Unless you a re a real mechanic and know what to do with them, you really don't need a lot of tools to weight your car down and cause you to get less fuel mileage. What is the sense of hauling around a bunch of expensive tools if you don't know what to doe with them.

There are four or five things that all cars should have and that is really all you need to haul around with you. every car should have a good set of jumper cables. I don't mean one of those sets that you can get at Wal-Mart for $9.99. Buying a set of jumper cables like that is just like driving down the road and opening the window and sticking a ten dollar bill out the window and letting it go. I have a set of jumper cables that I paid $49.95 for in 1972 and I still have them and they are still GOOD jumper cables. They are heavy duty and have good clamps that make good contact. I have used my cables to start cars that they had jumper cables but they were cheap and no good. the best thing to do with those cheap cables is strip the insulation off and sell the copper and put the money you get for the copper toward a good set of cables. They will last and you won't have to worry about them, Just make sure you have some way of identifying them so when people borrow them you can get them back.

Another thing that is very important to have is a good tow rope or tow strap. Here again you get what you pay for. I have a 1 1/2 inch nylon tow rope that I have had for twenty years and I have pulled 18 wheelers with it. It wasn't that much more than a cheap one that would pull only a small car. I have made several hundred dollars over the last twenty years with that tow rope pulling people out of the ditch.

You should also have a good short handled round point shovel that you can dig in the dirt and mud if need be but will also work if you get stuck in a snow bank somewhere.

I always carry my handy man jack and a piece of chain. With all the plastic bumpers now days you can't use one for a jack on these new cars but if you get stuck and there is nobody around to pull you out, you can tie one end of the handy man to a tree or big fence post with the piece of chain and the other end to the car with the tow rope and winch yourself out. Depending on how big a car you have and if you have room in the trunk you may want a large piece of pipe and a sledge hammer to use for an anchor to pull on.

Of course you always want to have some drinking water and some jerky or cereal bars or something to eat. A roll of toilet paper comes in handy sometimes and of course you should have some blankets or warm clothes if you live where you might need them. A small first aid kit is also a good idea.

Hopefully you will never get in a situation where you need these things but if you do it sure will be nice to have them and to know that they will do the job.

Learn more about this author, Bill Whitney.
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