Most emergency plans assume a house to shelter in or a cabin to retreat to. Plenty of real hardship looks different: a lost job, a rent increase, a divorce, a fire, a move to a city that turns out to cost far more than expected. For a lot of people the fallback is the car. Knowing how to live in one safely and quietly for weeks or months is a practical skill, and it transfers directly to evacuating by vehicle.
This page is built on the account of a man who lived in his car in Los Angeles from August 25, 2012 until more than a year later. He had moved to the city chasing an ambition, found that rent there swallowed everything, and was unhappy with the shared living arrangement he had. He decided that sleeping in his car would solve both problems at once: he could bank the money he had been spending on rent, and he would have a space of his own. He later wrote a book on the subject. What follows reports his methods and his reasoning, with safety notes added where they are needed.
By his account it was hard, and far more of a survival exercise than he had expected. It also worked. He said the year left him with savings he could never have built while paying rent, and he framed it as a sacrifice made to get ahead.
Food
Because the point was saving money, cost drove every choice. The options he relied on:
- Canned food: beans, pasta, tuna and fruit. Buy cans with pull-tab lids where you can, and keep a manual can opener for the rest. Fruit in sealed plastic cups keeps well too.
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which need nothing but a knife and can be made in the front seat.
- Protein and granola bars, which are cheap, filling and easy to eat on the move.
- Free meals. He used shelter meal programs. Food banks and community meal sites are another option, and dialing 211 in most of the U.S. connects to a local service that knows where they are.
- Grocery store hot food. He sometimes bought fast food, but found the prepared-food counter or bakery at a supermarket cheaper. Two pieces of fried chicken and potatoes, he said, made a welcome change from cans.
Food safety matters more than usual without a fridge. Buy perishables in amounts you will finish in one sitting, and do not keep opened cans or leftovers in a hot car.
Where to sleep
He considered the choice of parking spot the single biggest factor in whether car living works. The spot has to feel safe, and it has to let you go unnoticed.
He was fortunate. The all-night supermarket where he worked let him use its parking lot. Without that kind of arrangement, he suggested a 24-hour business with steady traffic and lighting, or a quiet, safe residential street where one more parked car goes unremarked.
Before relying on any spot, check the rules. Many cities restrict sleeping in vehicles or overnight parking on public streets, and private lots can have a car towed. Ask a manager directly where possible; some businesses allow it. A number of cities and charities run safe-parking programs that offer a supervised lot, restrooms and sometimes help finding housing, and they are worth seeking out.
His rules for staying unnoticed once parked:
- Use the same spot every night. Routine makes everything easier, and a car that is always there stops being noticed.
- Tell nobody where you sleep.
- Turn the radio off well before arriving, so you roll in quietly.
- Park, switch the engine off, and settle in without getting out or opening the doors again. People moving in and out of a car at night draw attention.
- Cover the windows. His had dark tint. Without it, dark towels or cut-to-fit screens across the side and rear windows work, put up quickly once nobody is around.
Setting up the car
His account focused on routines more than the car itself, but a little setup makes the space far easier to live in, and it applies equally to a vehicle packed for evacuation.
Work out a sleeping position before the first night. In many sedans the back seat is shorter than an adult, while a front seat reclined as far as it goes is tolerable for a while but hard on the back. Hatchbacks, wagons and minivans with folding seats can often give a flat space long enough to stretch out, especially with a foam pad over the gaps.
Keep the interior organized. Two or three lidded bins, one for food, one for clothes and one for hygiene and papers, stop the car filling with loose clutter, which looks untidy from outside and makes it hard to find anything in the dark. A small trash bag emptied every day keeps smells and pests down.
Think about personal safety as well as discretion. Lock the doors as soon as you are inside, keep the keys in the same place every night where you can reach them, and park so you can drive straight out without reversing. A phone kept charged, with someone who knows roughly where you are, is part of the plan too.
Paperwork is easy to overlook. Without a fixed address, a post office box or a trusted friend’s address keeps mail, bank letters and vehicle registration from going astray, and a current license, registration and insurance mean that a routine police check stays routine.
Carbon monoxide and heat
Two hazards deserve more attention than his account gave them.
Never sleep with the engine running, whether for heat, air conditioning or charging. Exhaust can seep into the cabin, and snow, a wall or a bank of leaves around the tailpipe makes that far more likely. Carbon monoxide has no smell and can kill a sleeping person without waking them. Do not run a fuel-burning heater, stove or candle inside the car either. A small battery-powered CO alarm costs little and is worth having. The CDC’s carbon monoxide guidance lists the early symptoms: headache, dizziness, nausea and confusion.
In hot weather a closed car turns dangerous fast, even after dark in some climates. Crack windows for airflow, use rain guards or mesh covers so the gap is less obvious, and move somewhere cooler rather than sealing yourself in.
Showers and hygiene
He treated hygiene as essential to lasting in the car. Looking and smelling clean meant nobody gave him a second look, and a person who draws attention is soon asked to move on.
His solution was a gym membership at about $40 a month, which gave him hot showers and a place to exercise. He kept a backpack packed with everything needed for a shower and a change of clothes, and a combination lock for the gym locker. Truck stops, community pools and some beaches also have showers, and a pack of wet wipes covers the days in between.
Filling the day
Time off work was the hardest part of the routine, and he learned where people can spend hours without being moved along:
- Fast food restaurants, which usually have free Wi-Fi. He found that a quiet customer keeping to himself was generally left alone, even when he bought nothing.
- Public libraries, which he rated highest: free Wi-Fi without time limits, plenty of seats, heating in winter, air conditioning in summer, and books.
- Shopping malls, as long as parking is free, for walking and reading.
- The gym, where a long workout also passes a few hours indoors.
- Friends. Staying connected to people mattered to him beyond simply passing time.
What to keep in the car
His list of items that made the biggest difference:
- A gallon of drinking water, kept in the back seat under a towel. He was often on the move and found he went hours without drinking. Refilling a jug at a grocery store water machine cost him about 25 cents.
- Pain relievers. Nights with a pounding headache were far easier to get through with a couple of tablets on hand.
- A small 12-volt fan, about $20 at an auto parts store. It ran all night without draining his battery, supplied background noise, and on hot nights made sleep possible.
- A power inverter that plugs into the lighter socket, around $20, for charging a phone or laptop. His was rated at 100 watts, so anything plugged in had to draw less than that. Charge while driving where possible, because charging with the engine off drains the battery.
- A good sleeping bag. Even in Los Angeles, he said, winter nights and many others through the year were cold enough that he would have been miserable without one.
- Snacks, kept in easy reach on the passenger-side floor. He often left work hungry, and a banana or bar within reach made a real difference.
- Jumper cables. His battery died more than once, from lights left on or too much charging with the engine off. Asking strangers for a jump is much easier when you already have the cables. A small lithium jump starter pack now does the same job without needing another car at all.
- Vitamin C and fresh fruit. He was convinced that keeping his immune system strong mattered, since being sick in a car is miserable. Research gives vitamin C supplements only a modest effect on colds; regular fruit, sleep and hand washing do most of the work.
- Spare keys. He kept a spare car key in his wallet, and also bought a pair of magnetic key boxes, about $10 for both, hidden somewhere on the underside of the car. Nobody else should know where.
Staying the course
His closing advice came down to discretion and state of mind. A low profile in everything, from where you park to how you look, is what lets you stay in the arrangement as long as you need to. He urged anyone in the same position to stay mentally tough, keep watching the people and places around them, keep their head up, and remember that it is temporary.