Better to wear than to beg – it’s an old but still good rule that makes life easier. Of course, there is no shortage of those who claim that a smartphone, credit card, and good assistance policy is a set that should be sufficient for most emergencies that may happen on the road. Well, if you are lucky and have a lot of time, it usually is.
Unfortunately, in real life it varies – a failure can happen where the telephone is out of range and the only workshop in the area accepts cash only. Sometimes you also need to help other traffic participants or ensure your safety, and even the best card and the best policy are not enough. Here are our proposals for necessary, useful and accessories that only a few need.
Do you know what “EDC” is?
The abbreviation EDC comes from the English “Everyday Carry”, which someone deftly translated into Polish as “Cranes Daily”. Specialists in survival or the so-called preppers (people who try to always be ready for any disasters) without the right set of accessories that can be useful in a crisis, do not leave the house. Usually, the set includes dressing materials, knife, lighter, watch.
Warning safety vest and warning triangle
The warning triangle is must-have car equipment – it must be on board. The most important thing is that it has good reflections and is stable, even with strong gusts of wind. In Poland, there is no obligation to have reflective vests with reflective tapes in a passenger car, but it’s still worth it – and it’s the best one for each passenger. The cost and weight are negligible, and the importance of safety – enormous.
Paper towel and wet wipes
A roll of paper towel and a pack of wet wipes are accessories that come in handy in the car often. From wiping a steamed or dirty glass up to an ad hoc fight with stains on the upholstery – they have a lot of applications, and they do not weigh or take a lot of space and are not very expensive.
Spare wheel and wheel jack
More and more cars do not have a full-size spare wheel on board or even a narrow driveway – instead, there is a repair kit in the trunk, consisting of a sealing compound and a compressor. In the vast majority of cases, such a set in an emergency turns out to be completely useless, because in new cars with low-profile tires it is more common than, for example, to break a nail as a result of breaking the rubber as a result of driving into a hole or running too fast on the curb.
In such situations, no repair kit will help. Of course, we have cell phones and assistance at our disposal, but take it for granted that replacing the wheel by yourself is usually faster than waiting for help in a remote area on a rainy night. A wheel can be useful, and if the car does not have a large enough recess, then the drive-in can be put away in the trunk.
Work gloves
Once a pair of work gloves was a standard feature on many factory-made automotive tool kits. There is a reason! If you take into account the fact that you will have to, for example, change the wheel or start the car using the jumper cables, or do any other “dirty” work on the car, then resistant gloves will also be useful.
First aid kit
It is not mandatory to have a first-aid kit in a private car. This, however, does not mean that it is not needed – in our opinion a good first aid kit should be found in every car.