Three small items in the boot decide whether a police stop in Armenia ends in five minutes or in a 20,000-dram conversation. Most rentals come kitted out, but the kit is also where corners get cut — by tired previous renters, by a fire extinguisher quietly past its expiry, by a triangle that walked off after the last accident. If you're collecting a rental car in Armenia, this is the boot check that takes ninety seconds and saves the trip.

The three items the law requires

Armenian road law obliges every passenger car to carry, at all times:

  • First-aid kit (`med-tara` locally). Sealed, in date, and complete enough to look like a kit, not a packet of plasters.
  • Warning triangle. Reflective, standard EU-spec. One per car.
  • Fire extinguisher. Minimum 2 kg, with a valid inspection sticker. Powder is normal; expired pressure or a 2022 sticker counts as missing.

Missing any single item is a flat 20,000 AMD (~$50) fine. Two items missing — two fines. The police don't bundle.

Where rentals usually keep them

In most TakeCars partner cars, the kit lives under the boot floor next to the spare. The triangle is often in a sleeve on the inside of the boot lid; the extinguisher is bolted to the wheel arch or in a bracket behind the driver's seat. If you can't find one in 30 seconds at handover, ask. "Don't worry, it's somewhere" is not a good answer when a patrol pulls you over near Sevan.

A guest from Edinburgh last June was stopped on the M2 outside Yeghegnadzor for a routine paperwork check. Officer asked to see the extinguisher. The renter had checked the first-aid kit but skipped the extinguisher — turned out the sticker was from 2023. €50 lighter, lesson learned. We now point at the sticker on every handover.

What expires and what doesn't

The triangle doesn't expire. The first-aid kit nominally has a 2–3 year sealed shelf life on most consumables — police rarely check this rigorously, but they can. The extinguisher is the strict one: an inspection sticker is required and must be within date.

If you find an expired sticker on your rental's extinguisher, point it out before you drive away. A reputable supplier swaps it on the spot. If they shrug, you've found out something useful about the supplier before the trip rather than at the roadside.

What's not required

A high-visibility vest is recommended but not legally required in Armenia. Spare bulbs are not required. A second triangle isn't required even on longer cars. A separate jack is not part of the kit — it's part of the spare-wheel set, but police aren't checking jacks.

Bottom line

Open the boot, find the three items, photograph them with date-visible stickers, and you're done. Sixty seconds at the rental lot is the cheapest insurance in Armenia.