Use This Simple Hack To Feel Safer When Sleeping In Your Car During A Road Trip

Preparing for the unexpected on a road trip means knowing that you might have to sleep in your car the odd night or two. Sometimes it happens because campsites or hotels are all booked. Other times it happens simply because you're on a budget, and a few nights without paying for accommodation can stretch a trip longer. But you want to make sure that it's a safe experience, and that you can really relax and unwind, even in unusual circumstances. This is why pulling out a few hacks to secure a car overnight is paramount.

Hey, there's nothing to be ashamed of if you have to cut corners once in a while planning a road trip. Getting creative and campy with accommodations can be a saving grace. But safety is crucial; even driving late at night on road trips comes with its own risks, so best to act with caution. On that note, we've got a seatbelt hack to help: Just loop your seatbelt through the door handle and buckle it before you go to sleep.

If you're spending the night in your car, one added hack to feel safer is to coil your safety belt loop through the inside door handle and buckle the belt. This makes it even harder for the door to be opened from the outside. Trucker Tac Bishop explains how to do it on YouTube: "Just put your seatbelt all the way down and wrap it around the door as many times as you need to make [it] tight, usually just twice." He continues to point out that the trick doesn't cost anything, either. "It's just something cheap that I use, makes me sleep real hard at night in the truck," he says.

Carefully selecting a location is another way to both ensure a good night's sleep and a safer one. It can actually be illegal to sleep in your car in certain areas, depending on state law. So you want to make sure that you're choosing a spot where you won't be asked to move. Rest stops are legal places for drivers to stop and sleep, and they can be safer since you're likely to have other drivers nearby who are also resting. Plus, you have restrooms close by.