Best Christmas Gifts for Car Guys & Gals This Season

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Car enthusiasts can be hard to shop for because they are very particular about “their babies.” You don’t want to give them a pair of leopard print seat covers, a generic air freshener, or a tacky cell phone holder. To help point you in the right direction, we put together this list of the best Christmas gifts for car guys and gals.

Resqme GBO-RQM: Best Safety Gift

A car escape keychain makes a great stocking stuffer – not just for enthusiasts – but for anybody on your Christmas list. The?Resqme GBO-RQM ?includes a tempered glass window breaker and a jammed seatbelt cutter. The brand is highly rated by law enforcement and first responders, as it can be used during rollovers and flooding.?

12V Slime Inflator: Best Convenience Gift

We bought a 12V Slime Inflator on a whim and have used it?more times than we can count . Chances are, the enthusiast on your Christmas list has dealt with a persistent bead leak. A portable tire inflator beats finding an air hose at a gas station as the unit’s 12V cord plugs into the vehicle’s accessory power source. Some units, like our Slime Inflator, have different attachments to pump up things like rafts and air mattresses.?

Uniden R7: Best Tech Gift

With radar detectors, it’s easy to go down the rabbit hole as there is an?entire culture and community ?around them. The simplest explanation of a radar detector is a windshield-mounted device that alerts a driver to various police radar bands in the area, thereby helping them avoid a speeding ticket.

Some higher-end units have Bluetooth integration with real-time app alerts ?or additional mounting accessories to?accommodate a dash camera .?

While those are good options, we suggest getting the car lover on your Christmas list a radar detector made by Uniden. They have an excellent reputation within the radar detector community, with the R7 generally considered?one of the best modern-day units . Unidens have the latest technology but are not as “bloated” as other radar detectors, so they tend to be more affordable.?

Other Good Gifts for Car Lovers

Detailing Stuff

Perfect for anyone who can’t stand a speck of dirt or mud on their ride. There are a number of good options on the market, but before you start picking random cleaners and wax, do a little recon on what the enthusiast on your list likes to use. Once you’re in the know, fill a crate or bucket with their favorite detailing goods – load it up with wax, tire cleaners, interior detailers, cleaning wipes, and anything else you think they will love.

?Here are some suggestions for you. These are brands we have used in the past and like:?

Mothers Polish:?Longtime car buffs will recognize Mothers from the 1970s when mag wheels were all the rage. Here is?our full review ?of a handful of popular Mothers products.?

Turtle Wax:?We have been using Turtle Wax for nearly 30 years. Here is?our full review ?of some of their newer products.?

Rain-X:?Although famous for its wiper blades, Rain-X has an entire line of cleaning products. They sent us?some of their best stuff ?over the summer to put to the test.?

Portable Jump Starters

Like the 12V Slime Inflator above, portable jump starters are also worth their weight in gold. We prefer portable jump starters because you can do the jump yourself if you have a dead battery. The car guy or gal on your Christmas list won’t need another vehicle, like with jumper cables.?

We own a?1200A Shell Jump Starter ?and a?Noco Boost Plus GB40 . The Shell unit has a few extra features for the money, although the Noco is a little less expensive. If you think the car guy or gal on your Christmas list needs something more robust, gift them?this Clore unit ?instead.??

High-Quality Floormats

If the car lover in your family has yet to invest in a set of rubber floor mats, then it’s one of the best gifts you can get them. High-quality rubber mats have channels and grooves that trap everything from dirt and sand to snow and mud. They are much easier to clean than cloth mats and don’t absorb and hold water as cloth mats do.

WeatherTech FloorLiners are the most notable, and we have?owned a set before ?with good results. Other popular brands include?Husky Liners ?and?Lloyd NorthRidge , both of which are usually less expensive than WeatherTech.?

Car-Themed Movies

This gift is super easy because there are so many streaming services today, all of which have a good car movie or two on them. After Christmas dinner, treat them to a car flick of their choice.?Amazon Prime has some great options , while Black Dog, starring the late Patrick Swayze, is?a staff favorite ?here at?Automoblog.?

Car-Themed Monopoly Games

The car-themed movie will likely have a happier ending than a game of Monopoly over the holidays. However, if you have an ultra-competitive car enthusiast on your list, then consider one of these?car-themed Monopoly boards . We like the NASCAR Collector’s Edition and the Mario Kart board; if your loved one is a Mustang or Corvette fan, there are options for them too!???

An Actual Car?

Okay, so this might be a bit much! However, some really do go all out and?purchase vehicles over the holidays ?for a loved one. We don’t recommend doing this, but if you are thinking about going over the top this Christmas, talk with them first. You want to avoid accidentally buying a diehard Chevy fan a Ford vehicle and ruining their holiday season.

*This article originally appeared on Automoblog. ??