November 24th, 2020 by Sarah Miles

If we’re really honest, most would admit that our car interiors are probably dirtier than we actually acknowledge. The average person in the UK washes their car around 8 times a year but only valets their car interior 5 times. That might not be enough, even if you’re quite tidy. All car interiors harbour dirt and bacteria that isn’t even visible to the human eye and if you have young children or pets that travel in the car, your eyes may water a little when you find out just how dirty it probably is.

Here are the dirtiest spots in your car:

Cupholder

Spills from your morning latte or loose change being thrown in there can cause mould and bacteria to develop. Cup holders tend to be quite deep so you don’t really look into them very often, but you touch the area a lot when you use it. The deep dark recess provides a perfect environment for bacteria to develop.

Inside door handle

Obviously, the door handle gets touched every time you use the car and while we might give the visible outside surface a wipe over every now and then, the real nasties are accumulating on the inside, which is the part that gets most contact from our fingertips and is more awkward to clean.

Boot

Perhaps no surprises here. The boot is where you might throw dirty footwear, rubbish for the tip, or where the dog travels. However, it’s also where your shopping from the supermarket goes or where you might transport food to a party. Have a think about that next time you eat something at a party.

Driver footwell

Again, this may not surprise you as any mud and mess on your shoes will be transferred to the mats and pedals in the footwell. We’d wager that not even people who regularly clean their cars out bother to wipe the accelerator and brake pedals. Just remember that mud and rain can potentially make them slippery which could be dangerous.

Steering wheel

Bet you thought this would be higher, didn’t you? The steering wheel can definitely be dirty, especially if you don’t clean it after you cough and sneeze on it, but tests showed that all the areas already mentioned were more contaminated. That said, this is one of the key areas for harbouring germs as opposed to general dirt.

Other high touch areas

The other parts of the car that are subject to a lot of touching – gear stick, seat belt buckles, radio controls, sat nav screens etc – all accumulate germs, bacteria, and grease from our hands.

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How to keep your car truly clean

The first rule of keeping your car clean is not to leave food mess in there such as crumbs, spills, and wrappers. Ideally, we’d suggest not eating in your car at all, but we appreciate that this is a hard sell to a toddler or a hungry teenager, fresh from football training. Take all rubbish, including parking tickets and receipts, out of the car whenever you get out.

Unfortunately, there’s no getting around the fact that you’re going to have to clean it more regularly than you would perhaps prefer to. When you do though, make sure it counts. Wiping the surfaces over with a bit of kitchen spray may make them look clean and smell nice but may not kill the germs and bacteria that are living in there. Choose an alcohol-based sanitiser such as Pro-Kleen Alcohol Sanitiser Aerosol Spray to eradicate the really nasty stuff (including coronavirus).

Ensure you get into all the small crevices (including behind the door handle and to the bottom of the cup holder). If you really want to do a thorough job (and save yourself some work), you could even use a product such as X-Mist Vehicle and Surface Sanitiser and Disinfectant Spray that you just set off and leave in the car to disinfect every little corner as well as upholstery and mats.