How to Get Rid of Smoke Smell in a Car: A Step-By-Step Guide Show If your ride smells like an ashtray, Creative Colors International has a step-by-step guide on how to get rid of the smoke smell in cars and help you know when it’s time to call in the professionals. Buying a used car can give you more bang for your buck. Used car buyers pay lower sticker prices, less on insurance, smaller registration fees, and fewer taxes. Another bonus of buying a used car is the bulk of its depreciation has already occurred. A new car starts to lose its value the minute you drive it off the dealer’s lot and can depreciate up to 20% by the end of the first year. While buying used may sound like a no-brainer, there are some drawbacks to buying a pre-owned vehicle. One of the biggest disadvantages is the previous owner, especially if they were a smoker. There’s nothing worse than cigarette smell in a car. Catching a whiff of stale tobacco each time you open your car door may make you start to wish you’d bought your vehicle right off the manufacturing line. Odor Removal 101 Car aficionados have a variety of tips to remove the smoke smell from a car. They recommend wiping the vehicle interior down with dryer sheets to get rid of the smell. Others suggest leaving a bowl of coffee grounds in your car to neutralize odors. If you’ve already tried airing out your vehicle and the cigarette smell is no match for air fresheners, there are other options. To help squash out the smell of cigarette smoke in your car, CCI put together a guide with some steps to take on your own before you call the professionals.
Keep in mind that leather vehicle seats are not immune to odors. Leather can also absorb the smell of cigarette smoke. Getting rid of the smell in leather car seats requires a special cleaner and can be tricky. To prevent unintentionally damaging your seats, leave deodorizing leather to a professional. CCI Offers Quality Odor Removal Services CCI has more than 42 years of experience helping people and dealers return their pre-owned vehicles to like-new condition. Our service technicians offer car detailing smoke removal designed to permanently eliminate the toughest odors, including cigarette smoke. CCI technicians are commonly tasked with removing animal odors, cooking odors, smells from fire and smoke, and the lingering smell from chemical vapors. As the legalization of marijuana spreads, CCI’s technicians are frequently tapped to eliminate the smell of cannabis.Our process can also eliminate most bacteria and viruses on contact, depending on the treatment method selected. In addition to helping your car stay fresh, CCI is one of the leading franchises for on-site, mobile leather repair and restoration of leather, vinyl, plastic, and fabric for consumers and local businesses. CCI uses proprietary tools and methods to meticulously eliminate fading, tears, rips, scrapes, gouges, scratches, and scuffs. Our franchise owners work directly with automobile dealerships to help get their used-car fleet ready for display on the lot. Get A Quote from CCI If the smell in your vehicle is preventing you from enjoying your new wheels, or if you need to give your used car fleet a refresh, visit www.wecanfixthat.com to get a free quote for professional smoke removal today. The Drive and its partners may earn a commission if you purchase a product through one of our links. Read more. So you want to get rid of the cigarette and cigar smoke smell—among other Coloradan varieties—out of your car? Well, you’ve come to the right place as when it comes time to sell your vehicle, that lingering smell of smoke, from whatever vice you may take part in, can drastically affect your car’s resale value. Yeah, you don’t just have to worry about smelling like Springfield’s tire fire. When dealers take in trades of known smokers, or begin their appraisal and immediately detect the odor, your car’s value drops faster than we dropped AP college algebra. Some can even say “No thanks” to your trade-in as it permeates every surface, especially the seats. The bottom line is that it needs to go, so here’s exactly how you get rid of it in 3 easy steps. BasicsEstimated Time Needed: 30-minutes to 1 hour, plus time to let the car sit Skill Level: Beginner Vehicle System: Interior DepositphotosSafetyWorking on your car can be messy, especially when you’re cleaning the surfaces you’ve never bothered to clean before—hello, air vents, seat crevice, and sun visor—so here’s exactly what you’ll need to ensure you keep your jeans, shirt, and skin spotless—hopefully.
Everything You’ll NeedWe’re not psychic, nor are we snooping through your toolbox or garage, so here’s exactly what you’ll need to get the job done. Tool List
Parts List
You’ll also need a flat surface, such as a garage floor, driveway, parking garage, or street parking, though check your local laws to make sure you’re not violating any codes when using the street because we ain’t getting your car out of the impound yard. For this specific job, however, it’s best that you use somewhere safe enough to leave your windows open for a prolonged period of time as after cleaning your car’s interior, you’ll want it to sit in the fresh air for as long as needed to both dry and reduce the smell. DepositphotosArranging Your WorkspaceOrganizing your workspace and tools so that everything is easily reachable will save you hours hunting for the mythical 10mm socket, wasting time getting up and grabbing parts from your worktable, or waiting for your handy-dandy child helper to hand you the hammer or blowtorch—Ed. Note please don’t have your kid hand you a blowtorch. Here are our suggestions for making your life easier.
Here Are the 3 Easy Steps...Let’s do this! DepositphotosReplacing In-Cabin Air Filter
Cleaning the Interior
Using the Deodorizer
You’re done! Tips From a ProOver the years, The Drive’s editors have made friends with professionals across the industry. For this specific job, we asked our friend Larry Kosilla, who’s the owner and operator of the car detailing company AMMO NYC, as well as being the detailer for Bugatti, to give us his top tips for removing the smell of smoke from your car. You’ll want to pay attention.
How Often Do You Need To Deodorize Your Car?If this was just a spring cleaning and you continue to smoke inside, you’ll likely have to repeat this process fairly often. If you’re selling the car, we’d recommend two cleanings, letting each sit for a few weeks so as you can determine how much of cleaning is needed during the second round to properly remove much of the smoke’s arid smell. How Much Does The Smell of Smoke Affect Your Car’s Value?Unfortunately, no one has a concrete standard price reduction when it comes to a car that smells like smoke as there are too many other variables to consider, i.e. the prevalence, the intensity, and whether or not there’s any existing damage caused by the smoking itself. Anecdotal evidence found across the web, however, indicates that depending on those variables, cars that still reek of smoke likely see a $1,000 to $4,000 reduction in perceived value when it comes time to sell. Life HacksSince you may not have access to the right tools, or have a friend you can bum a wrench off of, we also compiled a list of our best hacks to make your life easier and drain your pocket less.
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