddaboudit . We tested the heck out of 11 rolls of duct tape and chose Duck Max Strength tape above the competition for its perfect blend of attributes, namely high material strength, a strong adhesive, and superior overall flexibility for easy wrapping around odd shapes and curved surfaces. Is it an absolute necessity on the road? No. But the moment you need to fix a ripped tent wall or to keep unruly motel shades shut, you’ll be glad you packed some duct tape. It can even handle first-aid duties when the right materials for the job are unavailable. Duct tape is, as any MacGyver fan will tell you, a very useful tool.

Reliance 4-Gallon Aqua-Tainer

The best water jug.

This water jug holds enough water for two people for two days, and it has a spill-proof screw-on vent cap.

The general rule for water in an emergency is that one person needs one gallon of water for one day. But four to five gallons is a good amount to throw into your trunk—enough to get you through being stranded, even with a passenger. You should increase that estimate if you plan to go out in the middle of nowhere, or if your travels take you to a desert region or some other dry place. We found on our trip through the Southwest that we were refilling our water bottles a lot more than we were stopping for gas.

After researching 16 different types of water jugs, we recommend the Reliance 4-Gallon Aqua-Tainer for most situations. The Reliance jug has two standout features: a screw-on vent cap and a spigot cap that reverses in on itself when not in use. These features work together to prevent major spills. The screw-on vent cap doesn’t come undone, unlike the pull-top vents on some competitors, which tend to pop open and spill water as soon as you hit anything other than the smoothest roadways. Spigot caps can be a weakness for some jugs, too. In contrast, when not in use, the Reliance jug’s spigot unscrews and drops into the jug itself, sealing up the whole canister nice and tight. On our road trip, we used the 4-Gallon Aqua-Tainer, which can provide water for two people for two days; for more people, consider the 7-Gallon Aqua-Tainer .

The Reliance Aqua-Tainer jug is made from BPA-free molded plastic. It’s easy to pack around in the trunk of a car—certainly easier than large, bladder-type jugs (like the MSR Dromedary Bag ), which, though excellent for camp showers and good for a backpack, are too difficult to pack around in a trunk because of their non-rigid shape. The Aqua-Tainer’s hard sides also make it easier to use for dispensing water from, say, the roof of your car. But be sure to throw a shirt or towel under the Aqua-Tainer before setting it atop your car like this: We learned the hard way that the molded plastic edge can scratch your car’s paint job if you’re not careful.

Before investing in a jug, you should know that water kept in plastic bottles won’t harm you, even if left in a hot car . A 24-pack of Poland Spring is not environmentally kind, but it is safe for a brief trip. Avoid gallon jugs, since they’re typically made out of HDPE plastic, which punctures easily. (Such jugs also have caps that pop off easily.) We wouldn’t buy collapsible jugs, either, since they are prone to leaks and are unruly when pouring.

It takes only a few minutes to get your vehicle checked out for a proper road trip. When in doubt, or when preparing for an especially long trip, see a mechanic first. There are plenty of potential mechanical troubles that a professional can identify—and that you’d rather learn about in their shop than on the side of a highway. Use these tips to determine where to go for help, based on the age of your car and what you need done.

• Dealership service departments: newer vehicles covered by factory warranty, or when specialized service is required
• Independent mechanics: general maintenance items such as brakes, steering, suspension, exhaust, and fluid changes
• Quick oil/lube centers: oil changes only

Getting word-of-mouth advice from family and friends remains a very good way to find reputable mechanics. Sites such as RepairPal and Yelp are also helpful. And don’t forget to check local Facebook community groups.

The vehicle inspection: Six key areas

• Under the hood: Check the engine oil, transmission fluid, engine coolant, windshield wipers, washer fluid, and brake fluid.

• Tires: Check for proper inflation and good tread that doesn’t show uneven wear. For inflation, consult your owner’s manual to find your tires’ recommended PSI; don’t go by what’s printed on the side of your tire, which is the maximum PSI. For tread wear, stick a penny into the center (not the edge) of each tire’s treads, with Lincoln’s head facing down—if you can still see the top of Lincoln’s head, the tire is worn out. Also, if you have a spare tire, check it and make sure that a jack and a lug-nut wrench still accompany it. If you don’t have a spare, consider getting one from a dealer or a salvage yard. Or invest in an emergency roadside repair and inflation kit—like the Slime 50107 Smart Spair Emergency Tire Repair Kit —which includes sealant for small punctures as well as a small air compressor for reinflating tires. At the very least, bring along a portable sealer kit like Fix-A-Flat , but be aware that these options work only on very small punctures in the tread and could ultimately require you to replace your whole tire. So it’s really better to have a spare, if possible.

• Lights: Check all the bulbs, including the turn signals, headlights (high and low beam), brake lights, parking lamps, reverse lights, and license-plate lights.
• Smell test: You can sniff out potential problems in your car by paying attention to its odors.
• Sulfur/rotten-egg smell: You have trouble with your exhaust or emission system that could be dangerous. Get your car to a mechanic immediately.
• Sweet smell: This scent indicates an engine coolant leak; the smell could be strong when you’re using the heater, and accompanied by fogged-up glass. The coolant is toxic, and when it runs out, your engine will overheat.
• Burning carpet/paper smell: Your brakes are hot. Smelling this after you’ve used your brakes hard (such as after coming down a mountain) is not unusual. But if you smell this while you’re driving around normally, it means your brakes might be stuck, which is a serious problem.
• Musty/mildew smell: This odor is generally attributable to water getting stuck in the ductwork for your heating and air conditioning. It usually indicates that a drain plug is blocked, which you sometimes can fix just by running your fan on high for a few minutes.
• Burning rubber smell: Unless you’re doing burnouts, this smell can be caused by slipping engine belts or a tire rubbing. In these cases, the smell is usually accompanied by a noise, namely squealing (with belts) or grinding (with a tire rubbing).
• Noise test: Cars make lots of noises, and the following are some that should get your undivided attention.
• Clunking or rattling over bumps: This sound can indicate a variety of problems with the steering or suspension, but it often points to worn plastic or rubber bushings that allow contact between metal components. In extreme cases, these components can fail, causing major damage or even loss of control if the vehicle is moving.
• Clicking or groaning sounds when turning: Clicking is a sign of imminent axle shaft failure on front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive vehicles, so get to a mechanic immediately if you hear this sound. Groaning noises are less serious and occur because of a lack of lubrication in steering components or bushings.
• Loud humming that increases steadily with speed: This sound almost always points to a bad wheel bearing, especially if the noise gets louder or quieter when the car is turning.
• Grinding, squeaking, or squealing when stopping: Squeaking and squealing happen when the brake pads are worn and need replacing. Grinding means the pads are already gone, and you’re pushing metal against metal when you stop.
• Feel test: The following are a few situations that should warrant a visit to the shop.
• Soft or spongy brake pedal: Brakes should be firm; a soft pedal means something is wrong. Either you have a mechanical problem or the brake fluid is leaking.
• Shimmies or vibrations: These sensations usually indicate that a rim is bent or that a tire is out of balance, but they can also be signs of loose steering or suspension parts.

Pre-trip planning

Before heading out, check these commonly taken-for-granted aspects of road-tripping.

• Update your GPS system. Factory-installed GPS devices generally receive updates once a year and require CDs, SD cards, or USB thumb drives purchased from the manufacturer for installation through a dealership. Mobile third-party GPS units get updates throughout the year, and you can install the updates via most home PCs through a simple download from the GPS manufacturer’s website.
• Make sure that you have maps or a paper atlas. Sometimes technology fails. Having a current map for backup is always a good idea.
• Make sure you’re covered by a roadside assistance program. Auto-club programs are the most common source of roadside assistance plans, with companies such as AAA and Good Sam offering coverage to members regardless of what vehicle they drive or its age. Most new cars, however, come with complimentary roadside assistance that lasts a certain number of miles or a certain number of years, whichever happens first. So check your owner’s manual (and read the fine print, since these plans can be very limited). Many auto insurance companies also provide vehicle-specific roadside assistance, usually for a monthly fee. Some credit card companies offer a mix of complimentary and basic fee services, and even cell phone companies are now offering basic services to customers. Verizon’s roadside assistance plan costs $5 per month and covers any vehicle, as long as the phone is present. Most of these plans have limitations and plenty of fine print to study, so carefully review your coverage before hitting the road.

This article was edited by Ria Misra and Christine Ryan.

Meet your guides

Kit Dillon is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. He was previously an app developer, oil derrick inspector, public-radio archivist, and sandwich shop owner. He has written for Popular Science, The Awl, and the New York Observer, among others. When called on, he can still make a mean sandwich.

Wirecutter Staff

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Further reading

Road-Trip Essentials

by Eve O'Neill

We spend a lot of time driving each year, and this is our list of essential road-trip gear to include in your packing list.

Traveling With Little Kids Can Be Tough. The Right Gear Can Help.

by Kerry Davis McGuinness

From compact car seats and cribs to portable blackout shades and white noise machines, the right tools for travel can lead to less fuss—and more fun.

The Gadgets We Bring on Every Trip

by Haley Perry

You don't have to be a digital nomad to travel like one. Here are a few gadgets and accessories to make travel as painless as possible.

How to Sleep Well (or at Least Better) While Traveling

by Christine Ryan

Our sleep and travel editors recommend gear for coping with travel-induced insomnia, vetted through hours of testing and years of personal experience.

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

• Car Culture

Best Emergency Kits for Cars in 2022

Don't ruin the road trip: We review the best roadside emergency kits to help get going or to so you can wait comfortably until help arrives.

You never expect to be in a dire situation, but it's good to be prepared in case one occurs. Your  phone  is a great tool in case of an emergency, but don't rely on it -- after all, it can get wet, break or run out of battery. You could be setting yourself up for trouble if you don't have the right equipment to get yourself out of a bind. That's why roadside emergency kits are so important to have in any  car, SUV or truck .

A roadside emergency kit comes prepacked with tools and other things -- from jumper cables to traction strips to a first-aid kit to emergency blankets -- that will help you deal with all sorts of roadside problems. These kits range from $25 or $30 to upward of $150, and all have strengths and weaknesses for their respective prices.

Yes, you might get the absolute best car emergency kit if you built your own, with an eye on the specifics of when and where you travel, and we'll get back to that later. Yet building your own takes time, effort and possibly more cash. None of the prepackaged roadside emergency kits have everything you could possibly need, but all should have the most important, useful things. You can even mix and match less expensive kits to get something like the perfect one for you. 

To choose the best roadside emergency kits, we evaluated reports from testing labs and scanned user ratings at popular shopping sites. We also interviewed experts and applied personal experience. Before you click Confirm Order, look through our entire list of the best kits and think a bit about the kind of vehicle you drive and where you intend to drive it. Then read on for valuable tips on what makes a good road survival kit, how to minimize the chances of a roadside emergency situation in advance and what you need if you decide to assemble your own emergency road kit.

Lifeline AAA Excursion Road Kit 4388AAA

Best roadside car emergency kit overall.

The American Automobile Association, better known as AAA, rescues about 30 million stranded motorists a year. It knows something about roadside emergencies, and that makes this broad-coverage roadside car kit a fantastic place to start. It includes a good first-aid kit with a guide, good quality 8-gauge jumper cables, an aluminum LED flashlight (with batteries), cutting blades, bungee cords, zip ties, a roll of duct tape and a basic tool kit, a flare-replacing reflective triangle, work gloves and rain poncho. Yet one of the things that separates this auto emergency kit from most others is its compact, 12-volt-powered air compressor, which allows you to refill tires wherever you find yourself. There's even a fleece scarf, gloves and a winter hat to help keep you warm if you're waiting.

Given its generally broad coverage, two things stand out among those the Lifeline AAA Excursion car kit lacks. One is any sort of tire sealant or puncture repair, so you'd better have a spare tire that holds air, or add a bottle of tire sealant. The second is a Mylar emergency blanket. Sometimes called space blankets, these thin, foldable sheets measure 84 by 52 inches. They're windproof, waterproof and capable of reflecting 90% of your body heat. They can also be fashioned into emergency shelter. See them here .

Finally, if the thought of fixing flats and emergency shelter leaves you feeling a little unsettled, the AAA Excursion roadside emergency car kit offers one more valuable item: an Auto Club membership brochure with discount, so rescue will never be too far away.

Lianxin Roadside Assistance Emergency Kit

Best roadside car emergency kit for the money.

We like this roadside kit because it packs a lot in a compact soft case at a more modest price. The Lianxin Roadside Assistance Emergency Kit has all the emergency item essentials: 8-foot jumper cables, a tow strap with hooks, an emergency blanket, reflective wear, gloves, tape, a seatbelt cutter and window smashing safety hammer, a (very basic) first-aid kit with adhesive bandages and a flashlight -- in this case hand-cranked, so you don't have to worry about batteries. The tool kit has a metal hammer and solid snipping pliers, and there are a bunch of atypical safety kit extras here. Those include a range of 12-volt fuses, a plastic sweep/snow shovel and even a compass if your phone dies.

On the downside, the Lianxin emergency car kit lacks two hugely valuable items: an air compressor and tire-repairing potential. Yet for this price, you could buy a small 12-volt tire inflator and a bottle of Slime and still beat the cost of some more expensive car emergency kits. 

Haiphaik Emergency Roadside Toolkit

Best roadside car emergency kit for winter.

The Haiphaik Emergency Roadside Toolkit is a perennial top seller on Amazon, and it isn't difficult to see why. It has all the essentials, in decent quality, including 12-foot jumper cables and a 10,000-pound tow rope. The tool kit is above-grade, with a fully adjustable wrench, Allen wrenches and a tape measure. There are even a couple anti-COVID face masks. Yet what sets this emergency car kit apart is the under-tire traction strips and a real, compact, military-style spade shovel with saw-blade edge.

Oddly, for a winter kit, the Haiphaik Emergency Roadside Toolkit lacks something important: that emergency Mylar blanket. That can be handy if you're stuck on the South Dakota prairie in a driving snowstorm. You can add four of those here for about 15 bucks. 

Ready America Emergency Kit 70280

Best roadside car emergency kit if you're stranded or you plan to build your own.

This car emergency kit includes none of the things that might get you going again during a roadside emergency -- no jumper cables or flat tire repair, no tow rope, no utility tools, traction aids or flashlight. But in the worst case none of those tools will get you going anyway, and what actually is in the Ready America Emergency Kit could mean the difference between successfully waiting things out or... well, you get it.

Its contents? A decent first-aid kit, two emergency Mylar blankets, face masks and latex gloves, a loud whistle and two 12-hour glow sticks. Then there's enough food and water to sustain two hungry people for three days. The food is 4,800 calories of cholesterol-free nutrition bars. The water is packaged in multiple 125-milliliter pouches that fit nicely in the small, backpack-style carrying case. Both the food and water in this survival kit are packed in temperature-resistant plastic foil with a five-year shelf life.

As we said: The Ready America Emergency Kit is the best roadside emergency kit if you're stranded, and the perfect place to start if you plan to build your own roadside emergency kit. The typical car enthusiast likely has spare tools, jumper cables and even a tire inflator lying around the garage. The emergency blankets, first-aid kit and three days of nutrition with a long shelf life -- not so likely.

Top Gear Premium Roadside Assistance Kit

Best roadside car emergency kit from a tv car show.

This auto emergency kit has the essentials -- first aid kit items, decent jumper cables, reflective vest and triangle, a hand-cranked flashlight, Mylar blanket -- at a good price. It has some extras, too, including zip ties, a bungee cord, glow sticks and a whistle. There's no tow strap, nor tire repairing potential, but you can't go wrong with that Top Gear-branded carrying bag. Cosmic inspiration from Jeremy Clarkson and the Stig could have you going again in no time at all.

Swiss Safe 2-in-1 Emergency Roadside Car Assistance

Best roadside car emergency kit with a top-tier first-aid kit in a hard case.

The Swiss Safe 2-in-1 Emergency Roadside Car Assistance kit is about average when it comes to the broader range of potential roadside emergencies. It has essentials like jumper cables, some tools, a reflective vest, a rain poncho, a bungee, wool gloves and an emergency blanket. It offers no tire repair options or tow rope, and while it comes with glow sticks, it has no flashlight (though a lot of us will have one in the glovebox anyway).

This car emergency package balances mediocre roadside-emergency mitigation features with a first-aid kit suited for an emergency room physician, packed in a self-contained hard case. The first aid kit package includes trauma shears, tweezers, an instant ice pack, a vast array in size and types of bandages, gauze pads, medical tape, finger splints, a sling, tongue depressors, antiseptic cleaning pads and ointments, wound adhesive and a full first-aid guide. There's also a smaller, pull-out first aid kit pack you can bring on the trail to the scenic overlook.

It's the full-service first-aid kit that separates this roadside emergency kit from the pack. And there's enough room in the soft tool carrying case to throw in some extras, such as fuses, hose clamps and a bottle of Slime.

Secureguard Roadside Emergency Kit

Best roadside car emergency kit for electrical trouble (update: out of stock).

We could also call this the best emergency roadside kit for vintage British sports cars.

It starts with the essentials: jumper cables, tow-strap, basic first-aid kit, reflective necessities, a safety hammer, an emergency blanket, a multitool with blades and a flashlight. Then it adds something you don't see in many kits. That would be an electrical tester.

Given that the single biggest source of roadside emergencies is an electrical problem -- either a dead battery or an oft-related short -- the electrical tester could prove vital. This car emergency kit also includes a range of fuses and electrical connectors, with wire-stripping, needle-nose pliers. With a bit of knowledge and its electrical tester, this roadside kit could be the difference between waiting for hours somewhere west of Laramie and getting rolling again before the sun sets.

Slime Spair Flat Tire Repair Kit

Best roadside car emergency kit for a flat tire (update: out of stock).

This is not your typical roadside car emergency kit. It's intended for the very specific purpose of fixing a punctured tire or a flat spare tire and getting you headed toward civilization in short order. Slime says it will get you back on the road in 11 minutes or less. The sealant is safe for all tires, rims and pressure monitor systems, and there's enough for large truck tires. It's good for 125 miles of travel. The air compressor includes a 12-volt male lighter-socket plug and alligator clips for direct battery connection and it has a useful LED floodlight that casts a broad swath. The kit includes spare valve caps and cores and adapters for beach balls and other inflatables.

We restate: This auto emergency kit has a very specific job. For full coverage, it can be paired with another roadside emergency kit, such as our best for the money Lianxin Roadside Assistance Emergency Kit above . 

Comparison of the best roadside car emergency kits in 2022

You never know when trouble will strike on the road.

Roadside emergencies 101

The American Automobile Association knows a thing or two about roadside emergencies and how to address them. On the year 2020, AAA rescued 33 million stranded motorists. Over the last 15 years, as cars have become generally more reliable and mobile phones have been almost universally adapted, the number of stranded motorists has declined slightly on a per-capita basis. That means there are fewer roadside emergencies per 100,000 miles traveled, according to Cliff Ruud, managing director of automotive at AAA. Yet the overall volume of roadside rescues has continued to increase steadily. Roads across America are more heavily traveled each year.

Your phone alone will not save you. Mobile phones are as valuable as any tool in dealing with a roadside emergency, but they shouldn't be the only one. Aside from technical issues like signal strength and availability, phones can't jump start your car or fix a tire. They can't beam down trained help in minutes, and they can't keep you safe and comfortable if help is hours away. Mobile phones can create roadside emergencies as effectively as they can resolve them.

"Obviously cell phones and their apps are wonderful things," observes AAA's Ruud. "But from our viewpoint the downside is distracted driving. Some people have a hard time leaving their phone alone, and there are consequences. Always have your phone with you on the road, but use it properly. It's probably not a great idea to rely on it exclusively for your safety."

When cell phone coverage is spotty, you'll be glad to have an emergency car kit if you encounter any car issues.

AAA keeps data on the nature of its rescue calls, and that data provides a blueprint for what you need in your roadside emergency kit. Ruud says that the single largest source of rescue calls, by a long shot, is a dead battery. He notes that, while automotive batteries are generally stronger than ever before, and cars are equipped with more failsafe features to keep drivers from inadvertently draining them, the share of dead-battery rescues has actually increased over the last decade or so.

That might be because people need time to learn how the new-fangled, electrically powered systems on their cars work. Regardless, it definitely means that the first thing you want in your roadside emergency supply kit is a set of jumper cables, and virtually every general purpose kit has them.

Or maybe you want a compact portable jump-start battery. The two options -- conventional jumper cables, portable jump-start batteries -- have advantages and disadvantages, and if you're building your own roadside emergency kit or augmenting a prepackaged kit, you might want to consider a portable battery .

A good emergency car kit will usually include jumper cables, basic tools and gloves.

High-grade jumper cables are less expensive than a portable battery. They're always ready, and they should supply an endless stream of battery-to-battery jump starts. Yet the single, encompassing disadvantage of conventional jumper cables is that you always need a second functioning vehicle -- or at least a charged 12-volt battery -- to jump start your own car.

A decent compact, lithium jump starter is about the size of a paperback book. It weighs a couple of pounds, so it will easily fit in the same space as wound-up jumper cables like a spare tire compartment -- even with the battery clamps that come with virtually every portable jump starter. The typical portable is good for at least two or three jumps when it's fully charged, unless it's really, really cold. It just has to be fully charged. Most come with a 12-volt adapter for lighter sockets so they can charge as you're underway. And if it isn't obvious, the advantage over jumper cables is huge. You can jump start your car without a second vehicle or anyone else's help, wherever you find yourself at whatever time.

Portable jump-start batteries offer further advantages. Nearly all have a built-in light. Many somewhat larger ones have built-in tire inflators with a tire pressure gauge , and they're still compact enough to easily carry in a vehicle. They also provide a small, dense container of electrical energy to charge mobile phones and other electronic devices if you're stranded with a dead engine.

To battle tire trouble, the Slime Spair Flat Tire Repair Kit is tops.

However you choose to protect yourself, a bad or drained battery is the most likely cause of roadside trouble. The second most likely cause, again by a considerable margin over number three, according to AAA data, is tire trouble. It's often a repairable thread puncture, and sometimes a completely shredded tire, with possible damage to the rim. The first line of defense if you want to get going again, of course, is a functional spare, jack and lug wrench. Lug nuts installed with an air wrench can be difficult to remove manually, so it's never a bad idea to include some sort of breaker bar or mechanical leveraging device in your roadside emergency kit. After that, if you forgot to check the spare, or if you've installed it and want backup, the options get trickier.

Many roadside emergency kits come with a tire-tread puncture repair kit or sometimes a bottle of tire sealant like Slime, which either pours or blows into the tire through the air valve. Both can work for emergency repairs, but you'll be left with another problem. You have to re-inflate the tire. A relative few kits include a portable, 12-volt powered tire inflator, but if they do they cost substantially more. Sometimes the price increase matches or exceeds the cost of a separate portable tire inflator .

If you think a separate tire inflator is the better choice, check our best list here . Again, we note: Many portable jump start batteries have built-in inflators, without filling inordinately more space, and with those you can fill two jobs with one device.

Some portable jump-start batteries also double as tire inflators.

The third most common source of calls for roadside assistance is a catch-all category that might be labeled "needed a tow." It includes things like accidents, damage to parked vehicles, cars sliding off the road into ditches, engine problems, even lost keys or lockouts. Many of these towed vehicles were actually still drivable, and this category highlights the value of some of the other items found in the typical roadside emergency kit.

The tow strap, typically rated at 10,000 pounds, might easily get you out of snow-filled culvert or a stretch of mud, should a good Samaritan happen by. It might also get you off the right-of-way to a safe place if something in the drive system fails. Traction strips or ropes and a shovel might find you enough momentum to roll out of the deep snow. The cutting blades and duct tape can temporarily repair a coolant hose. The bungees and zip ties might secure a bent hood or a door that won't latch, and the whistle allows you to attract attention if for any reason you're obscured from view of the roadway. The safety hammer included in many kits can cut jammed seatbelts, and it makes it much easier to shatter automotive safety glass. Yet it has no value if the driver or a passenger can't reach it from his or her seat. If you plan to keep your emergency road kit in the trunk, pull the safety hammer and put it in the console or glove box.

The value of other items is probably obvious, but just in case, the headlamps or flashlights will be a blessing when you're under the hood in the dark. Many kits now come with small, hand-operated lights that generate their own electricity. That means you never have to worry about dead batteries, though the hand-cranked lights tend to generate less actual light than a conventional, battery-fed flashlight.

A reflective vest and glow sticks will help keep you and your disabled car visible on the side of the road.

The reflective safety vest, light sticks and road flare substitutes help keep you and your disabled vehicle visible to passing motorists. The emergency blankets could be just what you need if your wait turns into hours, and the work gloves... well, you get it.

Don't underestimate the value of a first-aid kit. If you slice a finger removing the tire jack, it's preferable not to bleed all over everything. Many of those packaged in roadside emergency kits are as basic as they get: a handful of bandages and a couple antiseptic wipes. Many add antiseptic ointment and adhesive tape. If you prefer a more elaborate first-aid kit, select your roadside emergency kit carefully. Or buy a more elaborate first-aid kit or build your own.

There are plenty of useful items that appear hit or miss in the typical car emergency kit -- it might have some, not others -- and many of them can easily fit in the bag the typical kit comes in. We're thinking fuses appropriate to your vehicle, wire nuts, electrical tape and electrical tabs, a couple of hose clamps, a can/bottle opener and a compass for those worst-case scenarios. A small fire extinguisher is a fine idea somewhere in your vehicle. Out-of-gas calls account for just 4% of AAA's rescue runs, and gas cans can be a bit bulky, but it never hurts to carry one -- even if it serves to port cooling water in a car emergency. The same applies to a portable syphon hose and pump.

Don't underestimate the importance of having a first aid kit as part of your emergency car gear.

Some of what you want in your car emergency kit depends on what you're driving, and where your route will take you. The space in an SUV or pickup bed allows you to be more lavish. The value of a shovel knows no season, but if it's winter in the north some sort of traction aid gets more critical. Emergency Mylar blankets reflect heat in both directions, meaning they can be as useful for staying cool as for staying warm. It also matters whether you're crossing town or crossing the country. Emergency rations have saved more than a handful of stranded motorists. Basic nutrition kits like our best if you're stranded are relatively inexpensive and compact, with a long, stable shelf life. AAA's Ruud notes that he probably wouldn't drive anywhere in Arizona in the summer -- commuting or cross state -- without a minimum of potable water aboard.

Don't forget about the case, whether you're buying or building your own roadside emergency kit. Small matters more if you're driving a VW GTI full of luggage. Soft is better than hard, because soft allows tighter packing when it comes to both the bag's contents and its location in your vehicle, but soft can be a bigger challenge organizing efficiently. If something is crush-sensitive, account for it. And don't forget to keep the safety hammer within reach of the front seats, wherever you stash the case.

Finally, don't be taken by the kit supplier's boast -- 114! 196! 326! -- about the number of pieces in its kit. Almost universally, these piece counts include every zip tie and every swab, bandage and safety pin in the first-aid kit, so a good first-aid kit will multiply the pieces in the roadside emergency kit, whether a first-aid kit is your most important priority or not. There's no substitute for sorting through the contents to see what you're actually getting.

Before you buy, make sure to closely examine the contents of any emergency car kit.

Let's face it. Some of us will be enthused by the idea of buying or building an excellent roadside emergency kit -- and the rugged self-reliance associated with it. Others prefer not to be forced into playing MacGyver or feel comfortable with a mobile phone as the first line of defense. Whichever you are, a roadside assistance service like AAA is never a bad idea, assuming you can afford it.

Know your roadside assistance options. Most bought-new cars come with roadside assistance for at least a portion of the warranty period, even without a telematics service such as OnStar. Some third-party companies, like credit card or cellular service providers, offer variations of roadside assistance, and many auto insurance policies include it. If your policy doesn't have it, you can probably add roadside assistance. Always read the fine print and know that with some of these services you pay up front and get reimbursed later.

The easiest path might be a traditional roadside rescue plan from AAA or the Good Sam Club, and it usually doesn't matter who actually insures your car. Annual plans can start at around $100. One undervalued component of a roadside assistance plan is that it can help get you to the front of the line. It's probably easier reaching out to AAA than it is locating and then connecting with a towing shop that might be 50 or more miles away.

All of our best roadside emergency kits do at least one job very well, and most cover many potentialities. Yet every road trip should start by giving your machine a simple once-over. AAA's Ruud calls it "making a safe BET."

The Lifeline AAA Excursion Road Kit includes jumper cables, basic tools, a tire inflator, flashlight and reflective triangle.

BET stands for battery, engine and tires, or the things you want to check before you roll. Modern auto batteries tend to fail more abruptly than they did 10 or 20 years ago, or at least with less warning. If yours is more than a couple years old, or if you have any doubts, get it tested. Clean any corrosion from the battery posts and make sure the connectors are snug.

Check your oil, coolant and other engine fluid levels. Look for obvious drips underneath the car or under the hood. Air filters can be a source of all sorts of check-engine warnings, so look at your air filter and replace it as necessary. If there's a check-engine light in the dash, find out what it's telling you. Many auto parts chains will do it free, or you can use one of our best OBD2 scanners . It never hurts to have that OBD2 scanner along when you're on the road.

Visually inspect your tires for bulges, cracks or divots on the sidewalls and tread. Look for small dents around the edge of the rims. Check tread depth with a gauge or a penny. If you can see all of Lincoln's head when you insert the penny head first in a tread channel, you're probably asking for trouble on the road. Make sure you have a jack, lug wrench and spare, and make sure all five tires are properly inflated.

Find out exactly what an illuminated check-engine light is telling you with an OBD2 scanner.

For added measure, clean your windows, top up your washer fluid and check your wiper blades (or just replace them if it's been more than a year). Just a little bit of preparation substantially increases the odds that you'll never pull the roadside emergency kit from the trunk.

Finally, and most importantly, there's one more thing to bring when you hit the road. Patience.

"Patience might be the most valuable tool of all," says AAA's Ruud. "There's a lot of people on the road, and you don't want impatience or distraction or a bit of road rage to be the reason you have a roadside emergency to begin with."

Written by J.P. Vettraino for CNET Cars .

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Road Trip Essentials to Pack for a Long Drive

By Karthika Gupta and Madison Flager

All products featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

There is certainly something to be said about the magic of an open road no matter where in the world you are. Near or far, long or short, road trips offer a sense of freedom and adventure and are often the most satisfying of journeys. While technically you just need keys, a driver's license, and a set of wheels, these road trip essentials—from the best car organizer to comfortable shoes and coffee kits to keep you caffeinated on the go—will make your journey that much more enjoyable, whether you're heading to a national park , cruising along Route 66 , or taking in fall foliage along the Blue Ridge Parkway .

This article has been updated with new information since its original publish date.

Organization and luggage

No matter how big or small your vehicle is, being organized is key to maintaining your sanity as you travel, especially during a long road trip, or one with kiddos in the back seat.

The Duluth Trading Seat Back Bunker neatly organizes all your essentials, from road trip games, snacks, and Kindles to emergency preparedness kits, hand sanitizer, wet wipes, repair tools, and more. It has three tiers of storage including mesh pouches, see-through zippered pockets, and a full-width zip pocket. Collapsible aluminum poles provide a strong-yet-lightweight framework and keep the organizer secure as you drive.

A good duffel bag is worth its weight in gold, especially on road trips where space may be limited, depending on the vehicle and the number of passengers. Filson’s versatile, lightweight bag pulls double-duty as a duffel or a backpack for hands-free carry. The zippered lid is U-shaped so you'll have easy access to its contents. It has one exterior zippered pocket with an internal zip pocket to keep small gear and accessories like keys or a wallet easily accessible. The other nylon-coated pocket expands into the main compartment to keep shoes or wet or muddy gear separated from the rest of your load.

If a roller bag is more your choice of luggage, Yeti’s Crossroads 22-inch suitcase is perfect for road trips. It is made with rugged nylon material that can take any adventure thrown its way. It has removable modular compression straps that can be used internally to pack down gear or externally to compress the luggage overall, making it fit neatly in small spaces like car trunks or overhead car racks.

Packing cubes are just as helpful in keeping your backseat or trunk organized as they are your suitcase. Get a few different sizes with this Paravel quad, and assign each one a different purpose to store supplies, tech accessories, bug spray and sunscreen, toiletries, or anything else you don’t want rolling around. 

Tech and roadside emergency

Whether you are driving cross-country or just across the state line, there are certain tools, gadgets, and tech items that are absolutely required to make sure you get where you are going safely and on time, whether you're in your own wheels or a rental car .

Rule number one of any road trip is to always be prepared for any emergency that could happen and derail even the most well-prepared travel plans. The Always Prepared Roadside Emergency Kit will ease your mind when it comes to any potential car troubles. It contains more than 100 useful (and neatly organized) items, including jumper cables, a reflective safety vest and warning triangle to keep you safer if you have to pull over at night, a self-powered flashlight, two light sticks, an emergency rain poncho and mylar blanket, a full first-aid kit, a tire pressure gauge, and more. If there's one thing you add to your road trip packing list, make it this kit.

For something a little smaller and more compact, Leatherman’s Free P4 multi-tool is perfect for all the little things that need to be fixed. With over 20 tools all packed into one, the Free P4 is a must have for any road trip. Whether it’s used to replace a dim headlight, fix a broken antenna, or even cut open a snack packet without having everything spill onto the seat, the P4 rises to the challenge.

Whether you’re embarking on a solo road trip or have a travel companion who’d rather not dictate directions, a phone mount is a key road trip packing list item that makes it easier to keep an eye on your route safely. And since doing so can quickly drain your battery, we recommend one that doubles as a phone charger (this one has two USB charging ports, so you can charge it and other devices simultaneously). This one has an adjustable width to fit most cell phones, and a flexible gooseneck to angle it however you prefer.

In the interest of safety, you may want a dash cam in your car, should you get into an accident or pulled over. This one records clear, crisp video that syncs to your phone through the Nextbase app, allows for voice control commands thanks to connected Alexa technology, and offers a unique Emergency SOS service, which detects serious collisions and alerts emergency services of your location if you are unresponsive. You'll need to buy a Nextbase U3 microSD card to use with it, and use the included charger to keep it juiced up. The camera records continuously when it is plugged in and the car is on, and has an optional intelligent parking mode that automatically records any bump or physical movement on the vehicle when left unattended using the camera's internal battery.

If you're driving more than a few hours and have a car full of fellow travelers, keep a  headphone  splitter in the glove compartment. This one has five jacks, which means everyone can pull up a movie, music, podcast, or an audiobook on the same device—and when you're tired of the road trip playlist , you don't have to hear a thing.

Comfort and seating

Long hours of sitting upright can do a number on your back. Do yourself a favor and add a seat cushion or some lumbar support to your car setup. Plus, a few more creature comforts you might want to have on hand.

Just as handy for sitting on an uncomfortable dining room chair  while working from home  as it is on long car rides, this gridded seat cushion will make sitting for extended periods of time comfier—plus the design leaves room for air circulation. It comes with a zippered case for easy transport, too. The Simple cushion should be plenty for your average road trip, but if you’re heading cross-country or planning to make very few stops, pick up the more supportive  Ultimate cushion , designed specifically for truckers and long-haul drives.

Several hours behind the wheel can leave your back feeling less than stellar. Strap one of these lumbar support shells around your seat to make your ride more comfortable: It cradles your back, helping to improve your posture and keep you from sinking into the seat, with the added bonus of a mesh fabric to keep your back cool.

If you’re not too tight on space, consider adding a compact, foldable chair to slide into your trunk. You never know when you'll find yourself in need of a dry, comfortable chair on the fly—be it for extra seating at a roadside picnic table or to enjoy a secluded viewpoint at sunset. REI’s Camp X chair is made of quick-dry mono-mesh and polyester material and comes with a carrying case and two cup holders for impromptu lunch breaks.

If you’re not the only driver in the car, you’ll be happy to have a  neck pillow  while napping during your off shifts. OstrichPillow makes all kinds of interesting contraptions to help you get some sleep wherever you are, but we like the memory foam, velcro-close OstrichPillow Go travel pillow best for car rides.

If you still have a Little Trees Black Ice hanging from your rearview mirror, it's about time you elevate your air freshener game. Pop this inconspicuous diffuser onto one of your car's vents to make the space smell just like a Diptyque 34 Boulevard Saint-Germain candle. Another fresh-smelling option: this under-$20 essential oil diffuser , which  Traveler  editor Rebecca Misner is a fan of.

A lightweight towel comes in handy during any number of road trip situations: Use it for spontaneous swims, roadside picnics, or as a buffer between the hot leather seat and your legs in the car. This extra-smooth Turkish cotton towel is as absorbent as a standard bath towel but much more compact.

Clothing and accessories

When dressing for a road trip, you want clothing that is comfy, breathable, and works in various climates. Bonus points for pieces that are stylish, too.

We love a good pair of compression socks for long travel days . And during pandemic-era road trips, when stops might be less frequent than usual, they work well at keeping the blood flowing and reducing swelling during long seated stretches in the car. Our favorite brand, Comrad, makes knee-high socks that come in 10 different colors and can be worn three to four times before washing, so you can throw 'em on more than once during multi-day trips.

No matter the excursion, Viev’s Gemma Mid Jacket is a great outer layer. It is lightweight and made with durable Gore-Tex fabric. Its design optimizes breathability to the torso and softness in the arms, back, and hood, making it extremely comfortable to wear even when you are driving. Plus, there are multiple pockets to securely store keys, a wallet, or phone, so your hands can rest comfortably in the outside pocket when you step out to take a break and stretch your legs at rest stops. The rain jacket's bonus is the storm hood brim, which maintains its shape when activated and lays flat when down without being overly rigid.

Along with a good pair of socks, a versatile boot that offers all-day comfort and durability is another must for long road trips. Red Wing Heritage boots are comfortable enough to keep on during long car rides and easy to pair with any outfit or climate, no matter where the road takes you. The Classic Moc is made with soft leather and a polyurethane traction tread outsole for faster break-in and comfort. Wear them in and out of the car, in all kinds of weather.

Drinks, snacks, and hydration

Another must on our list of road trip necessities: food and drinks. And while road travel is often synonymous with gas station coffee and oversized sodas, it doesn’t have to be so. There are plenty of healthy hydration options that change the relationship between road trips and caffeinated drinks.

You've got your insulated reusable water bottle , but if you want to keep your coffee hot, you're going to need a reusable thermos. Zojirushi’s stainless steel travel mug keeps hot drinks warm for up to six hours, and it has a slim design that allows it to easily fit in your car's cup holder. (And if you need to throw it in your bag, it won't leak either.)

The Pakt Travel Mug is in the running for perfect travel mug, too: It is a leak-proof vacuum-insulated double-walled mug that keeps beverages securely sealed and the perfect temperature (8 hours for hot and 24 hours for cold), making it an ideal travel companion. Plus it is sized to fit into most any cup holder.

If you are tired of terrible coffee on the go, the Pakt Coffee Kit has everything you need to make quality coffee in one sleek, portable package. All you need is water and electricity, so you can use this with an adaptor in your car’s charge port, at a rest stop, or at your accommodation. The pour over kit comes with an electric kettle, travel mug and lid, coffee grounds container, and collapsible stainless-steel dripper that packs down into a compact carrying case. All you need is to bring your favorite beans .

It is crucial to stay hydrated on the road, especially when you’re sitting still for hours at a time. Nuun offers a potent blend of electrolytes, vitamins, and botanicals that help with blood flow and support everyday health. The drink tablets are fizzy, tasty, and loaded with electrolytes that keep you healthy and hydrated. Plus, they are certified vegan and gluten-free and have a net-zero carbon emission footprint—good for you and for the environment.

Ritual coffee, based out of San Francisco , sources sweet, clean, single-origin coffees that are simply delicious. They have an ever-changing seasonal espresso blend, the best decaf around, and a single serve instant coffee mix for those times when the cup of gas station coffee just won’t do.

For something to carry, store, and keep all your drink options cool on your next road trip: the soft-shell Yeti Hooper Flip 12 cooler tote. It is leakproof with a wide mouth opening that makes it easy to access food and drinks. It even has a hitch point grid on its sides to help attach it to other gear for more compact packing options in the car.

While most of our favorite  road trip snacks  come in pre-packaged containers, for anything fresh or homemade (like trail mix, sliced fruit, or overnight oats), we turn to containers like S’well’s spill-resistant snack bowls. For those embarking on family road trips, there are plenty of kid-friendly patterns , decorated with Disney characters, dogs, pretzels, and more, all of which have a pull-out handle. For adults, there are  neutral colors like teak wood and marbled patterns available in 16- and 21-ounce sizes.

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18 Essentials You Need in a Car Emergency Kit

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Check Your Air Pressure Milton S-921 Pencil Tire Gauge Read more

Jump-Start Your Car … With Another Car Husky 20 ft. 4-ga Jumper Cables Read more

Or Jump-Start Your Car With This Noco Boost Plus GB40 Jump Starter Read more

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The tire announces the end of its existence with a dreaded pop. Or you glance steam escaping over the hood. Or you turn the ignition key far from home and nothing happens. A breakdown doesn't have to mean the end of the world. Whether it's a minor repair you can fix yourself on the side of the road, or you just need to call for help and hang tight until it arrives, keep these WIRED-tested items handy in your trunk and you'll be back on the road in no time. Everything here can be used by anyone, but it doesn't hurt to open the car's manual or look up a how-to on YouTube.

Be sure to check out our many other guides, including the Essential Home Tool Kit and the Best Emergency Gear to Keep at Home .

Updated May 2023: We’ve added new picks, such as the Anker USB-C phone charging cable, Fast Orange textured hand wipes, Element fire extinguisher, and updated pricing and availability throughout.

Check Your Air Pressure

Your car's tires will lose about 1 pound per square inch of air pressure each month. Driving on tires that are underfilled worsens your fuel economy, braking, handling, and tire life. But that'll also happen if you fill them too much. I keep one of these Milton pencil gauges in the glovebox or trunk of each car and motorcycle I have. It's lightweight, foolproof, and reliable. 

Check the air pressure of each tire with a gauge once a month , and use it when refilling your tires at a gas station's air pump. Your tire pressure will be listed in the owner's manual and on a sticker (most likely) in the driver's doorjamb, assuming you're using the tires recommended by the manufacturer. Check your tire pressure every time your car comes out of the shop too.

Jump-Start Your Car … With Another Car

If your car battery dies, you can jump-start it by connecting it to another car, which will at least get you to a store to buy a replacement (if you don't turn the engine off again). Large, four-gauge wires let power flow more easily, like using a thicker straw in a milkshake. These Husky cables are copper-clad aluminum wire, which isn't as good as solid copper, but solid copper jumper cables are hard to find these days. 

Look up the proper procedure on how to connect the cables (ideally before you get stuck on the road, since you might not have a cell signal wherever you break down).

Or Jump-Start Your Car With This

The downside with jumper cables is that you need another working car and its willing driver to be around when your car dies. If you plan on traveling to a remote area or don't want to rely on strangers, you can go with a battery-powered emergency jump-starter instead. It's bulkier and more expensive than cables, and you have to periodically make sure it's charged up, but this model is reasonably compact and weighs only 3 pounds. Note that it is rated to jump gasoline engines of up to 6-liter capacity and diesel engines up to 3-liter capacity.

Clean Your Hands

Working on a car can make your hands filthy. Whether it's changing a tire or replacing a battery, your hands will most likely end up smeared in grease and road grime, which is going to stain your clothes or car interior. I prefer Fast Orange wipes because the gritty, textured material works better than regular wipes for scrubbing off hard-to-remove grease. Keep handy a wad of paper towels or Scott Shop Towels for $3 , which are tougher, for wiping off the Fast Orange and residual grease.

Brian Barrett

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Repair a Flat

If your car doesn't have a spare tire—sadly more common now than ever—you can use an aerosol product such as Fix-a-Flat. You connect the can to the punctured tire's valve stem. The sealant is sprayed onto the inside of the tire to patch the hole and then reinflate the tire. Don't expect the tire to be as good as new. This is meant to get you to the nearest mechanic so you can have them repair or replace the tire—not to drive on it for long.

Fix-a-Flat is easy-as-pie to use. As long as you can screw a hose on and off a tire valve stem (you can), then you can use a can of Fix-a-Flat when the need arises.

Raise the Car

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. The Strongway jacks are easy to use, and it doesn't take many pumps of the handle to raise a car off the ground with it.

Replace Those Wheels

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 it 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.

Put Out a Fire

As someone who has put out a car fire, I can tell you it's good to have a fire extinguisher onboard when your car is roasting like a marshmallow. This is one of those things that you need to keep with you. First Alert is a solid brand of extinguisher that I've used, and this one is rated to put out fuel and electrical fires, as well. The Element E50 for $90 is a newer technology that, instead of spraying difficult-to-clean-up powder, snuffs out a fire by shooting a gas that disrupts the chain of combustion. It's expensive, but it's much lighter and more compact, and requires no clean up after use.

Refill Your Coolant

You should check your coolant (antifreeze) level often. If you drive while it's low, you could ruin the engine. Carry a spare gallon on long trips and during heat waves so you can top it off wherever you are. Any brand of coolant from a reputable retailer will work, but I've been using Prestone for decades. Green-dyed antifreeze can be added to any antifreeze you already have in your car's cooling system. Get the premixed coolant that says "50/50" on it, otherwise you're going to have to find a bucket and a gallon of distilled water on the side of the road if you mistakenly buy the concentrated bottle.

Top Off Your Engine Oil

Check your engine oil level occasionally. If it's low, you need to top it off immediately, before your engine destroys itself. Look in your car's owner's manual to see the recommended oil designation (10W-30, 10W-40, etc.), and buy a quart of that. But if you can't find your manual, 5W-30 is a good general oil that'll work for most engines and in most situations. Likewise, go for full synthetic rather than synthetic blends or conventional mineral oil. Keep a roll of paper towels so you can wipe off the dipstick before measuring. Remember to measure and add oil after the engine has warmed up completely and to turn off your engine when you're doing it. Adding too much can be as bad as too little. I've used the major brands—Pennzoil, Castrol, Royal Purple, Valvoline, and Mobil 1—extensively in many different cars, and they're all solid choices.

Scrape or Brush Your Windows

If you live where it snows (or plan to travel somewhere it does), make sure you have a sturdy ice scraper to clean the windows, or else you won't be driving anywhere. Measuring 51 inches, the SubZero has enough reach for me to reach the tops of a tall Jeep and a few SUVs. Plus, it's nice having a brush to clear off the surfaces of your car without scratching the paint. If you want to save room in your trunk, you can go with the SubZero scraper-only tool for $11 . Keep a bottle of de-icer to help melt stubborn ice, too.

Warn Other Drivers

I used to laugh at the idea of keeping reflective triangles in my car. It sounds like 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 my car had broken down. Reflective warning triangles placed on the road behind me would've clued them in to just drive around.

Keep Your Phone Charged

Your car battery is more than capable of charging a dead phone (if the car battery itself isn't dead). Don't get stuck on the side of the road with a dead phone and no way to charge it. We like these Anker cables because they're much more affordable than, say, Apple cables, and have never let us down. If you're going on a long road trip or through remote areas, consider bringing a portable battery bank , just in case your phone needs a charge and your car battery winds up dead.

A Light in the Dark

You're not always going to break down where there's light. Fenix flashlights are my current favorite LEDs. They're bright, and they're tough enough to survive bumping around your trunk—and the inevitable drop onto the pavement. Powered by two AA batteries, it has four brightness settings, providing roughly 3.5 hours of run time at 350 lumens or 200 hours at 5 lumens.

Emergency Food for Long Trips

If you're traveling on remote roads or through severe weather, it's important to pack enough potable water for all passengers. Keep a gallon per person per day of purified or spring water in the trunk. Avoid distilled; it doesn't taste very good. You don't need food to survive a day or two on the side of the road, but it'll keep your spirits up if you're waiting for passersby on a remote road. Good-to-Go and Mountain House are two of the tastier brands I've tried. You can eat straight out of the dehydrated food bags, but a long-handled spork will keep your knuckles cleaner than a regular utensil when eating out of those tall bags.

A Bag for All This Gear

All these items rolling around your trunk or floorboards loosely would get pretty annoying. Keep them all in one place and organized by packing them into this water-resistant duffel bag. Being a Carhartt product, it's made with a tougher fabric than many travel duffel bags, which is a good thing when you're packing it full of rough-edged tools. Small gear, such as the tire pencil gauge and folding lug wrench, can go in the zippered exterior pocket.

Or Buy a Premade Emergency Kit

Kits tend to make some compromises on the quality or quantity of gear, but Performance Tool's kit has all the basics. If you're certain you don't want to piece together your own roadside emergency tools, try this one. It packs jumper cables, a reflective traffic triangle, a flashlight, a tire gauge, a basic first-aid kit, and a few extra tools. 

On their own, none of the items are as good as the individual items I've listed throughout the guide, but they're much better than having nothing when your car decides to take a nap on the side of the road.

A Few Extra Things

Keep up with your car maintenance. Cars have a way of paying you back if you neglect them for long, so stick to the service intervals recommended in your car's owner's manual. Before long trips, take your car to the mechanic to see whether you need your tires rotated or replaced, fuel system tuned up or cleaned, or steering aligned. Something you can easily do yourself is check your tire pressure every month and before long trips. Most gas stations have an air pump for you to use.

Make sure to pack your roadside gear bag with a poncho , a warm blanket , and diapers (if you or a little one needs 'em).

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Every Road Trip Car Breakdown Kit Should Include These Tools, According To Our Travel Expert

T here's nothing like taking an epic road trip. It's undeniably a perfect way to travel , especially if you're exploring large countries like the United States. Unfortunately, traveling by car comes with all sorts of problems. Many of the best road trips take you to remote, off-the-beaten-path destinations where you can experience the natural beauty and rugged landscapes, but it also means you'll be far away from any mechanic should something go wrong with your car.

According to data gathered by Agero, more than 69 million cars break down in the United States each year, and an AAA  report  shows that if your car is over 10 years old, you run an even higher risk of car trouble. Nothing ruins an unforgettable road trip vacation like being stranded on the side of the highway for hours while you wait for a tow truck. Even the most seasoned road tripper can face problems if unprepared. With some preparation and planning, you can avoid getting stranded roadside by packing a car breakdown kit.

Nate Murphy, author of the best-selling Van Conversion Guide and founder of DIYhero, a van conversion course , has spent years of his life on extended road trips. In an exclusive interview with Explore, Nate told us everything he recommends, including packing a road trip breakdown kit to get back on the road faster when you run into unfortunate car trouble.

Read more: Safety Items You Should Pack For Your Next Road Trip

Perform Some Basic Vehicle Checks Before You Begin Building Your Tool Kit

Before you begin building your road trip breakdown kit, having your car checked out is a good idea. Going to the mechanic for a trip check is much like going to the doctor for a check-up but on your vehicle. You don't want to wait until something goes wrong to have things checked out. Nate Murphy suggests taking your car to a trusted mechanic before your trip to ensure nothing major is wrong and to help you feel safer on a long-haul road trip.  "If your vehicle is due for a service or has been showing signs of trouble, it's a good idea to address these issues before hitting the road. No one wants to spend half their road trip waiting for a vehicle to get fixed," Nate told Explore.

Even if your car seems okay, Nate recommends doing some basic checks. "This includes checking the oil, coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid, and windshield washer fluid levels. Additionally, check the condition of the brakes, tires, and lights" he told us. Before you begin purchasing items for your kit, read over your owner's manual because tools can depend on the make, model, and year of your car.

Plan Your Route Ahead Of Time So That You Can Be Prepared For All Types Of Conditions

Nate Murphy has ventured all over on road trips, so he knows what to expect in almost any situation. If you're new to road-tripping or visiting an area for the first time, he suggests doing some research ahead of time so you know what to expect. "Properly consider the weather and road conditions you may face on your trip. If you are traveling through mountainous terrain, or other places where it may snow, be sure to pack snow chains or socks — or appropriate tires," Nate told Explore. 

You should also check that you know how to use everything you bring for your vehicle. Ensure you know how to apply the chains before you leave because "no one wants to be figuring that out in the freezing cold!" he reminded us. Knowing the weather, terrain, and potentially hazardous conditions along your road trip route will ensure you pack everything you need and can make  road trips so much easier. 

Take Care Of Your Tires

Once you're well aware of the condition of your vehicle and the conditions on your road trip route, it's time to start packing the perfect road trip breakdown kit. During his many adventures, Nate discovered that self-sufficiency is vital when traveling. He recommends packing some essential tools to be well-prepared and ensure your trip is stress-free. First, he suggests purchasing a tire foam or tire repair kit to help repair them quickly. "If far away from services, this cheap and lightweight item can be a lifesaver. It is worth checking out how to use them before you go, just in case you do not have data," he told us.

In addition to the tire repair kit, ensure you have a tire pump for when you have a slow leak and need to add air to balance your tire pressure. Some varieties run off your car's battery, and manual pumps are also on the market. Most cars have a spare tire in the back, so pack a four-way lug wrench if you need to change one during your trip. "I would recommend that you learn how to access the spare tire before you go, on some vehicles this is a little more complicated than you may realize," Nate told us.

Prepare For Battery Problems

Chances are, there's probably been a time in your life when you've returned to your vehicle only to find that the engine won't start. Perhaps you were so excited to hit the trails that you unknowingly left your headlights on or something plugged into the vehicle that slowly drained your battery. We've all been there!

According to Nate, "A dead battery, especially in colder weather, is not uncommon." He's right — it's one of the most common car problems. And since batteries are one of the most critical aspects of our car's electrical systems, the vehicle will not turn on without a jump start. Keeping jumper cables in your car is always a good idea, especially on a road trip. Nate recommends keeping cables at least 16 feet in our road trip breakdown kit so that a kind passerby can jump you in a pinch. It will also ensure you're empowered to help other, less prepared road trippers should you run into someone who needs a battery jump during your travels. 

"Again, spend 20 minutes to familiarize yourself with how to properly jumpstart an engine," Nate told us. If you're traveling to a super remote area, consider a 12-volt battery-operated jump starter that allows you to give your car battery the boost it needs without the help of another vehicle. Prices for the portable jump starters start at about $50.

Other Essential Items To Keep In Your Road Trip Car Breakdown Kit

Nate recommends packing a socket wrench set before you head out. Socket wrenches are handy for all repairs, especially if you're familiar with a car engine. "If you know nothing about engines, this might not be so useful — but if you have a bit of an idea, you can fix something before you get to a mechanic," he told Explore. 

Bring a flashlight for car problems at night so you can see what you're working on. A reflective triangle is also helpful for safety during late-night road trips . Duct tape can be beneficial for temporary fixes, and a multi-tool is suitable for all sorts of repairs. Pack a physical map in case your phone unexpectedly dies, or you don't have enough signal to use GPS.

"Lastly, check that you have appropriate breakdown assistance and insurance," Nate told Explore. "A roadside assistance plan can save you thousands if you break down somewhere remote or need a tow." You should call your insurance before you depart and ensure you're covered for your trip, especially if traveling internationally. Adjusting your policy to ensure that you're covered is a good idea. Once you've created your perfect car breakdown kit, it's important that you periodically check that everything is in working order. Some items, like tire repair kits, may expire, so ensure your equipment is up to date before each road trip.

Read the original article on Explore .

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Description

The Road Kit contains 42 components to help keep you prepared for those unforeseeable roadside events, ranging from finding your car with a dead battery to needing a flashlight for safety. It features a compact carry case with handles, 8 foot - 8 gauge booster cable for when you need a jump and a 9 LED flashlight and batteries for emergency situations and much more! This quality kit, with its essential emergency supplies, is perfect to throw into your trunk or in the back of your vehicle so that you are prepared for when those unexpected roadside emergencies happen.

AAA QUALITY: Most trusted name in travel

42 PC AUTO EMERGENCY KIT: Includes first aid and emergency supplies

15 PCS EMERGENCY SUPPLIES: Booster Cables, Flashlight with Batteries, Screwdriver, and more

BOOSTER CABLES: 8 Foot 8 Gauge Booster Cables

FLASHLIGHT: 9 LED Flashlight with batteries

24 PCS OF FIRST AID SUPPLIES: generous supply of first aid products ensures you have everything you need to patch injuries on the go

COMPACT & EASY TO CARRY: 12X6X6: Compact Storage Bag with handles

BE PREPARED: Ideal for Car,Truck, RV or anywhere that you need quick access to First Aid and Emergency supplies

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How To Build An Emergency Car Tool Kit For Your Next Road Trip

Post Summary: The Gear You Need For Your DIY Emergency Car Tool Kit

Packing for a road trip is tough! You’re caught between trying to convince yourself to only bring the road trip essentials while battling the thought that if it fits in your car, you might as well bring it.

And honestly, we often find ourselves in the middle of that dilemma, too. But there’s one thing that should always be in your car during a big road trip. Do you know what it is?

A roadside emergency kit!

Honestly, there’s a good chance you may never need to use it – and we hope you don’t! But you definitely don’t want to find yourself broken down in the middle of nowhere with no supplies, no food, and no way of finding help. 

So what are the things you need to have in your emergency car tool kit? Keep scrolling for our top items to put in your own DIY roadside emergency kit.

How To Build Your Own DIY Emergency Car Kit

This post was written by Adventure Contributor, Whitney Matthews

Before you head out on your next epic road trip, it’s important to put together your own DIY Car Emergency Tool Kit . We’ll share the specific items you should add to it later in this post, but let’s start with the basics.

First, start by finding a clear plastic bin to store your items. This bin should be big enough to hold the essentials, but small enough to not take up too much space in your car. Browse these ones from Lowe’s that come in several different sizes to fit your car’s needs.

The, make sure you label your items with names and dates! This is especially important for items like water and snacks, but useful too if you have other items that may expire, like bear spray or chemicals. Labeling items will help you know clearly what they are for, and easily figure out when they need to be replaced in the future.

Alright, let’s get to our roadside emergency kit items!

A First-Aid Kit

HART Outdoor Multi-Day First Aid Kit (See Prices at REI Here)

Hopefully, the only thing you may need to use from a first aid kit is a bandaid ! No matter how long your road trip may be, it’s important to always have a first aid kit in your car just in case you or someone else may need it! We like these compact kits for multi-day road trips.

Keep a first-aid kit in your car for these road trip routes :

• 1-2 Weeks on a Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip
• 10 Epic Winter Road Trips To Take On The West Coast
• 19 Incredible West Coast Road Trips For Spring and Summer Vacation

Work Gloves

REI Co-Op Trailsmith Gloves (See Prices at REI)

Changing tires, digging yourself out of a ditch, or getting down to check under the hood can be dirty work. Make sure you have a pair of durable gloves to use for these times!

Work gloves are especially important to have in your winter car emergency kit , to keep your hands warm as you work outside.

Rain Poncho

Red Ledge Eva Adult Rain Poncho (See Prices at REI)

It often feels that your car breaks down at the worst of times, especially in inclement weather! Make sure to stay warm and dry if you are doing some quick car repairs in the rain. A rain poncho is inexpensive and takes up very little space!

Read More: How To Camp In The Rain (And Thrive While Doing It!)

REI Co-Op Camp Blanket (See Prices at REI)

It’s smart to always have a blanket or two in your car. You may need to use it if you’re waiting for help at night or in the winter, if you find yourself needing figure out how to sleep in your car , or even if the heat in your car turns off.

And yes, it’s smart to have an extra blanket (like this space blanket for easy storing!) even if you’re traveling during warmer months or in warmer climates – you never know when the temperature could drop! Place like Hart Mountain hot springs or Leslie Gulch in the desert can be hot during the day, but freezing cold at night!

Portable Phone Charger

BioLite Charge 40 (See Prices Here)

Yes, most cars nowadays can charge your phone via a cigarette lighter or a USB port. But what if your car battery is dead? Make sure to have a fully charged, portable power bank with you, just in case. You never know when you might need it, and having a charged phone can be really handy for calling roadside assistance.

The BioLite Charge 40 power bank is freakishly light and slender, so much so that it can easily fit in your pocket for portable power. With its useful USB ports AND USB-C port, you can easily use it with any device (phone, iPad, other tools) for extra juice on the go.

Read More: Our 20 Favorite Photography Accessories For Busy Travel Photographers

Flashlight and Extra Batteries

Feni LD30 Rechargeable Flashlight (See Prices at REI)

Most, if not all, phones have flashlights in them, but phones aren’t always reliable because they die. So it’s always smart to have a backup lighting option ready, just in case! In a desperate situation, it never hurts to have some extra light. Grab a flashlight with LED lights to last long, and keep it small to fit in your glove compartment.

Note: a headlamp with extra batteries works well too! Compare some of the best and brightest headlamps here .

Water Bottles & Non-Perishable Snacks

Read More: 15 Easy & Delicious Hiking Snacks To Take On The Trail

Separate from your snacking road trip essentials , you should always have a separate stash of emergency snacks. This way, if your car breaks down and you’re stuck waiting hours or days for help, you can stay fueled!

Pack a couple of disposable water bottles , or fill a couple Nalgene bottles for a more earth-friendly solution. For some non-perishable snacks that aren’t too bulky, consider protein bars, trail mix, and dried fruit, but keep them in their original packaging for added freshness. For more meal ideas, be sure to check out our list in quick & easy camping meals to make on the road!

Pro tip: When preparing for the possibility of waiting multiple hours, or days, for help to come, it doesn’t hurt to pack some extra hand sanitizer and toilet paper too!

Emergency Car Tool Kit (Repair)

You’d be surprised how many cars (especially older models) don’t have adequate emergency car tools on hand ! Having an emergency car tool kit can be the difference between an expensive tow truck ride or fixing it yourself!

Before heading out on your trip, make sure you have all of these tools and that you know how to properly use them. Here’s what you should have in your roadside tool kit:

• Jumper Cables
• Tire Patch Kit
• Pressure Gauge For Tires
• Tire Inflator or air compressor.
• Retractable Shovel
• Small Tire Jack

Pro Tip: We all know how to change a tire in theory. But it’s much harder when you’re having to try it for the first time in a real life situation.

Before your trip, make sure you know where in your car to find all of the tools you’ll need to change a flat tire. And maybe do a practice run or two before actually hitting the road. Here’s a handy youtube video to watch on how to change a tire .

Roadside Emergency Kit (Accident Essentials)

These are things you will only need in a true roadside emergency. Think of situations like your car flipping, getting stuck in a ditch, or being trapped the water. Really, we NEVER hope you need to use these emergency tools, but having these accident response items can help you feel more secure and safe in a demanding response. It’s always worth it to be prepared – it could save yours or someone else’s life.

These accident responses items are great for your emergency car tool kit because they can all fit in the glove compartment. Perfect for easy access in case of an emergency! This kit includes:

• Road Flares
• Emergency Window Breaker
• Seatbelt Cutter

A Small Notepad And a Pen

Rite In The Rain All-Weather Notepad – (See Prices at REI Here)

No, this isn’t for journaling about your trip (although, you should definitely do that!). It’s always smart to have a working pen and a small notepad in your car so you can leave a note if you need to abandon your car or share insurance information with another driver. It’s also a great way to pass the time if you’re waiting for help to arrive.

Read More: 15+ Incredibly Useful Road Trip Planner Apps and Tools To Download Before Your Go

National Geographic Road Atlas – (See Prices at REI Here)

Yep, we said it: an old-school, paper map . When you’re driving through new places, you don’t know what the cell phone coverage will be like. You definitely don’t want to be relying on your phone GPS and suddenly find yourself without service, or even worse, with a dead battery.

Have a safe backup in the form of a paper map, and store something like a USA atlas in your emergency car tool kit.

Seasonal Supplies

Read More: 12 Essentials You Need In Your Winter Car Emergency Kit

Depending on where you’re heading, or what time of year your trip is, it’s always smart to think about how the season could affect your road trip.

If you’re driving in the winter months , where it’s cold and snowy, be sure to pack things like an ice scraper, some hand warmers, and maybe some extra layers like beanies and gloves.

If you’re traveling during warmer months , or in warmer areas, bring sunscreen, extra water, and layers to keep the sun off your body. Check the weather and pack rain jackets or umbrellas, too, if applicable.

Other Items To Include In Your Roadside Emergency Kit

A no-spill gas can.

This one might come in handy if you’re planning to do some traveling in areas where you may not find service stations for extended stretches.

Think: Utah National Parks road trip , Highway 395 in California , Eastern Oregon road trip , or long lonely stretches of a Southwest road trip .

It’s definitely not a necessity, especially if you can’t fit a gas can in your car, but be sure to always keep an eye on your gas gauge and pay attention to road signs!

Duct tape is so versatile , especially considering it’s small size. So it can come in handy for solving a multitude of problems, from preventing a blister, to fixing minor car issues until you’re able to get to the repair shop.

Might as well toss a roll in your emergency car tool kit for good measure!

A Deck Of Cards (Or Two!)

This one is purely to help you pass the time, if you find yourself waiting for help to arrive. It’s also a great pastime for any passengers in your car too!

Need more things to do while you wait? Download our list of fun road trip questions , or download these entertaining road trip podcasts before you hit the road!

Emergency Car Tool Kit Conclusion

This list might seem long, but don’t let it stress you out! Our hope is to help you get as prepared as possible so that if you find yourself in a road trip emergency situation, you’ll be ready.

And as we mentioned at the beginning of this post, you probably won’t need to use anything from your kit, except maybe a bandaid. But it’s always better to be safe than sorry!

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by this list and where you’re going to find all of these things, there are some awesome brands that have pre-made kits ready for you to buy too!

Have you put together your emergency car tool kit? What are some things you would add to your roadside car kit? Let us know in the comments below!

More road trip resources.

45 Incredible Stops On An Oregon Coast Road Trip

An Iconic California Coast Road Trip (45 Stops!)

The Best Scenic Drives In Washington State

All The Best Stops On Going To The Sun Road In Montana

How To Find Free Camping Spots In The USA

20 Brilliant Car Camping Hacks You Need To Try

31 Incredibly Useful Road Trip Gifts To Give

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