Being a car owner is fun for the most part. You can go anywhere within driving distance as long as you have enough money for gas and regular maintenance, which also means you no longer have to hassle yourself with public transportation every time. And you’ll have your personal space while you’re at it.
But having a car also means being responsible for taking care of it. Your car won’t last long if you don’t take it to the auto shop for regular tune-ups and inspections. Doing regular preventive and predictive maintenance will help you deal with potential problems before they become any worse.
However, regular maintenance doesn’t only refer to ensuring that the engine isn’t clogged or that your wheels are perfectly aligned — it’s also about keeping the vehicle clean and organized. If there are stains in your seats or a pungent smell coming from the carpet, that may be harder to get rid of on your own.
That’s why you need the right tools to ensure that your car is always clean and tidy. This is especially true because how you take care of your car speaks volumes about your personality. That said, here are five car accessories that you must have to keep your car clean:
1. Floor Liners
Mud, rain, snow, food crumbs, and spills—all these have one thing in common: they can all dirty your car floors if you’re not careful. But it’s hard to be careful, for instance, if it’s raining hard and you’re doing everything you can to seek safety from the cold, which means rushing inside your car while dripping wet in the process.
If you don’t have floor liners in your car, you may damage the car’s interiors permanently. The same can be said if you’re coming from a muddy place because those will dry up, become crusty, and leave dirt marks all over your floors. So do yourself a favor and get removable custom-fit floor liners that can be washed easily.
2. Car Cover
Outside of the garage, your car will be vulnerable to the elements, fallen leaves, and branches, or even the occasional bird poop. But you won’t always be able to keep an eye on your car when you’re out and about, which means you need another tool to help you maintain your car’s cleanliness.
Good thing there are portable car covers that you can keep in your trunk when you’re parking your car outside for a few hours. These car covers are made with water-resistant and durable fabric that can protect your car from the glaring sun rays, harsh rain, intense winds, or pooping birds.
3. Foldable Organizer
Being on the go often means using your car as a bag, especially when you don’t have the luxury of time to keep everything tidy and organized. You may find yourself throwing items you no longer need haphazardly because you couldn’t be bothered to put them on the back seat, and you end up making a mess of the place.
That’s why it’s a smart move to keep a foldable organizer in your glove compartment or trunk. This way, you can place everything you no longer need in your bag on the organizer so that you don’t trash your car, and you can just fold it back and put it away when you’re done using the organizer.
4. Wet and Dry Vacuum
When you’re traveling long-distance, late to work, or simply on a road trip, it’s difficult to avoid eating in the car to save time. But that also means leaving crumbs, fallen food particles, spills, and whatnot on your floors all in the process. Those crumbs could attract ants and other insects into your car without you noticing until it’s too late.
To address this concern, you can keep a portable wet and dry vacuum in your trunk so that you can easily plug it in when you need to clean the car. This will work on the car floor, on seats, or all the nooks and crannies that crumbs, dust, or hair can get into.
5. Car Seat Cover
If you have a pet or two, there’s a big chance that you often travel with them in your car too. And that also means that you know the hassle of cleaning up dog fur, mud, or dander off your seats afterward. But you don’t have to go through all that trouble every single time you travel with your pets.
That is if you get yourself a car seat cover. This cover is easy to put on and fold away, which means you won’t have to worry about wasting time when you have to travel with your pets. And it can also work for anything wet or dirty that you want to protect your seats from, which doesn’t necessarily have to mean a pet.
Keeping your car clean is of the utmost importance, not just because it will make your car live a longer life. Imagine if your car is full of fur, dust particles, or other contaminants that are sucked into your AC and being circulated into the air you breathe, then it might trigger your allergies and affect your driving.
