Want to get rid of the foul smell in your car but don’t know how? You’ll be surprised how simple it can be. No need to hire a cleaning service. Most cars can be cleaned to a respectable degree by one person’s effort alone.
Do note, though, that if your car smells bad because of leaking fumes from the gas or the engine, you need to take it to a mechanic instead of using home remedies for disinfection or odor suppression.
Let’s jump right into it then!
#1 Air-washing
If your car just has some smell from your last trip to Burger King lurking in the interior, airwashing might be all it needs. After you’ve made sure that there are no wrappers or maybe some food lying hidden somewhere in the car, you may consider air washing your car’s interiors.
Leave the windows of the car open (make sure there is adequate security) for a few hours and the odor should be gone. This can also rid your car of bacteria in large numbers by drying up moisture pockets that are a buffet for germs.
Air washing works better in the hot and dry season, though people employ it in all sorts of dry weather.
#2 Camphor balls
Camphor smells great. It is used in Asian cuisine, medicine and also in making oils, balms and ointments. It is really easy to find too! Visit a local asian store and you can get a packet for cheap. Leave a piece or two lying around the car and you will find the odors gone the next morning.
Too much camphor can give some people a headache though, so don’t go overboard with the number of pieces you leave in the car. You can also use naphthalene (great insect repellent, BTW), though it is better to check with your doctor first.
Other best alternative of camphor balls is to use air fresheners for car. Air fresheners will definitely, remove the bad odor off your car without giving headache to anybody.
#3 Cleaning the car the old fashioned way
If bad odor persists in your car, it could just be dirty. Only the grime and garbage could be hiding in places it is hard to spot it in or which are hard to reach. Whatever be the case, a good old fashioned cleaning can work wonders for your car.
Look for garbage under the car seats, in the back, in pockets in the car, in the crevices in car seats and other such places. Leaving junk lying around in the car can even attract rodents and pests. Not the best idea for road trips.
#4 Baking soda on car seats
Baking Soda is a commonly available cake ingredient, as you know. Interestingly, it is also a pretty versatile cleaning agent. For this method, you need not wet it or make it into a paste either. Take a sieve or just cut open the packet, and drizzle a generous amount on baking soda onto the car seat. Cover all the fabric. The leather is usually fine, though it can be good to get the crevices in the inexpensive, all-leather seats.
Let the baking soda sit for a few hours, and then vacuum it all out using the upholstery attachment. Be sure to go over several times. The baking soda laps up all the moisture from the car seat which dehydrates and kills bacteria. Further the hydration of the powder produces carbon dioxide which can further kill a few germs by starving them of oxygen.
#5 Silica gel sachets
Remember those packets of gel that come with new bottles or some eatables? That dessicant gel is made of silica, and the number one thing to know about it is that ti absorbs an astounding amount of water from the environment. Have a spot in the car that smells? Drop a few of these packets into the place and let them suck all the water out. No moisture means no rotting, no bacteria to fart obnoxious gases and thus no foul odor.
#6 Potpourri
By far the easiest way to make a car smell nice is to hang a car air freshener that smells typically of pine. But you can not be the laziest person in the world and get a bag of potpourri instead. Hang it instead of a perfectly average car freshner and you can have a car that smells of the forest, of musk, of roses or any other fragrance you fancy. There’s a non-basic way to do things! Who knew?!
#7 Change the Covers
Sometimes, things can be beyond saving. If this is what it seems to be, there is no harm to change the seat covers or even the seats themselves to get plush new seats with a fresh, new-car smell that almost everyone loves. It gives you the chance to start afresh, and you can avoid eating fries in your car here onwards.
What other way do you know to get rid of bad odors in cars? Tell me in the comments below.
