Car Emergency Preparedness – Easy Tips For All Types of Weather Emergencies


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Must Know Car Maintenance & Car Emergency Preparedness Tips.

One of the easiest ways that you can start to prepare for an emergency is to have your car served and ready to go. You’ll find great car maintenance tips and also the best emergency items to keep in your vehicle in this post. Also with a few other simple emergency preparedness tips.

These tips will be good for weather emergencies as well as health emergencies, too. As long as you take the time now to have a plan in place, you can rest easy knowing that if and when an emergency strikes, you’ll be prepared to act with a calm and clear mind right away.

car emergency preparedness tips.  imag of car with emergency roadside cones

Easy Car Maintenance Tips

Taking care of your car isn’t hard. In fact, it’s one of the most proactive things that you can do. This means that you’re ensuring that you’ve done everything in your power to give your car the upkeep that it needs to function in the best way possible. And don’t get stressed out over this. Many of these items are simple and can be done in a short amount of time.

Check your tires every 6 months

While it might feel like overkill, checking your tires and tire tread every 6 months or so isn’t a bad idea. This will alert you of the need for new tires, making it a simple transition to make it happen.

The last thing that you need is to be dealing with a blowout or a low/flat tire. This could be devastating during a time that you really need to get somewhere quickly.

Make certain that your headlights function and don’t need to be replaced

Not all emergencies are going to happen during the day when the daylight can be your guide. This is why it’s imperative to double-check your headlights and be certain that they’re working just fine.

If not, change out the bulk or take it to a local mechanic that can help you get it all figured out. Having headlights that work is a must at all times. Another great resource is YouTube.

Check the fluid levels of your vehicle

There is a lot of liquid that your car needs to do its job! Take the time to make certain that you have windshield wiper fluid, brake fluid, and blinker fluid as well. (okay, so blinker fluid isn’t real and is just a little joke but you totally get what I mean!)

Now that you know some of the simple, but important, car maintenance tips, let’s take a look at some of the best items to keep in your car just in case you need help during an emergency.

Car Emergency Preparedness - Easy Tips For All Types of Weather Emergencies - roadside flat tire

Emergency Items For Your Vehicle

The great thing about having your car during an emergency is that you can have certain items in it that can actually be a huge help!

Blankets and other warm items

It’s never a bad idea to keep a few extra blankets in the trunk of your car. Bad weather can strike easily and if it’s cold, you might find yourself stranded for a short time. Having blankets and extra hats and gloves in your car can be a simple way to maintain your body temperature and not get frozen.

Water Bottles and Snacks

Water is essential for the body to stay warm and functioning so having a few bottles of water in your car is a great idea. You can also pack some snack food items that don’t need to be kept in the fridge, either. This is a simple way to rest easy knowing that you’ve got snacks and water just in case something happens.

Jumper Cables

HUGE! This is huge! Everyone needs to be certain that they have jumper cables in their car. Cars can be fickle and sometimes, they just aren’t going to start. It could be because you forgot to turn off the interior light and it drained the battery or it could be that your battery is just too old and you need a new one. Regardless, have jumper cables in your trunk. Period. This has to be the most common car emergency that roadside services respond to.

Flashlight

While you hope to never need it, having a flashlight can help in so many ways. First off, it can help you to see in the dark should you be trapped in an area where there isn’t any light.

And secondly, you can use your flashlight to maybe get someone’s attention if you happen to be in an area that you can’t get help or where you can’t be seen from the road.

Make certain to get a flashlight that has a strong beam and have it fully charged or extra batteries with it as well, just in case.

Jumper Box

This is different than jumper cables, and are great for emergencies. This simple tool is one that you can keep in your car and it means that you can jump your car yourself, without having to rely on the help of a complete stranger. No need to wait for a tow truck, either when you have this.

Flares. Roadside Markers

There are so many kinds. You can google roadside flares roadside markers. These are essential as part of your auto safety kit. Imagine breaking down in bad weather or in the dark and your battery dies, you have no emergency flasher! Whenever you have an opportunity to prevent an accident, do it. You are potentially saving your live, your children as well as others on the road. No joke, be sure you have these. I’ve included a pic and link of my ‘pick’ but you do your research for what best suits your budget and travel needs.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways that you can be prepared for emergencies when they happen. Since none of us have a crystal ball, there’s no way to really know if, or when, any of these are actually going to happen.

The best way that you can be prepared is to take steps now to have simple plans in place. The more that you can stock items just in case, the better reaction time you’ll have when it’s time to use any of your items.

Make certain that you’re up to date on all the service maintenance on your car, especially during times of the year when bad weather is imminent in your area.

And besides car maintenance, you can also start purchasing and preparing your car with the easy list of emergency items above as well. None of these items will take up a lot of space but they’re great for helping you in a wide variety of needs and emergency situations.

Above all, remember to stay calm and level-headed during an emergency so that you can quickly react based upon knowledge, rather than fear.

Having a Plan, Being prepared is good common sense. We’ve all had unexpected moments when we said ‘if only’. For real, these things end up saving lives, stress and yes lots of money when all is said and done.

Other helpful preparedness articles for you to check out:

Don’t Be Caught Unprepared In Severe Weather Emergencies.

Unexpected illnesses are part of life, being parepared can save lives.

Have you ever been stuck on the road with a car emergency and unprepared ?

How did you handle the situation?

Matt R

Hi, my name is Matt and I'm the founder of Barefoot Budgeting. This site is dedicated to one thing... helping you budget and save money.

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