Spring Cleaning a Car is Easy – 5 Tips

Spring has sprung! You may not be driving as often with the latest lockdowns, but that’s no reason to spend less time with your car. Spring cleaning a car has its perks, perhaps even more so now….

For example, the weather’s not too hot or too cold to comfortably wipe, wash and de-clutter your car, indoors or out. Plus, lockdown means less of the usual to-ing and fro-ing between home, work and school. As a result, you might have a bit of added time to really get into those forgotten nooks and crannies.

Plus, you’ll feel like a million dollars in a freshly spring cleaned car – a clean car can look as good as a new car!

5 tips for spring cleaning a car

Imagine David Attenborough narrating a nature documentary with some small furry creature or other spring cleaning their den. First, they toss out all the old bedding – tufts of grass, soft moss and bits of twigs.

Now, back to your car, we’re going to begin in much the same fashion… by decluttering!

1. Declutter

Cars seem to have some sort of gravitational pull toward their innards. All manner of bits and bobs, from containers, stationery and stray bits of food manage to congregate in them. Some of this stuff is useful, but rarely all year ’round and usually not for more than a day.

The rest of the time, they’re just bringing down your style.

Now of course, not everyone’s car experiences this strange gravitational force. But if yours does, we’ve combined these three articles to get you through in maintaining a clutter free car:

• Car storage ideas. DIY tips to make the drive to school and work that much better
• Car organising hacks. Tips that will change your car and your life for the better
• Make my car look cool. Budget compliant tips to ramp up your car’s appearance

Some of these top clutter free tips depend on upcycling old containers, so you might just find a use for any you find lying in your car!

2. Wash outside

Now comes the fun part – especially if you have kids and you want to rally them to wash the car too! A sunny day is good for the whole fam to get involved with buckets of water, hosepipes and soap suds. Speaking of family and soap suds, use a natural biodegradable cleaner that’s safe and gentle for skin.

Here are some added tips:

1. Hose down first
   
   You might wonder why you’d need to hose down your car before washing it. Unless you live inland, you do. Read see air vs car and you’ll discover the salt corrodes your car’s metal 10 times faster than dry air. Salt and moisture equals a crazy corrosive combo. By hosing down your car, you’ll rid yourself of sticky salt on your car’s paint that will otherwise scratch it when you start washing.
   
   
2. Don’t airdry
   
   Never air dry a washed car – the moisture droplets can actually cause corrosion over time. Besides, if you leave them to dry, your clean car won’t look very clean at the end! Microfiber cloths are great all-purpose cleaning cloths you can use to dry your car and they’re cheap to buy.
   
   
3. Headlights
   
   Toothpaste is a super cleaner for headlights. It cleans, brightens and even restores some of the transparency of the glass that looks foggy. Simply wipe the toothpaste over the whole light in circular motions until it’s thoroughly spread. Leave it for about 15 second, then wet and wipe away.

If you notice any scrapes and scratches while sprucing up your car, read about DIY car scratch removal.

3. Wash inside

There are countless different mixtures and solutions on the web for cleaning car interiors. We want spring cleaning a car to be as effortless (and fun) as possible. Therefore, all you need is the same natural solution cleaner used to wash the car’s exterior.

The type of biodegradable soap shown here is safe for plastic, leather, metal, fabric and wood (and skin and hair!). You’re pretty much covered. Watch this video to see how easy it is use:

Added tip: For air vents and other hard to reach surfaces, use a gel sticker to remove dust particles from hard to reach places in your car’s interior.

4. Service

Another benefit to less driving time is you can have your car serviced more easily when you’re not using it – so now’s the perfect time. You might even find mechanics who are doing great deals to make the best of a slightly sluggishness pandemic economy.

Whatever the case, servicing simply makes your car purrr better and longer. So, here’s what you need to know:

1. Service your car. When you should and how often
2. Car servicing checklist. How to make sure you get what you pay for
3. Choose a mechanic. How to pick the right one
4. Car servicing. Avoid being overcharged and underserviced
5. Capped price servicing. Find out whether it’s worth it for you

Oh, and now that you’re car is all sparkly clean, why not show her off on a road trip? Here are some awesome ideas for Weekend Getaways Perfect for Spring.

5. Car insurance puts the spring in your step

Car insurance may not sound one bit like spring cleaning a car, but you’ll be surprised. When your car is damaged from hail, storm, fire or flood, comprehensive car insurance gets it back to shape faster. And if there’s accidental damage or your car’s stolen, you’ll be able to get a replacement car or repairs sooner.

See how car insurance keeps your ride ready to drive and spruced up (again)? Get a quote today.