Car emergency kit: the list, and what each country makes you carry

The list: breakdown, cold and heat

Eight car lists from the US, Canada, Ireland, Britain and Spain, seven of them official and one from the American motoring club AAA, agree on only one item: something warm. Seven of the eight name a torch, water, food and an ice scraper, and five a first-aid kit and a warning device. The list prints, for the inside of the boot lid.

In heat, the rule that matters is Ready.gov’s: “Never leave people or pets in a closed car on a warm day.”¹³ The Highway Code adds one for the driver: keep the car well ventilated, to avoid drowsiness.⁷ Food in the boot is kept the way its label says, like any packed food, and that goes for our pouches too.

What the law makes you carry, country by country

Here the lists stop agreeing. Each country sets the equipment for the cars registered there, and its rules on the road, such as wearing the vest when you get out, apply to everyone driving in it. Check the rules of every country you drive through before you travel.

Spain is the case that catches people out. Since 1 January 2026 the connected V-16 beacon, a yellow light placed as high on the car as possible that reports its position to the national traffic platform, is the only legal way for a Spanish-registered car to signal a breakdown on the carriageway; old unconnected beacons no longer count.²¹⁶ A car registered elsewhere still complies in Spain with the triangles of its own country, and the DGT says a Spanish car complies with its V-16 in any country that signed the 1968 Vienna Convention.² A hire car carries the kit of the country it’s registered in; the Austrian motoring club ÖAMTC gives a Spanish hire car with its V-16 as the example.²⁶ GOV.UK puts the check on you: if you’re hiring, it’s your responsibility to make sure the equipment is there.²⁷

In the United States the federal standard for warning devices is written for trucks and buses over 10,000 lb (about 4,500 kg);²⁸ with a private car, check the rules of each state you drive through. Canada’s federal car-kit pages are advice, and their lines are in the list above;⁶⁸ in Canada and Australia, check the province’s or state’s rules before you travel, and in New Zealand the national ones.

Get out, or stay in: two different situations

The advice to get out and the advice to stay in are both right, for two different places to be stuck.

Water on the road is the third case, and Ready.gov gives the figures: 15 cm (6 inches) of water can make a car lose control or stall, and 30 cm (1 foot) will float many cars.¹ If you do have to walk, the steps for finding your way and being found are in what to do if you get lost on a hike.

Water and food for a 24-hour wait

None of the car lists gives litres or grams. The household figures do, and a day in a car is a day like any other.

Dried food takes its water from the same bottles you drink from, so if the boot holds pouches, count that water in. Most pouches work with cold water, 20–30 minutes depending on the meal: Chicken & Rice needs 370 ml and about 20 minutes; for Guacamole it’s cold water only. The working out for a longer stretch is in how much water to store per person, and the same food logic for a tent is in camping food with no fridge and no flame.

When to check it

A kit in the boot ages faster than one in a cupboard, and four things in it have a clock:

• The beacon: the DGT recommends new batteries every year, or a full charge at least once a year for a rechargeable one, and keeping it in the glovebox, charged.²
• The torch: Ireland says check it monthly.⁴
• The water: Canada says change the bottles every six months.⁶
• The fuel: Ready.gov says keep the tank full; in winter that also keeps the fuel line from freezing.¹

Before a winter trip add the chains, and before any trip abroad, the tables above. If you also keep a bag by the door for leaving on foot, it shares half this list: the go bag list has the rest.

The food in the kit

One-Day Ration is a day’s food in one box: breakfast, two mains and a pudding, each sealed in its own pouch. It’s the food in a car kit, not the kit: the blanket, the torch and the vest stay on your list.

From our range

One-Day Ration

One day’s food in 4 pouches: 570 g, 2,321 kcal.

€42.90Hear from us before the shop opensSee the box