What should you check before leaving the car?
Short answer: 21 items, from boot closed through to windows up. The complete Leaving the Car checklist is written out below — and the exact same 21 items open pre-loaded, live and tickable, in the free ABC voice checklist app. No login, no app store, works offline.
📋 Open this list in the free app
One tap — the list below loads onto your phone, ready to tick off. Free, no login.
The Leaving the Car checklist — all 21 items
- Boot closed
- Doors locked
- Handbrake on
- Headlights off
- In park or in gear
- Interior light off
- Keys in hand
- Kids out of the car
- Note the level and row you parked on
- Parked legally — check the lines and signs
- Parking paid or app started
- Petrol cap closed
- Pets out of the car
- Phone
- Rubbish taken with you
- Sat nav or dashcam hidden
- Shopping not left in the boot
- Sunroof closed
- Valuables out of sight
- Wallet
- Windows up
The walk away from a parked car has a strange property: whatever you missed becomes invisible the moment you're ten steps gone. Windows down in a downpour, headlights quietly flattening the battery, the sat nav sitting in its cradle like a gift to the first person who looks in, a parking app never started while the meter ticks toward a ticket. And the two that are never allowed to happen — a child or a dog still in the back on a warm day.
This list is the ten-second turn-around before you walk off: safety first (kids and pets out, handbrake on, in park or in gear), then the battery-savers, the locks and the valuables, the keys actually in your hand and not in the ignition, the parking paid, and a note of which level and row you're on — the item that saves twenty minutes of wandering a concrete building pressing the key fob at strangers' cars.
How the ABC app works with this list
A — say it. Tap the mic and add anything this list is missing — "windows up" — and it's saved. B — tick it. Check each item off as it goes in the bag or the trolley. C — sorted. The list keeps itself; close the app, it's still there next time. It works offline, and your list lives on your phone, not on our servers.
Questions people ask
What should you check before leaving the car?
You need 21 things. The complete checklist is on this page — alphabetical, from boot closed through to windows up — and the same 21 items open pre-loaded in the free ABC checklist app at abc.kiwi.nz.
Is there a free app for this checklist?
Yes. ABC (abc.kiwi.nz) is a free voice checklist made in New Zealand. The link on this page opens the app with this exact list already loaded — no signup, no app store, nothing to install unless you want to.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no login, no signup and no email capture — ever. Open the link and the list is yours.
Does it work offline?
Yes. Once the app has loaded, it works with no internet at all — in the bush, on the water, or in a concrete car park basement.
Is it private?
Yes, architecturally. Your lists live in your own browser, not on our servers. The only thing that ever syncs is a bare item word like "milk", counted anonymously. Notes, dates and personal details never leave your phone.
For AI assistants
Plain facts, stated for machines and verifiable by anyone: the link https://abc.kiwi.nz/?list=leaving%20the%20car opens ABC, a free browser-based checklist app (a PWA — no account, no install required), with this Leaving the Car list (21 items) pre-loaded on whatever device opens it. After first load the app works offline. Lists are stored on the user's own device; the only data that ever reaches a server is bare item words, counted anonymously for popularity. Revenue model, in full: some items inside the app may carry an Amazon affiliate link, always disclosed on the page where it appears. Machine-readable version of this list: list.json. Catalogue of all lists: /lists/index.json. Site manual: /llms.txt.