Jun 17, 2016
This Sunday, 19 June, is Father’s Day, when every dad up and down the land will be hoping to cash in some of the brownie points they have earned through the rest of the year, whether it’s through being the handyman of the house, Mr Generous, or just on call with a personal taxi service whenever it’s needed.
Your dad will have plenty of time to be spoilt and be given thanks for his sterling service throughout the year - and to point you towards some of the best gift ideas for your dad, especially if he’s a car nut. We’ve scoured the web, and put together this list of top gift suggestions which will get him revved up with delight.
We’ve split our suggestions into five budget categories, so even if you’ve only got some of the pocket money you’ve managed to scrape together to show him how much you care, we think there’ll be something here for you.
If you can’t run to more than a tenner, you can still treat dad to a useful gift he’ll appreciate.
Just £6.99 buys you a Fetch My Keys key finder, a handy little gadget which, when attached to his bunch of keys will respond to his whistle with a noise of their own to help him track them down. You’ve got to admit that it’s a lot more nifty than one of those key hangers you screw to a wall in the hall…
For a couple of pounds more, dad’s sure to see the funny side of this Sat-Nag system. Yes, that isn’t a misprint - it’s a mock sat-nav system whose unique feature is that it delivers one of 20 pre-programmed random sarcastic, or just plain funny, messages, at regular intervals.
Sure to liven up the most humdrum of journeys, the Sat-Nag costs just £8.99. With an average four-and-a-half stars out of five from nearly 50 customers, this is a gift which will give you plenty of on-the-road fun.
Naturally, you’ve got a wider choice if you can up your budget to this level - but that can mean it’s even more of a confusing job to find a gift which will delight the recipient.
However, if your dad does a lot of night driving, he’s sure to appreciate these Aviator-style night-sight driving glasses. Effective in cutting down the glare of oncoming headlights, they thereby help to reduce eye fatigue, and can be worn in any conditions, including flat light and overcast weather with little to no effect on overall vision. And because they’re modelled on the best-selling Aviator style, no one need know that you’ve got a little extra help to keep you focused on what’s happening on the road ahead.
There’s also a variant available which can fit over the top of the wearer’s existing spectacles, and both cost a very reasonable £12.99. Find more details at Qwerkity.com.
Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by a puncture? Well, regardless of whether or not you’ve experienced this major inconvenience - and the expense that follows - it always makes good sense to keep a weather eye on your tyre pressures.
Doing so can help you spot any problems with your rubber early, and get it fixed before it has the chance to become more serious.
So the £25 cost of this Ring RAC635 digital tyre inflator, available from Amazon, is a small investment which could help save your dad a lot of bother, especially if he really relies on his car for getting around, and being able to work efficiently. So this pocket-sized gizmo is great for using to ensure that his tyres are always properly inflated - because if they aren’t, they’re far more susceptible to lots of different kinds of damage, and ultimately, to failing and causing a whole load of extra bother and expense.
If your dad really takes pride in looking after his wheels - not to mention the rest of his car - then he’ll appreciate the perfect wheels and bodywork collection put together by leading car care products firm Autoglym.
We found the Perfect Bodywork Wheels & Interior Collection Kitselling on eBay for £45.59, a saving of a couple of quid on the recommended price.
For your money, you get a kit of nine carefully-chosen products from this leading supplier’s range, including a bodywork shampoo conditioner, wheel protector, glass protection and interior shampoo, among other useful and effective products, all of which are designed to help keep all parts of a car looking as good as new.
The kit has achieved a 100% satisfaction rating from its buyers - so all you need to do to really ensure your permanent place in dad’s good books is to offer to use the kit on his car yourself, to prove to him that it really does what it says on the tin.
A useful addition to help keep the interior of any car looking smart, and for preventing the build-up of dirt and other unwanted ingressions from outside is a full set of car mats.
Well-known car parts and accessories retailer Halfords offers sets of front and rear mats to fit any car for £34.99 to £44.99. The sets for some models are only available online, so it’s best to check whether the right ones to fit your dad’s car are offered before placing an order.
There are more than 500 different sets available, The sets also qualify for free delivery, or click-and-collect from your nearest convenient store can also be arranged.
The underside of any car takes a great deal of punishment throughout the year - so it can help your dad keep his car’s value if he has a good quality pressure washer at his disposal, which he can then use to blast away all the grime and deposits which build up and cling to the underbody during the year.
From road salt to summer dust which becomes baked-on due to the high temperatures generated by the exhaust system, many layers of road grime can be stripped away in minutes with the help of a Karcher K2 compact pressure washer, which we found available at Tesco.com for £59. The special ‘dirtblaster’ lance which comes with this model is claimed to dislodge up to 50 per cent more grime than a standard fitment.
A second lance is also supplied, giving a single jet of water to help clean small and hard-to-reach areas of a car’s bodywork. And when it isn’t being used on the car, the pressure washer can make short work of cleaning patios and tricky to reach areas of your outside windows.
Your dad might also be one of the many who is also still driving around in a car which doesn’t have the benefit of an integral satellite navigation system - something which, once you’ve experienced it, you probably feel you can never live without.
But he need never find himself driving around aimlessly looking for his destination again - even if he ventures across to mainland Europe - with a TomTom Start 25 sat nav. We found it for sale on Amazon for £88.55, putting it comfortably within our budget. That price includes full Western Europe maps, as well as lifetime map updates.
Optional windscreen mount, charger pack and carrying case take it over the £100 mark, but, of course, you can always add these little extras as and when the need arises.
If you can stretch to a little more, we found this Extreme stunt driving experience day being offered for a shade under £150. The recipient will get to experience some of the driving techniques used to create a range of mad car stunts seen on TV and in films.
Each course is run for a small group of eight people, while your dad can bring along as many family members and friends to watch as he wishes, at an additional cost of £10 per person - although that does include lunch, refreshments and a souvenir programme.
The courses are held at a circuit in Northamptonshire, which is easily accessed from most of the UK, on one day in every month. There are a few guidelines, including that all drivers must be 16 or over, and between four feet 11 inches and six feet five tall.
In short, there are plenty of ideas out there for gifts which will satisfy even the most dedicated petrolhead.
How do you solve the Father’s Day gift-buying conundrum for your dad or grandad if they’re keen on cars? Let us know in the comments, of via our Facebook page.
