Every car owner has to put up with some
dire times every now and then. Things like flat tires, dead batteries, etc. are
the kind that can leave you high and dry. While advancements in technology have
more or less cured some plaguing issues for car owners, no one wants to see
their car in a bad shape. We went around, talked to a few people and asked them
about the things they would want in their vehicles at all times. We came up
with a list which is not exhaustive but covers almost all of your needs. Read
on to find out :
1. CAR COVER
Owning a car in Canada, USA, Australie,
India... is an experience like no other. If you do not own a garage, chances
are you would spend a lot of morning doing nothing but ensuring your car is
clean as the one who is paid to do so has not showed up (that guy also is a
recipient of a lot of curses). However, very few of us actually bother with
keeping our cars protected from dust, dirt, Mother Nature (diarrhea-struck
birds, caterpillars taking a walk, ants out on a trek, etc.). In such a case,
if your car could be covered, all you would have to do every morning is take
the cover off, sit in the car and drive off. So why don’t you go buy a cover
for your car right now.
2.
CLEANING CLOTH
A problem with keeping a car cover is
that using it when you have parked your car at the office would make you feel
like a fool (try it if you disagree with us). IN such a case, a cleaning cloth
is the kind of accessory that would come to your rescue as cars get dirty
standing in parking lots too. By using a cleaning cloth, you would be able to
wipe off the dirt, dust, etc. from your car and would not need to put up with a
car that is not as clean as it was when you drove it from your home to office.
Now, you cannot use any cloth as a cleaning cloth for your car as it might damage
your car’s paint too. try to shop for a nice cleaning cloth for your car that
is also easy on your car’s paint.
3.
SEATS COVER AND FLOOR MATS
After covering the car on the outside, we
move to the inside which is where you will be spending the most of your time
with your car. Nowadays, many cars come with seat covers and floor mats as
features covered by variants or accessories offered by dealers as essentials.
However, most of the times, these accessories do not cover your needs the way
you want them to. Case in point for things like seat covers and floor mats. You
do not want to soil your car’s factory seat covers as they will help you fetch
a good price on resale market. Similarly, you do not wish to spoil the car’s
floor and hence, need good quality floor mats.
4.
AIR FRESHENER
Maintaining a car is tiresome experience.
Keeping it mechanically sound and clean inside-out requires a lot of effort.
However, no matter how clean your car is on the inside, you would not want to
sit in a place that does not smell nice. No! No! We are not judging your
cleaning skills. What we are saying is not to take a chance after you have done
all that effort to keep your car in top shape. Invest in a nice air freshener
to ensure you feel nice when you take your car for a spin. If your smells nice,
driving your car around will not feel like chore.
5.
PUNCTURE REPAIR KIT
An important part of your car is the set
of tyres it runs on. These tyres help your car in putting down the power you
ask it, help it to stop in time and help you to stay safe when you drive around
in inclement weather conditions. So, ignoring your car’s tyres is not something
you can afford to do. But sometimes, you do not get to know till late that your
car’s tyres had been suffering until you park your car for some time. When you
come back, you realise one of the tyres of your car have gone flat and now,
since you cannot drive your car in that state, you are left stranded. Well, not
anymore. With the mass availability of tubeless tyres on almost all cars, puncture
repair kits have also become widespread and can help you in getting out of the
fix called a flat tyre. You can still use a spare wheel but those trips to the
local puncture repair guy is what you will be able to avoid.
6.
TIRE INFLATOR AND PRESSURE GAUGE
If you have made up your mind about
getting a puncture repair kit for your car, why not also invest in getting a
tyre pressure gauge and tyre inflator too. Hear us out – if your car suffers a
flat tyre and you have fixed it, it still cannot take your car anywhere on a
deflated tyre. Having a tyre inflator and pressure gauge can help you inflating
your car’s deflated tyre on the go and up to optimum levels. Plus, your car’s
tyres will be able to live through their service life, if you take proper care
of them.
7.
GPS NAVIGATORS
It is not an everyday occurrence that you
find yourself lost trying to find a location. But not everybody is the same and
a lot of us admit to being unable to remember the ways around. A GPS navigator
is more than just a luxury item for them. With smartphones’ computing power
pushing through the roof and their batteries not being able to keep up, by the
time you are done with your office, your phone gives up on you or is always on
the verge of doing so. If you have to visit an unknown place then, you would
not be able to use your phone’s navigation facility. Also, since there is no
unlimited mobile internet packs available with telecom companies in India,
using Google Maps, etc. on the phone can turn out to be a costly affair. It is
at times like these that you wish to have a GPS navigator in your car. Unlike
your phone, which might lose its connectivity too, the GPS navigator connects
with satellites directly and stays connected at all times. That is what makes
them effective and indispensable.
8.
COMPREHENSIVE TOOL KIT
It is one thing to not know what is wrong
with your car and hence, unable to fix it. It is quite different from the part
that you do not care what goes wrong with your car and bother about getting it
fixed. While none of us feels like belonging to the second category, we all
would prefer to tighten up that loose screw or bolt to ensure a part/panel does
not rattle. However, we may not have the necessary tools at our disposal and
what we may have at our homes or in our car’s tool kit may be inadequate to
deal with the situation. Investing in a tool kit has its own advantages as it
will help you deal with occasional loose nuts and bolts and the same tools can
also be for repair works inside your house.
9.
PARKING SENSORS/CAMERA
With parking spaces becoming more and
more crowded, it is becoming an even bigger challenge for all of us to park out
cars safely in parking lots. Parking sensors and cameras have been able to save
us from a lot of mess, not to forget bumped cars and repair bills. Some cars
come fitted with parking sensors and some with parking cameras right off the
factory, but we feel such features should not be enjoyed by certain car users
only.
10.
JUMPER CABLE
We have become used to standing and
waiting at red lights, especially so in peak hours. At such times, many of us
prefer to turn off our car’s engines. But shutting down of car’s engine is not
followed by shutting down of car’s accessories too, leading to unnecessary
drain of your car’s battery. If you are unlucky, your car may also refuse to
fire up. Now that is one time you would not want to face ever. This is one of
those times when having a pair of jumper cables can help you in getting out of
a fix right away. People may refuse to help you by towing your car, but not if
the fix is so simple as drawing a bit power from their car’s battery. With more
cars being sold with automatic transmissions, it becomes even more important to
have a jumper cable onboard, just in case a situation arises in which you need
them.
