Winter Driving Kit Checklist

Who this is for

Three short lists for cold weather: the kit that lives in the vehicle, the checks made before setting off, and the extras worth carrying on a long or remote journey. Every line is a thing to pack or to look at before you go.

Anyone driving through a cold season, parents kitting out a first car, and people whose route crosses open country where a wait for recovery would be a long one.

What this helps you track

• What is actually in the boot, rather than what you assume is in there
• Which of it needs replacing, charging or topping up before the cold arrives
• The checks made before a winter journey, in an order you can work down
• The extras a longer or more remote trip is worth carrying
• Your own items, added in the browser version or written in the margin

How to use it

1. Write the vehicle, who checked it and the date at the top, and a date to check it again.
2. Empty the boot and work down the kit list, ticking only what you can actually see.
3. Replace what has gone flat, run out or been borrowed, and add your own items in the browser version or in the margin.
4. Use the before-setting-off list on the day, not the week before; lights, washers and tyres change.
5. Check tyre pressures and tread against the figures in your own vehicle's handbook and the rules where you are — none is printed here.
6. Tick the long-trip list only when you are actually making one, and put the sheet back in the glovebox.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The online version keeps what you enter in your own browser and builds the completed PDF on your device.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How much tread and what pressures?

Whatever your vehicle's handbook gives and the rules where you are require. Those differ by vehicle, by tyre and by country, so no figure appears anywhere on this sheet — check yours and write it in the blanks.

Do I need winter tyres?

That depends on where you drive, the conditions and local rules, some of which make them compulsory for part of the year. The checklist has a line for tyres; what you fit is a decision for your own circumstances.

Is this list complete?

No list is. It covers what is commonly carried, and the blank lines exist because your route, your vehicle and your passengers will add to it — medication, a child's seat, an animal, a charging cable for a particular car. The browser version takes your own items on any of the three lists.

Can I use it for a van or a motorhome?

Yes, with additions. The kit is the same in kind; the quantities and the extras differ, and the browser version takes them.