Almost every car carries some tyre equipment, and a surprising number carry a set that will not actually get the job done. The jack is under the boot floor, the brace is somewhere, the spare has not been checked in five years and the locking wheel nut key is in a house move box. Verifying beats assuming, and it takes ten minutes once.
The genuine essentials
- High-visibility vest for every occupant, stored in the cabin, not the boot. A boot that faces traffic is not somewhere to be rummaging.
- A torch, ideally a headtorch so your hands are free, with working batteries.
- A tyre pressure gauge. Small, cheap, and the only way to check pressures properly away from a forecourt.
- A phone power bank and cable. A phone hunting for signal drains fast.
- The locking wheel nut key, in a known place.
That list is short because it is the list that actually gets used. Everything beyond it is a bonus rather than a necessity, and a boot full of equipment you have never opened is not preparation.
Check what the car already has
Lift the boot floor and establish which of three situations you are in: a full-size spare, a space saver, or a sealant kit and compressor. Each changes what you can do at the roadside, and many drivers do not know which they have until they need it. See spare wheel vs repair kit.
If there is a spare, check its pressure, because a spare loses air over years exactly like any other tyre, and check its condition for cracking. That is covered in spare wheel maintenance.
The locking wheel nut key
This deserves its own heading because it is a common reason a driver with a perfectly good spare still cannot change a wheel. Keys go missing between owners, get left at garages, and wear out so they no longer grip.
Find yours and actually try it on a nut rather than assuming it fits, and write the key's code number somewhere you can find it, because a replacement key is ordered by that code. If it is missing or damaged, that is worth resolving before you need it; a fitter with extraction tools can take the nut off without the key, as covered in locking wheel nut removal.
Things people carry that do not help much
A warning triangle is required in some countries but the Highway Code advises against using one on a motorway, because placing it means walking in a live traffic environment. Guidance on breakdowns and obstructions is in the Highway Code.
A large aerosol sealant is also less useful than it looks: it does nothing for sidewall damage, can complicate a proper repair, and has an expiry date most people never check. Our view is in tyre sealant: good or bad.
The kit list at a glance
Where each item lives matters as much as whether you own it. The point of the cabin-versus-boot split is that you should never need to open the boot on the traffic side of the car to get something that keeps you safe.
| Item | Where to keep it | Check |
|---|---|---|
| High-visibility vests, one per seat | Door pockets or seat backs | Yearly, that they are still there |
| Torch or headtorch | Glovebox | Batteries every six months |
| Tyre pressure gauge | Glovebox | Against a forecourt gauge occasionally |
| Power bank and cable | Centre console | Charged monthly |
| Locking wheel nut key | With the jack, or a fixed spot in the glovebox | Tried on a nut yearly |
| Spare wheel, jack and brace | Boot floor | Spare pressure and condition yearly |
| Sealant kit and compressor (if no spare) | Boot floor | Sealant expiry date yearly |
| Gloves and a small kneeling mat | Boot | None |
The boot items are the ones you only touch when you have decided it is safe to change a wheel. The cabin items are the ones that keep you visible and connected while you decide.
Useful extras once the essentials are covered
A 12-volt tyre inflator is the most useful extra, because it turns a slow puncture from a breakdown into a drive to the fitter. It plugs into the accessory socket and will bring a soft tyre back to pressure in a few minutes.
It does nothing for a sidewall failure or a tyre off the rim, and it is not a repair, but it buys you the ability to reach a safe place or home under your own steam. Read the tyre's pressure with your gauge rather than trusting the inflator's own dial.
Beyond that, in rough order of usefulness:
- A tread depth gauge, so you are not guessing with a coin.
- A short length of board to put under the jack on soft ground.
- A wheel chock, or a large stone will do in an emergency.
- A card with your tyre size, locking nut code and breakdown membership number, kept with the vests.
- A small first aid kit and a bottle of water, because a roadside wait is often longer than expected.
If the car has run-flat tyres there may be no spare and no sealant kit at all, and the right answer is to know the distance and speed the tyres are rated for while deflated.
Winter additions
From November to March, add the things that make a long wait survivable rather than merely inconvenient. A breakdown in the dark at 2°C is a different experience from the same breakdown in June, and rural and motorway waits can be longer in winter, when more cars break down.
- A blanket or foil blanket for each regular occupant, and a spare warm layer.
- Screenwash rated for low temperatures, because you cannot see a hazard through a frozen windscreen.
- An ice scraper and a can of de-icer.
- Snacks and water that will survive a winter in the boot.
- Sturdy shoes if you normally drive in something unsuitable for standing on a verge.
Winter is also when tyre pressures drop with the temperature and when tread depth matters most, so it is the natural time to do the yearly audit below. If you are driving abroad in winter, several countries require specific equipment on board, which is a separate list.
Using the kit safely at the roadside
The kit is only useful in a place where it is safe to use it, and on a motorway that place does not exist.
Highway Code rule 275 (breakdowns and incidents, on GOV.UK) says to leave the car through the left-hand doors and get behind the barrier. National Highways can be called on 0300 123 5000, or 999 if you are stopped in a live lane.
Do not change a wheel on a hard shoulder or in an emergency refuge area; the vests and the phone are the only parts of the kit you use there. Recovery will take the car somewhere safe, and a fitter can meet you there. See hard shoulder safety.
On other roads, the test is simple: firm, level ground, well clear of moving traffic, and enough visibility that an approaching driver sees you in time. A car park, a lay-by or a quiet residential street qualifies.
A bend, a crest, a bus lane or a narrow lane with hedges on both sides do not, and the right move there is to creep to somewhere better or wait for help.
Before you start, vest on, hazards on, passengers well away from the car, and the locking key and brace in hand. If anything in the sequence does not work, a seized nut, a jack that will not lift or a spare that turns out to be flat, stop and call.
That is exactly what our flat tyre help service exists for.
The ten-minute audit
Once a year, ideally before winter: open the boot, find the spare and check its pressure, find the jack and brace, find the locking key and try it, check the torch batteries, and put a vest for each seat in the cabin.
Do the same for anyone else who drives the car. A spouse or a teenager who has never seen the boot floor lifted is in a considerably worse position at the roadside than you are, and a two-minute walkthrough fixes that.
If any of it is missing or the spare is flat, sort it out then rather than at the roadside. We can check the spare and the locking nut situation while we are with you for anything else.
