Gear
The best car accessories, one buying guide at a time
One page per thing worth keeping in a car, each one a shortlist rather than a catalogue: what the segments are, which pick answers each one, and what the specification actually decides.
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Buying guides
Tire inflators
Eight portable compressors, one per job: the unit that runs off the lighter socket, the cordless one that actually gets used, the off-road workhorse, and the kit that seals a puncture.
- Best budget
- Best cordless
- Best for tool owners
8 picks, one per job
Jump starters
Eight lithium packs and one professional lead-acid unit, sorted by the engine each one has to turn over rather than by the peak-amp number on the box.
- Best overall compact
- Best for big engines
- Best all-in-one
8 picks, one per job
Dash cams
Eight cameras sorted by what has to be recorded: the road ahead, the road behind, the cabin as well, and whatever happens while the car is parked.
- Best front-only
- Best value front+rear
- Best for rideshare
8 picks, one per job
OBD2 scanners
Nine tools, from a reader that tells you why the light is on to a bidirectional tablet that can command a module and watch it answer.
- Best entry code reader
- Best budget dongle
- Best budget full-system
9 picks, one per job
Level 2 EV chargers
Four home chargers, a portable, and the adapters that decide which public stations your car can actually use — judged on certification and amperage before anything else.
- Best value / best overall
- Best plug-in / renter pick
- Best for Tesla / smart homes
9 picks, one per job
What each guide leads back to
Every buying guide sits next to the service that answers the same problem when the product cannot. These are the pairs.
A compressor holds a tire that is losing air slowly. It does nothing for a sidewall cut, a blown bead, or lug nuts that will not move — and those are the ones that need somebody at the roadside with a jack.
A pack starts a car whose battery is flat. It says nothing about why the battery went flat, and a battery that has died twice will die a third time — usually somewhere less convenient than a driveway.
Footage decides who was at fault. It does not move the car off the road, and after a collision a vehicle usually has to be recovered rather than driven — often before anyone has looked at the video.
A scanner names the fault. It does not restart a car that has already stopped, and some codes mean the engine must not be run at all — which is a reason to call rather than to keep driving to the next exit.
The charger is the cheap half. What decides whether a 48A unit is even possible is the panel, the cable run and the permit — a licensed electrician’s job, and the part a rebate programme usually asks to see evidence of.