I have 100' of 3/8 rope ($12 home depot) in my car for the same reason; but also have 4 small pulleys sized for the 3/8 rope (another few bucks, same aisle in home depot). incorporating the pulleys creates a block and tackle setup and reduces friction dramatically. With 4 pulley's one can transfer 8x the power of tugging a single rope. Add more pulleys = more power (but need more rope to move object the same distance). I've used this method in the woods to drag huge logs around. Pulling the van out of a mud hole would be simple. Of course one could always buy a come-along, but they are not as fun!