Holiday Gear Guide: Top Car Safety & Maintenance Gifts

If you’ve ever woken up ready to start your commute only to find your car battery dead, you know the frustration is real. Worse still is when you’re out and about and come back to a car that won’t start. You have to call someone to come out to where you are to jump start your car. But what if instead of those jumper cables kicking around your trunk, you had a portable device that could give your dead battery the jump it needs with no other vehicle required.  Portable jump starters are small and easy to store in a glove box and cost around $100 - $200. While hopefully you won’t need to use it very often, you or your giftee will be happy to have it when they do need it.

While not your traditional stocking stuffer, stick on blind spot mirrors are an inexpensive addition that can significantly increase your field of view. Traditional mirrors leave blind spots that can lead to accidents when merging or turning. Blind spot mirrors easily adhere to the vehicle's existing mirrors and use a convex lens, which curves outwards. This curvature provides a wider viewing angle compared to your car's flat side mirrors. These handy stick ons will run you about $5 - $10.

There’s nothing worse than having to deal with a flat tire, or even a tire that’s just low on pressure. At those times, a cordless tire inflator can be a huge asset. These tire inflators are great for portability and not having to find an outlet, but also much faster than manual pumps. When looking at different options available on the market, consider factors like pumping speed, ease of use, battery life and price. The average price for this handy gift is anywhere from $25 - $100.

Nearly all tires gradually lose pressure over time, especially in the event of changing temperatures. And maintaining the recommended tire pressure in your vehicle is important for safety and performance. When the tire pressure is too low, the tires don’t wear evenly, the vehicle isn’t as fuel efficient and braking and handling can be compromised. There are three types of tire-pressure gauges: stick, digital and dial. If you or your recipient need to frequently check pressure at night, consider springing for a digital gauge with an illuminated display. Tire pressure gauges can range from $5 - $100.

Another gift you hope never leaves the glove compartment, but that you will be relieved to have in the event that you need it: the window breaker or car escape tool. This is a little tool designed to quickly cut through seatbelts and break car windows in the event of an unexpected emergency on the road. Some of these tools come with additional features designed to help in various emergency situations including flashlights, USB chargers and safety sirens/beacons to help rescuers locate you. These little gadgets, depending on the quality and features, usually cost between $10 - $50.

Your giftee won’t have to fear the check engine light anymore, once they’re armed with this tool. A car diagnostic scanner — also known as an on-board diagnostics (OBD2) code reader — is a device that communicates with your vehicle’s computer system to help you understand potential problems. Some more advanced models also offer features like live data streaming (so you can monitor an issue while in motion), freeze frame data capture (so you can pinpoint the moment a fault code is triggered) and tire pressure monitoring to name a few. While the scanner can’t fix your car for you, in the hands of the right DIY auto repair enthusiast, it’s a great gift. Household scanners can run from $30 - $300. The professional ones used by auto repair shops can run in the thousands.