Please recommend a kit for DC's first car they are using at college?

[Anonymous]

If anyone has bought a roadside emergency kit for their kid, I would love a rec. Or if they have ideas on what to include, I would appreciate.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a rec for a kit but here are some suggestions.

There is a machine you can buy to pump up tires. I wish I had that. I haven't gotten around to buying one but I am sick of hunting for places that have working machines.

Kits used to have flares. Now they have better things like LEDs. Look for that.

An AAA membership makes a good gift. I haven't changed a tire yet. I have used AAA help many times... for dead batteries in winter or due to lights draining, mechanical breakdowns, etc.

Jumper cables are useless if you don't have experience with them.

[Anonymous]

Decent flashlight/work light or perhaps even a headlamp

Good-quality tire pressure gauge (dial type, not those pen-like ones that suck)

Tire inflator (the kind that plugs into the 12v lighter plug or the ones with battery terminal clamps). Skip those crappy rechargeable ones. Viair makes some good stuff.

Jumper cables or battery booster. And make sure to show your kid how to use them properly.

Ice scraper and folding snow shovel in the winter. Probably a set of warm work gloves as well.

Knowledge: This is the most important part. Teach your kid how to change a flat tire (have them actually do it and focus on doing it safely). Also show them how to properly inflate a tire and check the pressure.

[Anonymous]

AAA membership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a rec for a kit but here are some suggestions.

There is a machine you can buy to pump up tires. I wish I had that. I haven't gotten around to buying one but I am sick of hunting for places that have working machines.

Kits used to have flares. Now they have better things like LEDs. Look for that.

An AAA membership makes a good gift. I haven't changed a tire yet. I have used AAA help many times... for dead batteries in winter or due to lights draining, mechanical breakdowns, etc.

Jumper cables are useless if you don't have experience with them.

Jumper Cables are EXTREMELY USEFUL if you dont know how to use it. My 19 year old daughter I put them in the trunk of her car at college. She went to a concert in Philly and stayed over night her friends house. She comes out in morning car wont start. She calls me. I tell her open trunk take out Jumper Cables, Then open hood of car and I will explain how to hook up on batter on positive and negative and then you do the same to the other car. 10 seconds into to explaining a UPS driver doubled parked next to her and jumped her while I was on the phone.

Off she went. She was joking that was like less than one minute. But I was that was cause you had the cables. Once you open hood and and have cables out people usually help.

[Anonymous]

Just pick one off Amazon. Also, send an old beach towel for them to keep in the trunk. I was surprised how often it came in use for various reasons when I owned a car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a rec for a kit but here are some suggestions.

There is a machine you can buy to pump up tires. I wish I had that. I haven't gotten around to buying one but I am sick of hunting for places that have working machines.

Kits used to have flares. Now they have better things like LEDs. Look for that.

An AAA membership makes a good gift. I haven't changed a tire yet. I have used AAA help many times... for dead batteries in winter or due to lights draining, mechanical breakdowns, etc.

Jumper cables are useless if you don't have experience with them.

Jumper Cables are EXTREMELY USEFUL if you dont know how to use it. My 19 year old daughter I put them in the trunk of her car at college. She went to a concert in Philly and stayed over night her friends house. She comes out in morning car wont start. She calls me. I tell her open trunk take out Jumper Cables, Then open hood of car and I will explain how to hook up on batter on positive and negative and then you do the same to the other car. 10 seconds into to explaining a UPS driver doubled parked next to her and jumped her while I was on the phone.

Off she went. She was joking that was like less than one minute. But I was that was cause you had the cables. Once you open hood and and have cables out people usually help.

Jump start batteries are actually cheap now— don’t even need someone else to stop. Like the Noco boost G40 is around 100 (also recharges other things too).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't have a rec for a kit but here are some suggestions.

There is a machine you can buy to pump up tires. I wish I had that. I haven't gotten around to buying one but I am sick of hunting for places that have working machines.

Kits used to have flares. Now they have better things like LEDs. Look for that.

An AAA membership makes a good gift. I haven't changed a tire yet. I have used AAA help many times... for dead batteries in winter or due to lights draining, mechanical breakdowns, etc.

Jumper cables are useless if you don't have experience with them.

Jumper Cables are EXTREMELY USEFUL if you dont know how to use it. My 19 year old daughter I put them in the trunk of her car at college. She went to a concert in Philly and stayed over night her friends house. She comes out in morning car wont start. She calls me. I tell her open trunk take out Jumper Cables, Then open hood of car and I will explain how to hook up on batter on positive and negative and then you do the same to the other car. 10 seconds into to explaining a UPS driver doubled parked next to her and jumped her while I was on the phone.

Off she went. She was joking that was like less than one minute. But I was that was cause you had the cables. Once you open hood and and have cables out people usually help.

She might have been better off reading the owners manual. Last connection should be to bare metal of dead car.

[Anonymous]

AAA membership. Also, a tire valve stem tool. Not sure about the official name. The auto parts place will know what I mean.

[Anonymous]

Put a simple first aid kit in the trunk also. Need not be complicated. Mainly bandaids.

[Anonymous]

Make sure the spare tire is correctly inflated when they come home from break. Tires can slowly lose tire pressure over time.

Not much is worse than having a flat tire and then discovering the spare is either flat or under-inflated.

[Anonymous]

My mom gives us foil emergency blankets wrapped in small packets because we live in a snowy area.

We've never used them for cold but every once in a while we end up needing a picnic type blanket while traveling and they come in handy.

[Anonymous]

My husband made one for each of our cars and put in one of those foil blankets as well as some condensed protein snacks that are good for years in addition to basic first aid and car stuff. Just used a plastic bin with a lid. Mine is in my frunk so I don't ever even think about it.

[Anonymous]

One of those tools that will cut the seat belt and break the windows if you are trapped in the car

[Anonymous]

How far away is the college? Will they be doing a lot of long-distance driving between home and school, or is this mainly for driving around town, where they'll have good cell service and access to a tow truck / Uber / friend to come pick them up?

For around town:
Jumper cables or one of those external jump-start batteries
Tire pressure gauge
$2 in quarters in case change is needed for an air compressor at a gas station
Extension bar for getting the lug nuts off a flat tire (if needed ... I'm in decent shape, and half the time I can't get them off if the last shop overtightened them)

For longer drives, add:
LED flares
Foil emergency blanket
Bottle of water
Protein bar (or teach them to always pack snacks for a long drive)