How to Properly Care for Your Car’s Interior

Maintaining your car’s interior is important for a few reasons. In the short term, keeping your interior well cared for makes your vehicle more enjoyable to drive, and leaves you feeling happier about your car. In the long term, maintaining a clean interior can dramatically increase the resale value of your vehicle, or limit the number of repairs and replacements that you need. 
Keeping your interior clean and cared for is pretty simple, but there are a few things to consider, to make sure that you keep your cabin in tip-top shape.

Keep it Organized 

The biggest thing you can do when caring for your car’s interior is to keep it from getting too messy to begin with. Get in the habit of emptying out your car every time you get home. The more clutter that accumulates in your car, the bigger your chances of something happening that can damage the interior. It may seem like that half-finished cock bottle won’t do any harm, but if it starts leaking you’ll have a sticky mess on your hands. Plain and simple, to limit the damage to your interior, limit the amount of things that are in the car.

Get Well Acquainted with Stain Remover 

Surely you’ve been in a gas station or an auto part store and seen lots of different interior cleaning products, such as wipes and sprays. While these products are great, they’re designed to keep things clean, or take care of a little bit of dust and dirt. If and when you have an actual stain, don’t rely on these products, as they won’t be of much help. Instead, use a standard home stain remover, though make sure that the product is okay to use with the material in your cabin.

Consider Breaking out the Iron 

If you have severe stains in your interior, you can use a clothes iron for getting them out. Simply put a dry paper towel on top of the stain, turn your iron to the lowest setting, and run it over the towel a few times. Just be careful not to burn the seat!

Vacuum Regularly 

One of the best things you can do for your vehicle’s interior is to vacuum regularly. Even if your car seems clean, vacuum it once a month, either with a handheld vacuum, or by taking the car to a detailer. Constant vacuuming keeps any crumbs or dirt in the vehicle from turning into mold or mildew. 

Be Thorough 

When cleaning your vehicle, don’t act like a teenager cleaning their room. Just because something can’t be seen, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be cleaned. Always remove your floor mats and clean under them, and be sure to move your seats forwards and backwards so you can cover the whole floor of the vehicle. And don’t forget to clean the inside of the windows with a window-cleaning solution. 

Take Care of Your Center Console 

It’s easy for dirt and debris to get into the cracks of your center console, and all the buttons there. This may not seem like a big deal now, but over time the buttons can jam, which can lead to costly repairs. When cleaning your interior, use something like a credit card or a flathead screwdriver to clean out the space between your buttons. Then, wipe down the entire console with some interior cleaning wipes. 

Keeping your car good and clean doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal, or cost the fortune of weekly trips to a detailer. Instead, just follow these simple maintenance tips, and your car interior will always be a place that you’re happy to be in.