Beyond a shadow of a doubt, there is no universal rule for the weather in winter. Unless you are living in the area where the temperature never goes below 15℃, you can never be sure about the unpredictability of nature. Of course, winters also differ from one region of the planet to another with a wide range of temperatures and humidity. At the same time, while in some places you can be absolutely sure that winter can start at any moment right now, as it is absolutely high time for the beginning of the season, in other locations winter can make you wait for cold weather for long time and then make you a rather unpleasant surprise.
For that reason, it will be highly sensible to start your winter preparations before you get into any unpleasant winter event with your car. Certainly, there is a couple of items which will help you to feel safer during the winter period.
An ice scraper
An ice scraper is the simplest possible item one can get for a car for the winter season, yet, if you do not have it in your car, it can turn your day into a real disaster.
Of course, if your model of vehicle is new enough to be equipped into glass heating which will help you to unfreeze the surface of your car, getting your car all covered in the ice might not be such a horror for you. Still, if you can’t count on such a helpful tool, you will have to get rid of ice manually which might be hardly possible if your do not have a basic scraper. You can imagine how disappointing it will be to get late to work because you were not able to get your car out of the icy grip.
Driving with frozen glass is not only dangerous as your view will be rather limited, but in many places you can also get fined for such a practice. That is why an efficient and resilient scraper with an ergonomic handler will be great for your car. You can also use a model with a brush which will act like a multi-functional tool.
A good example of such a multifunctional tool is AstroAI Snow Brush and Detachable Ice Scraper which costs only 15 USD which can be used with a brush as well.
Buttery jump starter
If you have ever used a car during a cold winter, you have definitely noticed that the battery of your vehicle wasn’t particularly happy about all that freezing weather. Unfortunately, during the cold season, car batteries tend to behave in a rather unpredictable way which is true for both the newest models of cars packed with electric systems and the older cars with a quite simple design.
In order to avoid the costs of an emergency call to the tow-truck service, it will be a good idea to purchase your own buttery jump starter. Of course, this is not the cheapest purchase on this list, however, it will help you to save a lot of money, time and nerves in the future. For instance, TackLifeT8-Newer Model 800A Peak 18000mAh Car Jump Starter costs somewhat around 80 USD which is definitely worth it.
Traction mat
Undoubtedly, snowy winters can add some extra species to your driving experience. For instance, one day you might get stuck in the middle of nowhere not being able to move your car on the snowy or icy surface. Sometimes, no matter how hard you are trying, but your tires simply can’t make any smallest movement whatsoever.
Fortunately, in such cases, you can use a special traction mat which should be thrown close to the driving wheels of your car. As a rule, you will immediately feel the difference between pushing your car upon ice or snow and pushing it when it is on the traction mat. Such a useful item for your car during the winter season can cost you around 50 USD.
Shovel
While a traction mat is needed for helping your car to get out of some particularly frozen or snowy area, you should also take care of yourself and prepare for a possibility of being stocked somewhere surrounded by snow. The amount of snow around you can be thus large that you won’t be able to open the door of your car and get out of the vehicle.
Certainly, it doesn’t mean that you should transport a full-size shovel with you. For this purpose, manufacturers have special collapsible shovels of quite small dimensions. For instance, Hopkins 17211 SubZero Auto Emergency Snow Shovel will cost you nearly 17 USD and, if you are fortunate to come across some sales, you might find it for 13 USD as well.
Warm blanket
Although having a warm blanket seems to be a precaution measure for a real emergency, but no one can be sure whether it will happen to him or her and when it might happen. If you don’t want to get yourself into a real trouble while travelling in rather isolated areas during the winter, you should think about purchasing a heavy blanket of a high quality.
One of the great blankets of this type are offered by Tirrinia. Their outdoor blankets are waterproof and equipped into Sherpa lining making them particularly warm. Such a blanket can also be used during summer as a picnic mat.