Top five items you should carry in your car

It has been a long time since it was common to see vehicles on the side of the road, bonnet up and broken down. Cars have become far more reliable, but they are not immune from problems – due to a vehicle fault or otherwise -- that could not only leave you stranded but potentially in danger.

Of course nothing will better serve as insurance against breakdowns than giving your car regular safety checks (including tyre pressures, tread wear, fluid levels and leaks) and routine servicing.

While there will always be the chance that something that you need for a breakdown is exactly what you don’t have with you, with these five bits of gear you’ll cover off most basic roadside emergency situations.

This is a piece of equipment you’d hope you will never need to use, but given how quickly a fire can spread in a vehicle it is a great peace of mind item to have onboard.

You want to buy an ABE powder fire extinguisher, which is usually red with a white coloured band around the top of the cylinder. Although ABE fire extinguishers come in a range of sizes including 1.5kg, 2.0kg, 2.5kg and 4.5kg, a 1.5kg cylinder should be enough to put out a fire in a passenger car if you’re quick to get to it.

This type of fire extinguisher discharges a fine powder that absorbs fuel molecules, depriving the fire of a fuel source. Make sure that the fire extinguisher is secured properly in the vehicle (most come with a bracket that can be screwed down or cable-tied to the vehicle) and placed so that it’s easy to grab in a hurry.

Driver distraction is the curse of the modern age, and so you want anything you can get your hands on that will make other drivers aware of you if you’re presenting a hazard by being stuck on the side of the road.

While a hi-viz vest is often considered as the modern-day tradie’s blue singlet, it might be just the thing that saves your life when changing a flat tyre on the side of a busy, fast-flowing freeway.

Try to get a vest that has reflective strips sewn to it so you’re more visible to other road users if you have a breakdown at night.

Like the hi-viz vest above, a reflective warning triangle will warn other drivers that your vehicle is a potential hazard ahead, either next to or blocking the road (obviously you should do everything you can to safely move the car off the road).

A warning triangle is particularly useful after dark, when headlights will pick it up and warn drivers well ahead of time that there’s a hazard ahead. You should place the warning triangle about 200 metres down the road behind your vehicle.

Even if you don’t work on your car yourself, a basic toolkit might mean the difference between being able to do a simple repair on the road or having either a car that won’t go or that has a simple problem like a blown tail-light globe.

The kit should include flat-blade and Phillips-head screw drivers, a pair of pliers, spare globes and fuses, and a selection of torx head screwdrivers (if your vehicle uses torx head screws, as many modern cars do).

A pair of nitrile gloves will also make a tyre change or quick repair a whole lot less hard on the hands, and come in handy when re-fuelling a diesel vehicle where the fuel bowser handle is slick with fuel.

As any motorsport enthusiast will tell you, there are all sorts of uses for cloth tape that will get you out of strife on the road.

For example if you’ve had a minor bingle and one of your headlights becomes loose or a bumper has popped out and is half on the ground, you’re not exactly in a position to carry on motoring.

Provided it’s only a broken headlight and/or bumper tabs stopping you (and the electrics and mechanicals still work), cloth tape is a perfect short-term fix to hold everything together so you can get going to the nearest panel beater.

Just make sure you don’t try to apply it over filthy paintwork or it won’t stick.