Eliminate the smell of smoke in car?

spuddy

Hi, I'm in the process of buying a 2nd hand car in the UK, but I've just found out there's a smell of smoke from the previous owner. The car is 18 months old and has a cloth interior.

As it will be used by my wife and kids, quite honestly it's putting me right off going through with the transaction. Before I do though, I thought I'd see whether I'm being overly cautious, these days are there reliable methods to completely eliminate the smell of smoke?

Dr_Kolossus

To me smell of smoke is a big no no. Bought one a few years back, thought I'd get rid of smell eventually but as a non smoker I could always smell it no matter what I tried. I'd personally say it's not worth it, it's now one of my red lines when buying a car.

doh1988

Would be a deal breaker for me too

stonecipher

I bought a Merc with a leather interior, previous owner was a smoker and despite having it steam cleaned valeted a few times... could never get rid of it... especially if the car had been sitting unused for 4-5 days, the odour would still hit you when you opened it up.

Like the poster above said its a red line in anything I would buy now too.

ronnie3585

You'll never get rid of the smell. A friend bought a A4 which had been smoked in, he spent a fortune trying to get rid of the smell, but nothing worked long term. A complete red flag in my opinion.

spuddy

Thanks for the feedback, that's more or less what I thought!

MetzgerMeister

Cigarette smoke gets in absolutely everywhere in a car. I'm a smoker but I haven't smoked in any of my cars apart from first car which was already smoked in by the previous owner but no others were and I kept it that way. It will put people off when selling (as it should). I would never buy a car that had been smoked in. It even annoys me when there's someone in the car ahead of me in traffic smoking and the smell comes in through the air vents.

The only way to really get rid of it is to strip the whole interior and clean absolutely everything from the seats, carpets and headlining down to the air vents from the engine bay into the cabin. Basically something similar to a nut and bolt restoration.

Try and find a car that hasn't been smoked in because you literally will not get rid of the smell unless the above is done.

spuddy

I walked away from it in the end, thanks for the advice!

MrMusician18

Ozone will eliminate smoke smells, and is generally what is used in hotels when someone has smoked in a room.

It's an oxidizer though and needs to be treated with care as it will bleach the entire interior if not used sparingly/correctly

TheBoyConor

Fart in it and it'll overpower the smell of fags