Breaking down in winter is a different prospect to breaking down in July. The stakes are higher, the consequences arrive faster, and the margin for error shrinks to nothing. A minor inconvenience in summer becomes a genuine safety concern when temperatures drop below freezing and daylight disappears by four in the afternoon.
Start with the basics that actually keep you alive. A proper winter blanket or sleeping bag goes in the boot, not the flimsy emergency foil thing that tears the moment you unfold it. If you're stuck for hours waiting for recovery, hypothermia becomes a real risk. Add warm clothes, a waterproof jacket, gloves, and a hat. Layers matter more than bulk. Your body loses heat faster than you think when you're sitting still in a cold car with the engine off.
Water and non perishable food come next. Stuck traffic or a closed road can turn a 30 minute wait into three hours. A few bottles of water and some energy bars take up minimal space and mean you're not dealing with dehydration or low blood sugar on top of everything else. Forget anything that needs preparation. You want food you can eat immediately.
A torch is non negotiable, and not the phone light you'll drain in 20 minutes. Get a proper LED torch with spare batteries, or better yet, one with a hand crank. You'll need it to check under the bonnet, signal for help, or simply see what you're doing when you're trying to dig snow away from the exhaust. Speaking of which, a small shovel is worth having. Not a full size garden spade, but something compact that can clear snow from around the wheels or create a path if you're properly stuck.
Jump leads or a portable jump starter solve the most common winter breakdown cause: a dead battery. Cold weather kills batteries faster than anything else, and modern cars with their endless electronics drain power even when parked. A jump starter means you don't need to flag down another car or wait for recovery. They're small, relatively cheap, and genuinely useful year round.
Ice scraper and de icer go without saying, but add a can of WD40 or similar. Frozen locks are still a thing, and you'll look foolish standing next to your car unable to get in. A high visibility vest is legally required in many European countries and sensible everywhere else. If you're out of the car on a dark road, you want to be seen. Add a warning triangle while you're at it.
First aid kit, phone charger (the 12V plug kind, not reliant on the battery you just drained), and a tow rope round out the essentials. The tow rope is optimistic, granted, but if someone can pull you out of a ditch or a snow drift, you'll be glad it's there.
None of this is glamorous. None of it is expensive. But the difference between mild inconvenience and genuine danger often comes down to whether you bothered to throw a blanket and a torch in the boot before winter arrived. December gives you no second chances.
