The calendar is set to turn to 2024, and your vehicle officially becomes one model year older. But even if a new vehicle isn’t in your 2024 plans, that doesn’t mean your current car can’t smell brand-new.
Courtesy of Rick Bokman, here are five steps you can take to avoid complacency and keep your car smelling fresh year-round.
Clean the Upholstery
Let’s start with the essentials. Dirt, debris, and pet hair accumulate quickly within your car’s interior, and without constant upkeep, you could find yourself looking at a layer of grime. Vacuuming regularly not only eliminates this material, but it also reduces odors that get trapped in the upholstery. You should utilize the vacuums at the car wash whenever you take your car to be cleaned, but it also might help to keep a hand vacuum in the car for more regular maintenance.
In addition, as we prepare our New Year’s resolutions, make 2024 the year you quit smoking in the car. Not only is it a rotten habit in its own right – the smoke contributes a long-lasting, ashy scent to your interior and can potentially ruin the car’s upholstery.
Don’t Let Garbage Linger
Not only do most drivers not keep a waste receptacle in their car – for many drivers, the car is their garbage can. Get in the habit of treating your car’s interior as you would your living room, and don’t let trash linger.
Consider purchasing a car trash can if your vehicle is spacious enough to allow it. You can find most of them for under twenty dollars. Stick it next to your seat and properly dispose of snack wrappers, ATM receipts and beverage containers rather than letting them join the collection amassing on your floor mats. (Also make sure you shake out those mats every week or so.)
Leave Baking Soda Out Overnight
Baking soda: the secret ingredient of the cleaning world. When odors overwhelm or won’t depart easily, simply sprinkle a small amount of baking soda around your vehicle’s mats and carpets. Let it sit overnight, and vacuum everything the following morning. You’ll find that the baking soda was able to absorb several of the odors in your car, leaving a comparatively fresh scent behind.
Baking soda is great when you’re on a crunch and don’t have the time for a deep clean or thorough detailing. If odors persist, leave the open baking soda box resting in your driver’s door pocket for a couple of days.
Use an Air Freshener
They may be passé, but air fresheners are still effective. Make sure you’re picking out an air conditioner that neutralizes odors rather than merely covering up the scent. Although there’s little harm in putting a band-aid over an issue every now and then, there’s little reason to do so with so many highly effective air fresheners on the market.
You can also invest in an oil diffuser. In addition to masking unwanted odors and replacing them with a rich fragrance, essential oils have been known to reduce stress and keep you alert while you drive.
Know the Difference Between Cleaning and Detailing
Detailing your car involves thoroughly cleaning and restoring your car’s interior. Unlike a surface cleaning or routine vacuuming, detailing addresses, well, the details. Areas that often get neglected during regular maintenance, such as air vents and spaces between seats, are rigorously tended to.
Detailing is a deep cleaning process that requires hours of your time and several cleaning materials. You can go as far as shampooing the upholstery or providing a coat of wax. Remember that every extra step you take helps eliminate the spread of odors.
So Fresh and So Clean
Head into the new year with that New Car Smell with an assist from Rick Bokman Buick GMC Cadillac. While you handle the interior of your vehicle, we’ll make sure everything’s running smoothly under the hood. From brakes to batteries to oil changes, we’ll have your car humming like brand new in 2024.
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