- Resqme GBO-RQM: Best Safety Gift
- 12V Slime Inflator: Best Convenience Gift
- Uniden R7: Best Tech Gift
- Other Good Gifts for Car Guys & Gals
- Detailing Stuff
- Portable Jump Starters
- High-Quality Floormats
- Car-Themed Movies
- Car-Themed Monopoly Games
- An Actual Car
Best Christmas Gifts for Car Guys & Gals
These gifts are Santa approved!
Best Convenience Gift
12V Slime Inflator
See Holiday Deals
Fills tires within minutes.
Best Safety Gift
Resqme GBO-RQM
See Holiday Deals
Window breaker/seatbelt cutter.
Best Tech Gift
Uniden R7
See Holiday Deals
Long-range police radar detector.
Car enthusiasts are notoriously 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 for 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 car guy or gal 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 enthusiast 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. Uniden’s have the latest technology but are not as “bloated” as other radar detectors, so they tend to be more affordable.
Best Christmas Gifts for Car Guys & Gals
These gifts are Santa approved!
Best Convenience Gift
12V Slime Inflator
See Holiday Deals
Fills tires within minutes.
Best Safety Gift
Resqme GBO-RQM
See Holiday Deals
Window breaker/seatbelt cutter.
Best Tech Gift
Uniden R7
See Holiday Deals
Long-range police radar detector.
Other Good Gifts for Car Guys & Gals
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.
WeatherTech liners have “channels” that carry fluid and debris to a lower reservoir to keep it away from your shoes.
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.
Carl Anthony is Managing Editor of Automoblog and a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association and the Society of Automotive Historians. He serves on the board of directors for the Ally Jolie Baldwin Foundation, is a past president of Detroit Working Writers, and a loyal Detroit Lions fan.
Keyword: Best Christmas Gifts for Car Guys & Gals (2022 Shopper’s Guide)