Essential items for your car emergency kit to keep you safe

What to pack in your car safety kit

Mobile phone with charger

A charged mobile phone allows you to call roadside assistance and (if necessary) emergency services for help after a car breakdown. Take a compatible phone charger as well as a fully charged power bank on your drives to keep your phone charged and ready to use.

Bottled water and non-perishable food

If your car is broken down on the side of the road for several hours, it’s important to stay hydrated with clean water. Always store a few litres of water in your car, whether it’s several bottles of water or a 10L container. If you’re driving to a remote area, bring more water just in case. However, make sure not to leave water in plastic bottles or containers in the car, as sunlight and heat will eventually break down the plastic, causing it to leach into the water.

You may also choose to pack some non-perishable foods with your water, such as muesli bars and dried fruit.

Torch with spare batteries

Using the ‘torch’ mode on your smartphone can drain vital battery life. It's better to have a separate torch and use your phone to call for roadside assistance. If you need to investigate under the bonnet, or if you break down in a dark area, you’ll be glad to have a decent handheld torch on hand. In a worst-case scenario, a torch is also useful for signalling for help. Remember to pack some spare batteries for your torch too, just in case.

Car owner’s manual

You should have received your car owner's manual when you purchased your vehicle, used or new. Typically kept in the glovebox, a car owner's manual provides important information about your car, including what each symbol on your dashboard means. If any warning lights appear on your dashboard, you should call roadside assistance to get the issue fixed before continuing to drive. Otherwise, you can refer to your car owner's manual for instructions on how to maintain proper tyre pressure, change lightbulbs, top up fluids, and more.

Jumper leads

It can be easy to run your car battery flat by simple mistakes like forgetting to turn your lights off when the car isn’t running. Keeping a set of jumper leads in your car enables you to jump-start your car battery if there is another working vehicle nearby. Carefully read your car manual’s instructions on jump-starting your car to perform the procedure safely: if done incorrectly, you could potentially cause costly damage to your car. 
 
If your car battery is dead rather than flat, you will need to have it replaced by roadside assistance. Roadside assistance experts can also jump-start your car battery if there are no other vehicles around or if you don’t have jumper leads.

Hi-vis safety vest and reflective triangle

It’s always useful to be prepared for a car breakdown, no matter where you’re travelling. For your own safety, make sure other motorists can see you and your vehicle as they approach. Keep your car’s hazard lights on in the event of a crash or breakdown and consider keeping a hi-vis safety vest and a reflective triangle in your car too.

Hi-vis safety vests are cheap, lightweight and easy to store beneath your seat or in a seat pocket. Wearing a road safety vest can help make you more visible to oncoming traffic.

In low visibility conditions, a reflective triangle can be used as extra warning for other motorists. Place it on the side of the road between 30 and 50 metres behind your stopped vehicle to give motorists extra time to spot the roadside hazard.

Spare wheel and tyre

Regular car maintenance and servicing are important, along with making sure your car’s tyres are safe before driving. But even when you're vigilant, you can’t predict when you might get a flat tyre on the road. Check your spare tyre is properly inflated at least every six months. You can do this with a simple hand-held tyre pressure gauge. Having a roadworthy spare tyre in your car will mean a roadside assistance expert can quickly and easily change a flat tyre for you. 

Picnic rug or blanket

A quality blanket or picnic rug has many more uses than you think. In a car breakdown, you can use a blanket or rug to stay warm in cold weather, erect as a shade canopy in summer or protection aginst broken glass. You can even use it to cover you while you have a power nap to break up long drives.

Fire extinguisher

A fire extinguisher can be used to prevent a small fire becoming unmanageable. Ensure you securely mount the extinguisher in the back to prevent movement within your car – otherwise you may end up causing more harm with a rolling extinguisher. Remember, do not attempt to put out any unmanageable fires or stay at the scene if your safety is at risk.

First aid kit

Storing a first aid kit in your car could be a lifesaver. Motoring first aid kits are available through ambulance services, chemists and hardware stores. Alternatively, you can make your own first aid kit. Make sure your kit includes (at a minimum) gloves, antiseptic wipes, band-aids, bandages, gauze, dressing pads and painkillers. It might be a good idea to take a basic first aid training course too, so you know how to treat different types of injuries.

Small amount of cash

You may find yourself needing emergency money in a breakdown. It’s a good idea to keep spare money hidden in your car for unexpected events, from needing a taxi to refuelling your car. Remember, you don’t need to keep any more than $50 – this cash is just for an emergency. Visible money is enough for some opportunistic thieves to break into your car, so ensure that your cash is well hidden in your car. If you have a digital wallet on your phone, this is another reason to keep your phone charged and not use it as a torch.

Roadside assistance membership

Maintaining an active roadside assistance membership is inexpensive and can save you a lot of trouble if you break down. Common issues include flat batteries, flat tyres, running out of petrol or even getting locked out of your car. RACV Emergency Roadside Assistance is available 24/7 for drivers Australia-wide, and there are three different roadside assistance packages on offer to suit your driving habits.