Originally Posted By: Bingley

1. Almost everyone includes jumper cables in their car kit. How useful are these actually? It seems to me that in town I can probably get towing service in the time it takes to find another car/driver to help jump the car. (Am I overestimating roadside service?)

Wouldn't a standalone battery jumpstart system work better? Or would that be an overkill? Also, how likely is a car battery to fail?

3. What do you do with tea lights? I will include a flashlight and matches. But it seems that some people include this ancient technology for reasons beyond my ken.



For me, jumper cables are as essential as the spare tire. In fact, I've used jumper cables far more than spare tires. And I've invested in good heavy-duty cables (4-guage) because all cables are not equal. I had a battery jumper that was a total waste of $$$ so no more for me unless I someday hear of one that is proven fabulous. I've never had trouble finding someone to give my car a jump -- plenty of good samaritans around and it's an easy favor.

Road Service -- my experience with AAA has been atrocious. For the past decade I've had road service with GEICO insurance and it usually takes about an hour for help to show up. That's in the middle of DC -- get stuck in a remote area and lotsa of luck getting road service any time soon, and that's if you have a cell signal to call for your road service.

I've run the battery down in my cars probably a dozen times in the past two decades - usually because of leaving an interior light or the headlights on. Extremely cold weather can take out an old weak battery (one of my Miatas at the end of a 5-year battery's life). I once killed the car battery because of recharging my Blackberry while camping. Another camper came to the rescue then.

Tea lights can help start a campfire, as well as provide some light. I have 9-hour UCO emergency candles in my car.