Have you ever taken a car out for a test drive, only to find that the car’s interior didn’t smell quite right? If that has ever happened to you, it’s likely that you decided to move on to a different car even though you probably could have gotten the vehicle for a discounted price. That’s because an interior that smells foul or musty always takes away from the experience of driving a car – and you wouldn’t want to buy a car that’s full of the remnants of someone else’s bad habits.
Given all of that, it’s funny that many of us fail to maintain our cars in a way that keeps them smelling nice. In the name of convenience, you probably eat in your car during your lunch break. During the weekend, you take the car through the car wash and skip vacuuming because you don’t feel like doing the work. If you smoke cigarettes and have a long daily commute, there’s a good chance that you smoke in your car.
In this article, we’re going to propose solutions for all of those problems. You wouldn’t buy a car that smells bad, so why do you put up with driving a car that’s no fun whatsoever for you or your friends? Use these simple tricks to make your car smell better right now.
Stop Smoking in Your Car
If you’re a smoker, you’re probably well aware of the fact that smoking in your car is the absolute worst thing that you can do if you want your vehicle to smell nice. You almost certainly notice the smell of stale smoke when you first get into your car at the beginning of the day – and yet, you light up during your drive anyway. Well, your friends and dates notice the smell too – and they’re definitely not impressed.
So, what do you do? The answer is that you need to stop smoking in your car. The easiest way to do that is by using a vaping device from a company like Premium Vape Australia. Vaping won’t leave a lingering unpleasant smell in your car – and with the other tricks in this article, you’ll find that you can remove the existing smoke smell with just a bit of time and effort. Vaping in your car instead of smoking will make driving or riding in your vehicle a much more enjoyable experience, and it’ll also enhance your car’s resale value. You may even find that vaping in your car will eventually become a catalyst that helps you quit smoking completely.
Stop Eating in Your Car
Along with smoking, eating in your car is the other serious no-no that you should always avoid if you want your car to smell good. That’s because it’s almost impossible to prevent yourself from dropping crumbs when you eat in such a confined space – and if you happen to lose a few fries under your seat, you’re not even going to notice until the smell becomes intolerable. Once you’ve collected a bunch of crumbs under your seats and inside the upholstery, you’ll find that it’s extremely difficult to get the smell out. Stale, moldy breadcrumbs and bits of French fries smell absolutely horrible, and the way to prevent those smells from permeating your car is by not eating in your car in the first place. It’s tough to resist the temptation to eat in your vehicle when you don’t have a lot of time for lunch, but it’s really worth the effort to find an alternative location such as a park bench.
Give Your Car a Deep Cleaning
Until you rid yourself of the two bad habits that can completely ruin the way your car smells, there’s no point in spending a lot of time giving your car a deep cleaning. After all, the smells will just come back when you eat or smoke in your car again. Once you’ve stopped doing those things, though, it’s worth the effort to spend an afternoon getting those unpleasant odors out of your car for good.
Start by vacuuming your car as thoroughly as possible, including under and inside the seats. Remember that crumbs will collect in the areas that are difficult to reach, so those are the areas where you’ll want to spend the most time. After you’ve vacuumed your car, finish the job by steam cleaning the floors. If you have upholstered seats, you can use the steam cleaner on them as well. If you have leather seats, use a leather cleaner instead. If you’ve smoked in your car, you’ll also want to clean the insides of the windows with a strong glass cleaner. Once you’ve done those things, you should find that all smoke and food odors are virtually gone.
Replace Your Car’s Cabin Air Filter
Once you’ve given your car a deep cleaning, the next thing that you should do is replace your cabin air filter. The cabin air filter removes particulate matter such as pollen and mold spores from the air that enters your vehicle, and it may also be used when you recirculate air through your car’s air conditioning system. In other words, the stinky airborne molecules from the cigarettes you’ve smoked and the French fries you’ve eaten are trapped in the air filter, so the filter has got to go. Replacement cabin air filters are inexpensive, and you can usually access your car’s current air filter via the glove compartment. You should have little trouble doing this even if you have no mechanical ability whatsoever.
Put Activated Charcoal Under Your Car’s Seats
Once you’ve removed the visible particles that can contribute to a foul or musty smell in your car, it’s time to work on the microscopic airborne particles that you can’t see. J.D. Power recommends spreading cat litter on your car’s floor overnight, but we’ve got a solution that’s significantly less messy. Instead of using an odor absorber that you’ll have to vacuum up later, buy bags of activated charcoal from your local home improvement store and put them under your car’s seats. As air circulates through your car, it’ll pass through the bags. The charcoal will trap the odor-causing molecules, and any remaining unpleasant smells will gradually dissipate. Every month or two, remove the charcoal bags from your car and air them out in bright sunlight for a few hours. If you keep the bags refreshed in this way, you can use them for a year or two before they lose their effectiveness.
