If you are a person who has a sensitive nose, you might dread the wintertime when you can’t avoid any kind of bad smells in your air system by rolling down your windows and hoping for the best. Thankfully, we have some sensitive sniffers on our team as well, and we’ve had them put together some foolproof tips for cleaning out your air vents and eliminating unsavory lingering odors in your car!

First of all, get some Q-tips, some cleaning solution, paper towels, a microfiber cleaning cloth, and a vacuum. Yeah, you’ll need all this. Oh! And some air freshener spray (i.e. Febreze). The first thing you’re going to do is vacuum out all your vents. All of them! Don’t forget the ones near the ground or the one right up against your windshield. Vacuum all your vents then just give your seats and rugs a nice vacuum as well, just for good measure. Next, get those Q-tips and cleaning solution and get into the nooks and crannies of all your air vents. Clean them out really well. Then get your paper towels and clean off all the surfaces of your car.

If the smell still lingers from your air system, drive for a little bit to a nice parking area (the driving is to warm up your engine) and then put your air on full blast. This should dry up the tubes and pipes and get rid of any mold or other nastiness that’s been hanging on. If there is STILL a smell, come talk to us at Fiore VW and have us take a look at your cabin air filter.

The final step is to give everything a final rub down with a microfiber cloth and spray some of that Febreze. Now you’ve got a nice-smelling AND dust free car! No allergies or bad stenches. Win-win!