Hi Folks,
Need your help, I am keen to buy a year old Toyota Yaris, and I have found one around my price range, and it low miles and in really good condition. However the problem is the owner before must have smoked, and the car has a stale horrible smoke smell in it.
The garage had already valeted the car, and I have asked them to valet it again, which they have agreed to do, before I commit to buying it ( already have £100 deposit for them to hold it for me).
Will this car always have this smoke smell, will it fade over time ? Is there a quick fix I could do,
Thanks,
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"Is there a quick fix I could do"
Start smoking.
I bought a three year old car from a smoker and although the smell did fade, it never really went in the 6 years I owned it.
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I may be going mad here, but do I remember someone on here saying that putting some grass clippings in the car helped to get rid of smoke smells? If I'm right, you may just have enough time left this year to give it a go!
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Yeah I did carry an old Christmas tree around for a few weeks and it was the only time the car ever smelled nice.
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BBD - your posts made me laugh.
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I certainly would not buy it.
The aromatic hydrocarbons that are given off in smoke (from cigarettes) come in vast number of types, some of which are long-chain polymers with a tar-like consistency. Now imagine what you need to use to get rid of tar. On a smooth surface like car paint it is no problem, but burried in fabric and crevaces you will never remove it.
The smell may fade with time and/or you will get used to it, but anyone who you give a lift to and therefore not used to the car will notice.
I have stayed in caravans where there have been smokers...the place reeks of Febreeze and other deodourizers, but once these wear off, the ciggie smell returns. Deodourizers also have the downside that everything is coated in an oily-like substance.
Horrible.
Another Yaris will come along.
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>>will it fade over time ?
Yes.
I gave up smoking. We had one car in which I had smoked and one car in which I had not. The difference ws noticable for some time, but after a year or so it had gone. The only time it was ever noticable again was if the car had been left shut up for a period of time.
However, it does take time and whilst it wouldn't bother me, you should probably think very carefully. You will nto be able to mask the smell for anything other than a short period so you will end up living with it for some time.
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"car had been left shut up for a period of time"
That would be your long chain smoking polymers then.
Seriously I wouldn't be able to hack it and I'd look for a cleaner car.
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Rejecting it will start to give dealers and drivers the message that smoking can seriously affect your car's depreciation.
Would you buy a car that had been used for transporting asbestos?
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Does depend if it was a chain smoker doing 30k/year, or someone on 10 a day doing 8k/year. You might not know until you've had it a year!
Buy yourself a large hairy dog and take it for lots of walks by the river. Soon shift the smell of smoke.
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It is a slightly different subject, but smoking does affect the resale value of motorcaravans. Read any For Sale ad in Motorcaravan and Motorhome Monthly and you will see, "no smokers, no pets". Any motorcaravan that has been used by a smoker is looking at a £1000 plus hit on the resale price (even if the next buyer is a smoker!).
The smell is long lasting and is worse when the inside of the vehicle is damp through high humidity, it will eventually fade, but do you want to drive a stink box?
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In your position, I'd wait for another Yaris to come along. You are highly unlikely to ever remove the smell of smoke from the car completely.
Some years ago, a work colleague bought a Peugeot 205 (at a substantial discount) that had belonged to a smoker. He cleaned, valeted and deodourised it as much as he possibly could, but despite that it never smelled really clean.
He didn't notice too much as an occasional smoker himself, but I didn't need to be told the car had belonged to a smoker the first time I sat into it.
- Gromit
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Is there a quick fix?
Well if you lower the rear seat and place a bale of hay in the boot (on papers or polythene to prevent a real mess), the straw will slowly absorb the odour. Grass cuttings MAY work but straw should.
Ideally you should leave it a week....
madf
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madf - straw or hay - you seem confused. Straw from barley, wheat or oats is fairly inert - not much smell, nor would it adsorb any odour.
And if hay, what sort, meadow, seed or racehorse? For the boys I'd suggest a rye-grass and timothy mix - slightly peppery, whereas the ladies might prefer meadow - flowery and soft.
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Get it professionally valeted. A proper outfit that will shampoo the upholstery. The smell will go.
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Also spray the interior with a neutraliser such as Neutradol, Oust or the Dettol version (Morrisons own brand is 65p the rest are about 50 per cent more expensive.
These kill the origin of the smell, unlike Febreeze and similar air fresheners which only mask it for a while.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Rejecting it will start to give dealers and drivers the message that smoking can seriously affect your car's depreciation. Would you buy a car that had been used for transporting asbestos?
I think smoking does affect the resale value. This is why you can order new cars with non-smoking packages, which basically means a storage bin were the ash tray was and a blanking plug instead of a ciggy lighter. Offers no real value but it's something to put in the ad when you come to resell.
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My current car had been previously owned by a smoker. I only bought it because they are quite rare and it took me 3 months to find this one, not like a Yaris.
The stench was strong when I first got it, I then cleaned virtually all internal surfaces - both hard and soft. This did reduce the smell a lot and a few months on I did not notice it all and my wife no longer commented about it. Now after 2 years I cannot smell anything at all. I would recommend using a dashboard polish regularly as this is a much nicer smell than stale tobacco and helps mask to tobacco odour.
I doubt if the garage has done a full internal valet if it still smells of smoke. Why not check out what a local valeter will charge for a full internal clean and use this as the minimum for an extra price reduction. Then get it done yourself, so you know it has been properly done.
--
Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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Also it might be worth checking the trim, my last car had been owned by a cigar smoker and I found that alot of ash had got under the center console, cleaning that out helped to get rid of the smell. The smell didn't bother me too much except when getting into the car, although I do tend to keep the windows open if its not raining and I'm doing less than 50 mph.
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My experience is that you will regret buying the car. The reason is as follows: -
in 1983 I bought a three year old Ford cortina that had done 72,000 miles driven by a very heavy smoker. I paid very little money for the car, so could afford to justify the expense of stripping the interior out, having the carpet replaced, the seats re-uphostered and all the remaining trim and interior body thoroughly shampooed and cleaned, including the vinyl headliner. It all went back in beatifully and looked like a much more expensive car ( I used very high quality material for the seats).
It might have looked good, but after the car had been standing undriven for a period - say over a weekend - it always and I mean always smelled of cigarette smoke. Thankfully the car was stolen by the time I was getting fed up with it.
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Good article here www.clean-image.co.uk/articles/odour-kill-eliminat...m
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Put a wet labrador in it. It wont make the fag smell go away, but you will have a much stonger and longer lasting smell to mask it.
Seriously, dont buy it. Its not an uncommon car you are trying to buy, another one will be along in just a moment.
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I have this problem with SWMBO's RAV4. You get it on cars where people have smoked inside them with the windows closed and used the fitted ashtrays and lighters as opposed to window cracked and flicking both the ash and butt out. I know this because our Toyota smells exactly the same as my aunty's Fords in the 70s and 80s - she is a chain smoker.
I basically scrubbed out the ashtrays, used a foam cleaner on the carpets, replaced the mats and used a Neutradol gel air freshener (nauseating) in the car for a month. The car smells OK but as other people have mentioned if you get into it after being shut up for a few days it does smell stale - also if it's wet outside it smells worse. The only thing I didn't clean is the seats, guess maybe a full wet valet could help.
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Buy shares in Magic Tree!
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My dad used to sell cars; he and his business partner owned a Fiat agency for nearly 30 years before he retired. They would not take any cars in part exchange for new ones if they had been smoked in! His partner was the sales man and he always told people that by smoking in it they had reduced the value by a third at least, but as far as he was concerned the car was effectively worthless due to the problems of selling it.
When I was looking for my S8, I was in a dealer in Bradford with my wife, she spotted a Honda Accord Type R which she thought may be a better bet as it was smaller than the A8/S8 (she is not keen on it), I opened the door to get in and shot straight back out again. Whoever had it before must have chain smoked Havana cigars, the stink was unbelievable. I cannot think who would have touched it, almost unsaleable I would think, but then if its cheap enough someone will buy it.
I would walk away and look for another Yaris.
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hi folks
thanks for all your comments, they have been really helpful
- think i'll leave it and look for another yaris
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All you need to do is factor in the cost of a professional valet, by a recommended car detailer and it'll be good as new. There are some very good products on the market now that really can shift most of the ingrained deposits - however, there's a lot of variation in the skills of valeters so you must choose someone who knows their onions...
I bought a smoker's car because it was the best spec and a rare find. I employed a recommended car detailer to methodically eliminate as much of the previous effects of smoking as humanly possible. He used a variety of advanced treatments, including specialist shampoos and deep cleansing techniques. It cost me £120, including a full polish and wax and it was like getting a new car. I've had plenty of anti-smoking friends in the car and they can't detect any lingering smoke smells at all. I hate cigarette smoke with a passion and was dubious about it being eliminated but I'm convinced it can be lessened to such an extent you can certainly live with it.
Of course, given a choice between a good non-smoker's car or a good smoker's car at similar money I would choose the non-smoker's car...
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Whatever you do, you'll only mask the smell - not remove it!
& isn't it one of those 'well known facts' that a smoked in car will be less well maintained than a non-smokers vehicle?
& one of our mechanics, would never smoke in his own car, but otherwise a cigarette was in his mouth 24/7 - explain that one!!
You're right to look for another one - this time do check the ashtry, too - see if it's only had coins in - or ash!!
VB
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You need to deep clean the upholstery with a proper machine, such as...
www.rugdoctor.co.uk/
Sketchley do similar ones, but most branches have closed and they don't always have the upholstery attatchment which is essential.
Use hot water and stronger mix of detergent. You could also pretreat the seats etc... with a foam cleaner a minute before.
Once the tar has dissolved, it will be carried away for good by the machine, and you will have a tank full of brown waste water in the machine.
Be careful with headlinings, you may be best applieing a foam cleaner such as Vanish 2000 and using the shampooer to get that off ao that you don't over-wet it.
On hard plastics, I'd use laundrey detergent in hot water and a cloth or soda crystals (NOT CAUSTIC SODA).
Best to do hard surfaces first so that any drips on seats will be cleaned up by the machine.
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& isn't it one of those 'well known facts' that a smoked in car will be less well maintained than a non-smokers vehicle?
You'll have to enlighten me on this one as I can't see what difference it makes to maintenance
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Did anyone see tonight`s Mythbusters? They put two dead pigs inside a car and left them to putrify .The car was left in a closed up garage for several days. When it was finally driven out (driver wearing breathing apparatus),they tried to clean it,but ended up having to sell it for spares at a big loss. Point of this gruesome experiment was to prove or disprove the urban myth that a person dying in a car and not found for several days renders a car unsalable. I think they proved this particular old wives tale to be true.
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That reminds me...
I once had a Renault Laguna with the most putrifying smell imaginable - an animal-based nauseating smell!
The car was almost a giveaway so I couldn't resist the cheap motoring at the time, but I later found out the previous owner was a pig farmer...
No idea whether any pigs, dead or otherwise, were carried in it but it would explain everything :-)
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Follow the link that was posted to Clean Image, I was about to post it myself until I realised I'd been beaten to it, it just goes to show that it can be done, but at a price!
Blue
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My present car was previously owned by a smoker. I t was at good price. Fabreeze sorted the smell. you can't smell the tobacco at all now. If the price reflects previous use don't be influenced by the smell
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My car is completely odour free, I had it professionally valeted by one of those companies that used a sort of wet and dry vacuum cleaner. You can not tell that I used to smoke in it, otherwise SWMBO would not use it, since I was banned from the house due to her dislike for my 'disgusting habit'. You may not get rid of the smell in one go though.
Also my brother bought a car that had been used by a smoker, you wouldn't know it now.
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I was banned from the house due to her dislike for my 'disgusting habit'.
Do you sleep in the car, or in a tent in the garden? ;)
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An ex smokers car is worth 20%less in fact a lot of main agents will not have them on the lot and sell them out to the trade.
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I did the same - bought a smokers car - but the smell virtually went away after a good valet, and was gone within a month. Possibly take it to a specialist valet company (not the odd job man at the dealer), tell the company about the problem, and they may be able to use specialist chemicals to get rid of the smell. Why don't you ring around before you buy the car to see if any of your local valeters have an opinion? Five years down the line, you would never know that anyone had ever smoked in mine now.
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I've owned more than one ex-smoker's car. Never really bothered me, but then I'm not an anti-smoking health freak of the type who you see complaining that someone's lit a cigarette outside, so who am I to judge?
In my experience, the smell fades and is not noticeable after a surprisingly short time. Glass clippings do seem to help to get rid quicker, but I've not run any double blind tests to prove this.
The one time you might, just might notice it, is if the car's been parked in the sun for a couple of days. Then you get a slightly odd smell for a minute after you get in.
As to the comment about asbestos above: Asbestos is a known carcinogen. Are smoke residues impregnated in fabric similarly carcinogenic, or is that the sound of someone talking out of the back of their neck?
Anyways, don't be overly worried is my take.
V
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Some people have commented that once a car is smoked in, thats the end of it... but this isn't true. What do you think happens when there is fire in a house of office block? Do they pull the whole lot down? There is a whole industry that has built up around fire and flood damage, not to mention rotting corpses!
The thing of it is that few people have applied the technology to cars -- if there is a fire, or a flood or dead body, then it is usually going to be an insurance job, the people geared to doing buildings aren't geared for cars, there is less money in cars, and cars can be written off for parts. Basically, because nobody did cars, insurance companies don't even try looking for somebody, and as insurance companies are not trying to tout this work out, nobody is in the business of doing it.
But Clean Image have done the training and bought in the same equipment, and in some cases have the exclusive distrubution rights to some of the gear when sold for doing cars. The only problem is that the products used are pretty expensive, and the work is labour intensive.
There are a whole range of techniques used for removing smoke. (By the way, you may want to take a look at this for hardcore smoke removal: www.clean-image.co.uk/articles/fire_damage01.htm ).
The first and most obvious is to remove all traces of ash and tar (or whatever the offending organic material might be). This is done with good old fashioned soap, water and elbow grease. Unfortunately, ash has a habit of getting everywhere, so it may be required to start dismantling the car's interior. Ash usually ends up inside the stearing column so that usually has to come appart.
...and if ash gets everywhere, smoke will penetrate even fabrics, it will certainly end up inside the dash.
Unless they contain a lot of electrics, then seats can be flushed through. Unfortunately, headlinings are often delicate and may need to be replaced but carpets and door panels are straightforward.
The next thing you can do is add emzynes. These will eat a lot of the organic matter that causes smells due to bacteria feeding on them. This includes tar.
Next you wash the car down with anti-baterial which are long lasting. This should prevent bacteria from breading for many years.
All of these methods will kill most of the bacteria, even deep inside the sponge of the seats, but there are always many places you can't get to by hand, for this there are other methods-
There are ozone machines which produce an unstable form of oxygen which oxydixes everything it touches. For this reason it has gone out of fashion, but it is effective. Imagine that up under the dashboard is the wiring loom and this is covered in tar... ozone will oxidize this tar, turning it into something other that tar (This is where my chemistry is lacking) because the ozone steals atoms from it, changing the chemical composition.
Another method is fogging the car with with a product that I can best describe as a kind of varnish... actually it's nothing like a varnish, and you would never know its in the car, but the effect is that it soaks into any remaining tar and coats it, sealing it in so that it can no longer smell.
The third method is to add another odour.
Now, many deodourants do mask smells, and when they wear off, the smell returns. But thats not what I'm talking about, its far more scientific than that. There are only a certain number of chemical smells, you can think of them like the notes on a piano. What happens with a bad smell, is that the notes that make up that smell don't 'sound' good to us. But there are no bad notes on a piano, only bad chords. By adding other notes, you can change the sound of the chords to make them more pleasant. This is not masking the smell, it's actually changing the smell to something you can live with.
So, frankly, if somebody couldn't get rid of the smell of dead pig, they weren't trying hard enough. Cigarette odours is a doddle, although with all odours, it can take several attempts to get it right.
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IMHO its not worth the trouble....
There are lots of cars after all.
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>>Glass clippings do seem to help to get rid quicker
Really? Should that be glass chippings or grass clippings? Great typo for a laugh.
--
Roger
I read frequently, but only post when I have something useful to say.
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