Many of you reading this probably already have a vehicle. You drive the kids to school, grocery shop and commute back and forth to work, and take road trips, family vacations, in other words, all using your current vehicle.
The problem in some people’s minds after reading article after article about when the SHTF and the need for a BOV, is that you can’t look at your current one after soaking up all the Info and call it a BOV, or can you.
It is the belief of some, if not many in the Prepper community that if you live in an urban area you simply have to bug-out when the SHTF. The electrical grid goes down, or there is a nuclear attack, maybe not an attack on your city, but you fear yours may be next, so time is of the essence, get out now becomes the mantra.
The list of possible calamities goes on and on, and so the list of reasons why you should bug-out is just as long, and to bug-out without a vehicle, well it is not practical or safe in most cases.
What’s the best vehicle for bugging out? Like a survival knife, a firearm or any piece of survival gear, the one you have with you is the best one. Do you need to customize a vehicle to be specifically called a BOV?
No, you don’t need to customize one. Customizations may help in some cases, but for the most part, a customized vehicle stands out during a crisis. You might as well put a sign on the doors of your BOV stating you are a prepared Prepper and that you have fuel, food, firearms, and ammunition, on board.
If you live in the city you have a vehicle for getting around the city, and if you live in the country you have a vehicle for rougher roads, mud, snow and whatever specific driving conditions that may exist in your region. Some adaptations may be required so that you can carry extra fuel cans, water, and other supplies. However, these adaptations can be discreet.
Getting lift kits, brush bumpers, winches, off-road tires, light racks and so forth may not be needed. As we stated earlier all these add-ons could make you a target, and then there is the maintenance problem when things stop working or a tire needs to be replaced, or you break a heavy duty spring or your air shocks fail. These are things to consider when deciding whether the vehicle you have now is suitable for where you live or do you want to spend thousands on customizations that really may not be a benefit if you have to bug-out.
Some survival articles try to convince you that if you live in the city you have to bug-out to the country and thus need an off road vehicle. Need a vehicle with a high clearance and special engine adaptations that allow you to ford rivers and streams and be used as a shelter, battering ram, and climb up steep inclines, jump stumps, and work your way over downed trees and other obstacles in the road. Your vehicle must do all this without worrying about refilling the fuel tank because you had added an extra one.
You can get to a rural area from any city without encountering the kind of driving conditions described in the previous paragraph, so what would change so you would be forced to encounter said conditions. A disaster will not change the geographical conditions unless it is a natural one like a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake, for example.
You may have to go off road to avoid certain people, the military, and roving marauders, but no vehicle can sustain this type off road driving as its been described. You would need a tank for this, so it is very likely that the vehicle you have now would get you out of the danger area.
This is not to say just because you have a vehicle, regardless of the customizations that you can bug-out. The roads may be destroyed by an attack, the bridges may be washed away, tunnels may have collapsed or the highways are so clogged with other vehicles that you simply cannot navigate the roadways. Just because you spent thousands on your BOV does not mean you can get it out of your driveway.