Survival 101: How to turn your car into a bug-out vehicle

08/02/2024 / By Zoey Sky

If you think an emergency will one day require your family to evacuate, you should prepare a safe bug-out location with supplies. Don’t forget to check if your car can be used as your bug-out vehicle when SHTF.

When things go south, you will need a well-equipped car that can get you to your bug-out location safely.

However, turning your car or truck into the ultimate bug-out vehicle will often depend on the type of vehicle and the amount of money you are willing to spend on the project. Below are some factors to consider when choosing or preparing your bug-out vehicle. (h/t to AskAPrepper.com)

Choosing your car

An SUV or a pickup truck is a great option for a good bug-out car. When driving after SHTF, you may want a four-wheel drive and a high ground clearance.

If you plan on buying another car, choose a make and model that is reliable and doesn’t have chronic issues to avoid a breakdown in an emergency.

However, not everyone can afford to buy a car just for bugging out. If this is the case, you have the option to modify your current car or truck you own.

Additionally, you need to consider your car’s limitations while planning your routes.

Take note of the maximum load that your car or truck can carry, the ground clearance and the number of passengers it can carry as you plan and prepare the vehicle.

Fuel

Regardless of the distance between your home and bug-out location, you need to stock up on extra fuel.

Store the extra fuel in jerry cans that you can store on the roof or trailer hitch rack. Like your other supplies, fuel should be rotated regularly. Add a stabilizer as needed.

Before SHTF, try driving to your hideout in your bug-out car so you can figure out how much fuel it will take to get you there.

If possible, select a bug-out location that’s close enough to not need extra fuel. But if your gas drops to half full, you should have enough extra to refill the gas tank.

You can also hide caches of food, water, fuel and gear along the way so you can resupply.

Navigation

Having onboard GPS is great, but you will need paper maps of the entire route to your bug-out destination.

Knowing how to navigate in a hurry or changing course as you travel is important if you want to reach your destination safely, particularly if you come across blocked or closed routes.

When prepping a bug-out car, get a compass, a protractor, topographical maps, road maps and a handheld GPS. Learn how to use these tools and teach the person in the passenger seat who will act as your primary navigator. (Related: Bug out survival planning: How to get out of the city after SHTF.)

Communication

Your bug-out car should have a VHF/UHF amateur radio. Before SHTF, program all local repeaters, emergency frequencies, Family Radio Service channels, General Mobile Radio Service channels, Multi-Use Radio Service channels, Search and Rescue channels, trucker and highways channels and relevant simplex frequencies into the radio.

If possible, install a radio with dual receive capability so you can monitor two channels simultaneously. Doing this means you can have one frequency set for talking and coordination between your family or other preppers you are bugging out with while you also monitor another frequency or scan a bank of frequencies.

It is crucial to learn here how to legally turn a CB car radio into a useful transmitter that can emit and receive communications from hundreds of miles away. After an EMP attack, a CB car radio will be one of the only sources of communication left, and it will give you a much-needed tactical advantage and access to important information in an emergency.

Teach all family members how to use a handheld radio properly in case you need to leave your car while in transit. If your family has to go separate ways as you exit your car, you can easily coordinate using handheld radios.

Storage

Installing a roof rack can help increase your car’s storage capacity.

Trailer hitch mount storage racks are also another option if you want to add more storage space to a bug-out vehicle.

When prepping your car, organize your gear so you can access them easily. Organize the gear in your bug-out car using drawers, internal racks and shelving.

You can also use modular lightweight load-carrying equipment panels to attach bags and pouches for easy access. The panels can also be attached to the backs of seats, which can help essential gear handy for passengers in the back seats.

Bug-out vehicle emergency kit

Your car also requires an emergency kit so you can deal with roadside issues.

Keep these items in your bug-out vehicle emergency kit:

Air filter
Axes or chainsaw
Baling wire
Duct tape
Fire extinguisher
Flares
Folding shovel
Folding snow shovel
JB weld
Oil filter
Portable air compressor
Portable jump starter
Tire puncture kits
Tire traction pads
Tow straps
Winch
Zap straps or zip ties

Check and rotate the items in your kit regularly and replace them as needed.

Bail-out bags

Bug-out bags are usually loaded in the back or attached to a storage rack. If SHTF and you have to leave your car quickly, you don’t want to be left empty-handed.

With a “bail-out bag,” you have mini bug-out bags with the bare essentials of survival. Your bail-out bags should be small enough that every person in the car can have one on their body while seated.

The contents of a bail-out bag depends on the size of the bag, but you should add the following components:

Fire
Food
Medicine
Navigation
Protection
Shelter
Water

A bail-out bag isn’t designed for long-term survival but with one you should be able to escape your car and get to the bug-out location safely.

Before SHTF, prepare your bug-out car so you and your family can reach your bug-out location safely.

While some preppers only have the option to modify the family car to make it more bug-out ready, if you have the budget you can prep a dedicated bug-out vehicle.

While having a bug-out vehicle equipped with the proper gear can help, remember that your tools and supplies can become useless if you do not have the survival skills to use them.

Ideally, you should bug in when disaster strikes. But if you are worried about an emergency that will require an evacuation, it’s better to prepare your bug-out location and a bug-out car.

Visit Preparedness.news for more tips on how to bug out safely. You can also check out Health Ranger Store and Brighteon Store for more clean food supplies for your prepping needs.

Watch the video below to learn why you should have UHMWPE braided cord in your bug-out bag.

This video is from the Health Ranger Store channel on Brighteon.com.