The Ten Best Places To Hide Crap In Your Car

Your car may be your most private place, but it's liable to be searched at some point. Jalopnik readers know ten stash spots where few, if any will look.

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Before we go too deep into this discussion, let us mention two places that really aren't that great to hide things in your car.

First of all, everyone checks the spare wheel. Cops can tap the spare tire to hear if there's anything in there, dogs will sniff any residue on the outside, and everyone knows to look there anyway.

Second of all, don't hide things in your vagina, because apparently that's already on the to-watch list, too.

And we should also mention that if you're looking for a more illicit-substances oriented list, we knocked that one out last year. There's a little overlap, but these ten should be slightly more within the reach of you, the casual person who has stuff you don't want anyone to find but yourself.

Do you have a stash spot we didn't mention on this list? Let us know in Kinja below. If you need anonymity, you can use one of our burner accounts.

Photo Credit: US Customs via Snopes

A lot of people suggested hiding things inside the airbox for your engine, but that will make your car run worse. Try stuffing things in your fusebox instead.

Suggested By: nafsucof, Photo Credit: Kristin Andrus

If you were to lift up the whole plastic center console in your car (or better, your SUV), you'll find there's a ton of space hidden under there. It's not the easiest place to get to, but it works.

Suggested By: shpuker, Photo Credit: Raphael Orlove

It's much easier to get to the space underneath the leather/pleather/cloth covering around your shifter, and it's still a very unexpected place to stash stuff out of sight.

Suggested By: keenen9, Photo Credit: Raphael Orlove

There's a surprising amount of space behind your stereo, and if you need more, you can just take it out and keep a dummy face covering up the space.

Suggested By: TheBlazinAce, Photo Credit: kardboard604

Nobody wants to screw around with steering wheels, because the airbag is in there. For older cars this isn't a problem, but some cars from the right time period are just perfect. Volvo 740s, for instance, could be optioned with an airbag, but many didn't come with one, leaving a space in the wheel big enough for a handgun. Not that you should hide a handgun in there.

Suggested By: MattA1, Photo Credit: kardboard604

This one is tricky, because it means you have to bring a little order to the chaos that is the junk in your car. If you really have a lot of crap in there, (by "a lot" we mean hundreds of pounds of old newspapers, wrappers, umbrellas, and McDonald's wrappers if you're committed), you can keep things very secret at the bottom. Nobody else will sift down to there but you.

Suggested By: 900turbo, Photo Credit: Raphael Orlove

It's going to get hot from the engine, but the inside of your hood has room for some light stuff.

Suggested By: DCMC, Photo Credit: wolfheadfilms

Many cars actually have built-in compartments that work perfectly for hiding things. You can look up your car online and see what you have (The Honda S2000, for instance has a secret second glovebox between the seats). Our favorite is that early Porsche 911s had a space under the hood for a standalone gas heater, and if the car wasn't ordered with that option, it becomes just a hinged box. European smugglers used to use this stash spot all the time.

Suggested By: ejp hates automatic transmissions, Photo Credit: ejp

This one takes some time and money, as you have to build a roll cage for your car, but there's a lot of space inside those metal tubes. Racing teams used to have secret nitrous systems running in theirs. On the plus side, now your car is safer in a crash!

Suggested By: ridered777, Photo Credit: DustyVentures

This one is tricky as well, as you need to get a smaller battery that will fit inside the case of a normal-sized battery. This will give you extra space in there while looking totally stock. Again, we got this idea from race car builders. If you're looking for ways to cheat with your car, ask a race car builder.

Suggested By: It's pronounced "Deer-Tay," Photo Credit: Rich Moffitt