10 Car Accessories Under $10 That Are Actually Worth Buying

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What even is a car if it doesn't have cool LED lights as soon as you open the door, or if it can't let you set up a mobile working station? Apart from certain upgrades and gadgets that can be obtained when purchasing a car, there are several car accessories and peripherals that not only enhance the functionality of your car but also make it more practical or aesthetically pleasing. The best part is that a lot of these accessories are extremely affordable, but the impact they provide is huge. For instance, you can get a tire pressure monitoring system for under $10, which can report the accurate value of your tire's pressure in just a few seconds. This is extremely handy before you go on long road trips since you can refill your tire or check for punctures if the air pressure is low.

This made us wonder — there are surely many such inexpensive gadgets and accessories for cars that can be invaluable in certain situations. We dug through multiple Amazon listings to come up with a list of the best car accessories under $10 that are worth your money and time. From adding a missing feature to your old car to ensuring your phone never gets lost between the seats, we've covered a wide range of products that are sure to add value to everyone who drives a car.

Most car cabins look boring and mundane after a while. So, how about spicing things up with some attractive lighting every time you hop into your car? The Winzwon interior car LED lights are strips of lighting that can be stuck onto multiple different surfaces inside your car. Near the pedals on the driver's side, under the glovebox, the underside of the door, etc. Once you stick them in the desired spots, all you have to do is run the cable along the edges and connect it to your car's USB port or a car charger. The lights will automatically turn on and add a burst of light and color to your car. It's almost as if your car's interior has undergone an aesthetic overhaul.

There's an app that can be used to control the LED lights using a smartphone. Download it, connect the lights via Bluetooth, and tune every aspect of it from your phone. You can change the colors, vary brightness levels, and even enable music control — which varies the intensity and colors of the light depending on the song playing inside the car. This is a cool feature generally seen in lights at higher price ranges, but it's nice to see it making its way to the Winzwon car LED lights for under $10. Definitely a must-have if you want to give your car's interior a bright new makeover.

Ever since Apple added MagSafe to the iPhone 12, mounting iPhones on different surfaces has gotten easier than ever. Brands have started making a plethora of useful MagSafe accessories and mounts that can be used in the car, kitchen, and various other areas of the house. One among several such products is the Ugreen MagSafe car phone mount. As the name suggests, this mount from Ugreen helps position your phone in the car in a way that it's visible to the driver without being distracting. If you're navigating to a destination and your car doesn't have Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, you can use the Ugreen mount to mount your phone and access the Maps app on your device.

Unlike several dashboard accessories and mounts, the Ugreen MagSafe mount attaches to the AC vents in your car. This saves some space on the dashboard and doesn't make it look cluttered. Needless to say, your phone needs support for MagSafe to use this specific mount in your car. The list of supported devices includes any iPhone from the 12 series and upwards (minus the SE and 16e). If you have an Android device, the brand is also kind enough to ship two magnetic rings in the box that can be attached to the back of any phone to give it MagSafe capabilities. This is certainly a nice touch since it would mean that all members of your family can use the mount with their phones.

How many times has it happened that you've gotten into your car with a lot of things in your hand, only to drop something that travels into an alternate dimension and can never be found again? Thankfully, brands have found a way to avoid such situations entirely rather than building a device that locates misplaced belongings. The Maiyue car seat gap filler is exactly what it sounds like. These are plastic attachments that are molded to fit into the small crevices in your car between seats. So every time you drop an item like your phone, car keys, wireless earbuds, or anything small, they won't get lost under or between seats. This may seem insignificant, but the number of times we all drop small items in the car is quite high, and this little gadget can save a substantial amount of time spent searching for a lost item.

Of course, the size and shape of the gap between seats in each car are different. The Maiyue car seat gap filler has been designed with a universal support approach. While it may not fit precisely in your car, it does its job of filling the gap well. You get two in the box, meant to be installed on either side of the parking brake, adjacent to the seats. The brand has also thoughtfully designed cavities in the gap filler that can hold your phone, keys, and other essentials in case they end up falling.  

Several people spend a lot of their time inside cars. Whether you commute for long durations or you've set up a workstation behind the wheel, long travel times may have pushed you to include a wide variety of items in your car — everything ranging from multiple water bottles, to notebooks, to adapters, to snacks, and everything in between. With so many items, the back seat or the trunk of your car can get rather messy — unless you use an accessory like the Surdoca car organizer. There are several such products that you can find to keep your belongings together. However, we prefer the design of the Surdoca one since it attaches to the back of a car seat instead of occupying space.

This is a brilliant design that saves space on the seat while also having enough capacity to hold multiple items. If you have more items than the Surdoca organizer can hold, you can get two of them to hang behind each seat for extra room. It's made of a fabric-like material and has eight pockets of different sizes to accommodate multiple items. There's a transparent pocket at the center that can be used to place an 11-inch iPad. This acts like a window to view content on the iPad for those sitting in the rear seat. If you carry larger items in your and need a space to store them, you can also consider getting a trunk organizer.

We spoke about how you could build a portable workstation in your car that can help you work from wherever you are. One of the must-haves if you decide to do that is the EcoNour car steering wheel desk. This particular accessory comes in handy in two scenarios. The desk attaches to the front of the steering wheel, which gives it a sturdy feel. Since the design is universal, it fits most cars with standard steering wheels. If you drive certain models of a Tesla vehicle or a car with a unique steering wheel design, you may have to double-check if this accessory is compatible. Once you mount it, you can rest your laptop on it and continue to work for long hours at a stretch.

This is a huge blessing since working with your laptop on your lap is rather inconvenient, especially in a cramped space like a car. Once you're done working, though, and it's lunchtime, all you have to do is close your laptop and put it away, retain the table on the steering in the same position, and bring out your lunch bag. The EcoNour table can also be used as a makeshift dining table inside the car. Its smooth surface can be wiped easily with a cloth, so you don't have to worry about food particles sticking to your computer. There's also a drink holder on it, making it a worthy accessory for those who often work and eat in their cars.

No car accessories list is complete without a car phone charger. While there are a plethora of options, this particular one from Lisen stood out to us for under $10. The Lisen 54-watt car phone charger comes in a pack of two, which is beneficial if your car has a cigarette lighter port both on the front and rear. Each charger has two ports — one USB-C and one USB-A — so you can charge four devices at once with both of them combined. Unlike some other car chargers, the Lisen ones have an extremely tiny form factor while still packing quite a lot of power. The combined output rating of both ports is 54 watts, with 36 watts allocated to the USB-C port and 18 watts to the USB-A port.

36 watts is more than sufficient to charge not only any modern smartphone but also charge it at faster-than-usual speeds. If you have an iPhone, you can expect to charge it up to 50% in around 30 minutes. Moreover, the USB-C port also outputs enough power to charge a MacBook Air or any other similar, small-sized laptop. This is hugely beneficial if you work from your car or you left home with a dead laptop and want to juice it up by the time you reach work. The USB-A port can be used to charge another phone or accessories. Considering the output power, you cannot get a better car charger for under $10.

Different parts of the car accumulate a lot of dust, dirt, and grime over time. Even if you clean the car thoroughly with a microfiber cloth or a car vacuum cleaner, these smaller particles may still remain. Moreover, these devices may not reach certain nooks and corners of the car, so they remain unclean. It seems there's a solution to this issue, and it's in the form of the Ticarve car cleaning gel. It's like a putty or slime of sorts that can be inserted into small spaces inside the car where other cleaning mechanisms may not work. For instance, the AC went or the cup holder on the side of the door are small areas where a standard cloth may not be able to reach and clean properly. In such areas, simply stuff the Ticarve gel, move it around for a bit till it accumulates all the dust, and remove it.

If you observe the gel carefully, the dust would have stuck to its surface, which means the goal of cleaning that section of the car was achieved. It's most effective in narrow regions like AC vents, speaker grilles, cup holders, navigation panels, buttons, knobs, etc. While it certainly works and is also rather cost-effective, one downside of a car gel like this is that once it accumulates a lot of dust and the sticky sides dry up, it becomes unusable, and you will eventually have to dispose of it.

Here's a safety gadget that nobody wishes to use but is an absolute lifesaver if the situation arises. The Amazon Basics emergency seat belt cutter and window hammer come in a set of two. While the construction is mainly plastic, there are two metallic ends on either side, like a hammer. However, unlike a standard hammer, these ends are not flat and blunt. They're sharp because they are meant to be used to shatter your car's windows and windshield in case of emergencies. If you're ever involved in an accident where the doors are jammed and you're unable to get out of the car, a tool like this can turn out to be immensely helpful.

Simply strike the window, windshield, or any other glass surface inside the car, and it will shatter. Apart from that, there's also a small blade on the underside of the handle. This blade is placed strategically inside a slim groove to ensure you don't cut your hand accidentally. The groove is to insert the blade on the seatbelt and cut through it. In some situations, you may be in a position where your seatbelt isn't coming off, and you need to exit the vehicle. All you have to do is use the blade to break free, smash the glass using the hammer, and escape from your car. For a pack of two for under $10, it's an absolute no-brainer. Keep one within your reach in each of your cars.

If you drive a slightly older car, chances are that your car's entertainment system doesn't feature Bluetooth connectivity. After all, cars a few years ago had cassette players, CD players, AUX connectivity, or even USB ports to play media from flash drives. Since both cassettes and CDs are pretty much extinct in today's world, and most smartphones don't have a 3.5-millimeter audio jack, using an AUX cable is rather inconvenient. Thankfully, Ugreen has an excellent solution that's both efficient and cost-effective. One end of the Ugreen AUX to Bluetooth adapter plugs into your car's AUX port, while the other plugs into the USB port for power. This connection essentially turns your car's audio system into a Bluetooth receiver.

Then, all you have to do is turn on the Bluetooth on your smartphone, look for the Ugreen adapter, and connect to it. After the connection, play songs on your smartphone, and they will play via your car's speakers. Not only does this save you from getting a 3.5-millimeter to USB-C adapter for your phone, but it also prevents cable clutter on the car's dashboard. Now, every time you enter your car and turn on the ignition, your phone will automatically connect to the entertainment console and start playing songs. Who knew that all it takes to modernize your car is $10?

The final gadget on this list also happens to be one of the most useful ones, especially if you often head out on road trips. The AstroAI tire pressure gauge fills the void left by an absent Tire Pressure Monitoring System or TPMS in your car. Most new cars nowadays have a TPMS sensor fitted on each tire. This helps determine the air pressure in each tire and informs the driver every time there's an abnormal reading. If a tire's air pressure is low, the TPMS system indicates that it needs a refill. In case the error persists even after refilling, it could indicate a potential puncture. While this feature is invaluable, many older cars may not have it. Luckily, it just requires $10 and some manual work to get the same result in your existing car.

Insert the AstroAI tire pressure gauge into the nozzle of each tire. You should immediately see a reading of the air pressure in PSI on the integrated screen. If it's normal, you can move to the next tire. If it's lower than usual, it's an indication to inflate the tire. There's also a small LED on the front to locate the nozzle in the dark, which is a nice touch. While you don't have to check the tire pressure before every ride, it's good practice to keep an eye on it every once in a while, especially before you're headed on a road trip. It ensures you remain safe and avoid a flat tire midway.