The most 6 useful things to keep in your glovebox

28th Jan, 2020

Getting organised is a fairly common theme for most people’s New Year’s Resolutions, so with that in mind, we’ve been having a think about all the various useful and convenient things you can keep in your glovebox to save yourself time, effort and stress. We don’t doubt you’ve probably survived just fine without most of them so far, but trust us – it never hurts to be properly prepared, especially if you end up in a scenario that involves having to scrap your car! This list isn’t exhaustive, but here are our top recommendations.

Official paperwork and documents

If you’ve ever taken your car abroad, you may have already found that the glovebox tends to make a natural storage place for passports and other important documents that you might need to quickly retrieve. So, when it comes to storing records of insurance and other equally important documents, your glovebox provides the perfect place to store those too. If you’re stopped by the police for any reason (and don’t forget, you don’t necessarily have to be guilty of anything for them to do so), they can demand to see not just your driver’s licence, but also other records like proof of insurance. Therefore, it helps to have copies of them to hand. You’ll still be able to prove your case without the physical documents, but it’ll add a lot of hassle to your day!

We’d recommend having:

• Your V5C (or registration document)
• Proof of insurance
• Proof of tax
• Owner’s manual and maintenance schedule

It’s also handy to have mechanic’s reports, MOT certificates and any other paper record of work that’s been done on your vehicle. That’s not a legal requirement, but can be handy if you’re taking the car in for repairs or routine servicing, as mechanics can find it helpful to get the full details on what work has already been done on the car.

First aid kit

Obviously, this is something that we’d all hope we wouldn’t need, but it’s a good idea to have it with you regardless. The sad fact is that sometimes injuries can happen, even after the car’s come to a halt. For example, it’s not unknown for drivers to open their bonnets and scald themselves on the engine, as it takes a good while to cool down after the car’s been stopped. Bandages, plasters and similar common items are good things to have on hand, and a bottle of water never goes amiss either.

On a related note, if you’ve got any medical conditions or allergies, it’s a good plan to have copies of this information packaged in with your first aid equipment or in an easily visible place within your vehicle – just in case you’re injured or become otherwise unable to communicate in the event of an accident.

A torch

Whether you’re broken down on a dual carriageway in the dead of night, or you just want to get a better look at the engine so you can see where to attach the jump leads, a suitably bright torch is your very best friend. It’s especially worth its weight in gold if you break down with pets or human passengers in the car, as it can help you to navigate them (and yourself) to safety on the bank.

Cleaning wipes and tissues

OK, so it might not be quite as essential from a safety or legal perspective as some of the other items we’ve mentioned above, but there’s no denying that having something to tackle sudden messes can help make a journey bearable until you can get the car home to be properly cleaned. Again, you’ll probably find that cleaning wipes, tissues and hand sanitiser to be especially useful if you’re a parent or a pet owner, as children and animals can be… well, a little unpredictable on the longer journeys.

Pen and paper

If you’re ever in an accident, you’ll want a pen and paper, as you’ll need to record the details of any other drivers involved, and the circumstances of the accident. These days, lots of people prefer to use their phones, but the thing about a pen and paper is that it never runs out of battery. Plus, it allows you to quickly and easily sketch an outline of the accident and the vehicles involved, which is something that insurance companies typically recommend that you do. You might be able to think of a few apps for that, but trust us – when it comes to any car accidents, it’s best to keep things old-school.

When it comes to scrapping your car though, we like to keep things cutting-edge here at Scrap Car Network. That’s why we’ve stripped back our processes to the bare basics, so you can save maximum time and hassle when scrapping your car with us. All you need to do is enter your car reg and postcode into the fields on our site, and we’ll give you an instant online quote. It couldn’t be easier to get an instant online valuation of your car – so why don’t you find out how much yours is worth?