A road trip is an incredible adventure that creates lasting memories, but let's face it - things can get a little messy. After all, you're practically living out of your car! But with a carefully curated selection of road trip essentials, you can transform anything from the daily drive to a month-long excursion into a well-organised journey. From pet travel accessories for a getaway with your furry friend, to back seat organisation for travelling with kids. Here are our top 10 must-have road trip accessories to elevate your experience.

1: Devices SORTED

Phones will be used for maps, music, games and road trip photos, all road trip essentials in themselves! Make sure the driver has a solid mount for their phone. Adapt your twelve-volt socket for charging phones in the front, and don’t forget your passengers in the back!

2: Food & Drinks

Nibbles and drinks are must have road trip accessories. To minimise spills, ensure you have plenty of cup holders. Convert a single cup holder into a double, mount one onto an air vent, and attach one to the headrest or window trim.

Likewise, no snacks on a road trip is almost criminal! But if you don’t want half-eaten sausage rolls wedged in your seat gaps, you might like to hang a bin bag from a head rest or have a pop-up bin handy.

Don’t forget pet travel accessories like a bowl and water, plus a few treats for the furry members of your family as well.

3: Get Organized: Front and Back Seat Solutions

Up the front you can use the sun visors to tuck pens, sunnies and more out of the way. 

There’s so much you can do with the back of your seats! An organiser for each will give your travel buddies somewhere to store their personal items, or a place to poke countless toys and games for the kids.

4: Create Boundaries

We mean this in a personal way, but also a physical way! Kids love to put their feet up on the backs of seats. A rear seat scuff protector will prevent this from causing any damage (though it is probably still annoying). If you’re travelling with pets, one of the top pet travel accessories has to be a barrier to keep them in the back where they belong. 

5: Safety Essentials

A key part of all must-have road trip accessories; this kit should include things such as emergency water (for you and the car), some extra food, a first aid kit, some basic tools, and emergency lighting. These are bare minimum, the more prepared you are the less chance something will go wrong.

6: Tidy That Boot

Underneath everybody’s luggage is not the ideal place for those safety essentials to live. A boot organiser will keep them out of the way yet easily accessible. It’s also a great place to poke those little pieces you won’t need until you stop. A frisbee might be fun!

7: Roadside Stops

Once everybody agrees that a quick game of frisbee is in order, you’re probably all keen for a cuppa as well! A picnic blanket will set the scene and keep bums clean. A travel mug is a great way to have hot water ready on the road. And if your pet is along for the ride; a tie out cable is one of those pet travel accessories you’ll be glad you picked up for the journey.

8: Reliable Tunes: Enhance Your Sound System

Don’t leave home without a fully functioning sound system! There is a way to adapt just about any head unit to play music from a phone, or you can go all the way with a new multimedia head unit.

Secondly, to avoid a mutiny; share the duties of music selection. Pass the device around allowing each person to choose several songs, then pop the playlist on random.  This probably won’t work with children in the car, just learn to enjoy the same Wiggles song on repeat.

9: Noise Cancelling Headphones

You like these people, otherwise you wouldn’t be travelling with them! But your own quiet space is definitely one of the road trip essentials. Some quality headphones will allow you to duck into your own world of music, podcasts, or audiobooks for a little while.

10: A Sense Of Adventure

Of all the must have road trip accessories, this one is the easiest. It’s free, anyone can have it, and it doesn’t take up any space in the car either! Expect the unexpected and be ready to find fun and adventure in unexpected places on your road trip.

Explore more products and ideas to help you make travelling super with Supercheap Auto!