Buying a car that smells of smoke
Discussion
Hello,
I was hoping I could get some advice. We’ve found a car that we really like through an Audi dealership – we’re due to be viewing it in a couple of days, but have just heard from the salesperson that on inspection, the car smells heavily of cigar smoke and he’s advising us against having it sent down here and even looking at it…. I have my suspicions that something else is awry, potentially that they have another buyer lined up and/or they think they are selling to us too cheaply and have made a mistake with the quote.
My question is, if they are indeed being truthful and it does smell heavily of smoke – is this really a massive problem? It’s a leather upholstered Q5 – can the smell be removed? Another point to note is I am 5 months pregnant and this will be the main car I will be transporting my little one in.
Thanks for any advice you can give me,
N
I was hoping I could get some advice. We’ve found a car that we really like through an Audi dealership – we’re due to be viewing it in a couple of days, but have just heard from the salesperson that on inspection, the car smells heavily of cigar smoke and he’s advising us against having it sent down here and even looking at it…. I have my suspicions that something else is awry, potentially that they have another buyer lined up and/or they think they are selling to us too cheaply and have made a mistake with the quote.
My question is, if they are indeed being truthful and it does smell heavily of smoke – is this really a massive problem? It’s a leather upholstered Q5 – can the smell be removed? Another point to note is I am 5 months pregnant and this will be the main car I will be transporting my little one in.
Thanks for any advice you can give me,
N
Cigarette smoke can be a complete nightmare to get rid of the smell. Was the driver having a cheeky fag here and there or full on 40 a day? You'll not know until you 'try' to remove it.
I've had cars owned by smokers and still had a whiff of it over a year later and several attempts to clean / deodorise it.
With you being pregnant are you sensitive to certain smells? Some can make you feel quite ill, especially cigarettes, seafood etc.
I'd give it a miss and find another, I doubt Audi Q5's are thin on the ground.
I've had cars owned by smokers and still had a whiff of it over a year later and several attempts to clean / deodorise it.
With you being pregnant are you sensitive to certain smells? Some can make you feel quite ill, especially cigarettes, seafood etc.
I'd give it a miss and find another, I doubt Audi Q5's are thin on the ground.
If they're bringing the car from another dealer its likely they're just being honest with you to save themselves a hassle, theres no point in them using time/people moving a car just for someone to turn up and say "Nope it smells of smoke". Theres no real certain way to get rid of smoke smell, only buy it if you're willing to accept that. Don't buy it thinking you'll get rid of the smell
Spray this stuff everywhere on every surface inside the car on a sunny day. Don't breathe it in.
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/air-fresheners/carpr...
http://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/air-fresheners/carpr...
I wouldn't do it. My last car smelled like dog when I got it. Never quite got rid of it, especially with the windows down. I had someone shampoo all the seats, I attacked the boot and floors with every cleaning product under the sun, I used an air conditioning bomb, regularly sprayed down with Febreeze ...
Don't do it!
I bought a Passat that had been owned by a pipe smoker, and although it was an extreme case, I tried everything from smoke bombs, steam cleaning, air fresheners, the car always stank. Neither my wife nor kids would get in the car, even after six months.
Admittedly, the headlining was brown instead of the grey it came out of the factory with (the car had done over 120k), and it was a runaround hack for me to use. I sold it to another pipe smoke who was very happy with it!
I bought a Passat that had been owned by a pipe smoker, and although it was an extreme case, I tried everything from smoke bombs, steam cleaning, air fresheners, the car always stank. Neither my wife nor kids would get in the car, even after six months.
Admittedly, the headlining was brown instead of the grey it came out of the factory with (the car had done over 120k), and it was a runaround hack for me to use. I sold it to another pipe smoke who was very happy with it!
Avoid it - there are plenty of other cars to choose from.
You are very unlikely to be able to remove the smell of cigarette smoke, let alone cigar smoke. Steam cleaning and ozone treatments can remove much of it, but not all. Once a car has been heavily smoked-in, residues are near impossible to remove. The recirculation system of the air-con/heating also gets coated.
Bombs don't delete, they mask and perfume - that's a further load of chemicals that you and your baby will have to cope with. It's not just odours that we should be considering, it's total chemical load.
Avoid completely unnecessary chemical exposure.
You are very unlikely to be able to remove the smell of cigarette smoke, let alone cigar smoke. Steam cleaning and ozone treatments can remove much of it, but not all. Once a car has been heavily smoked-in, residues are near impossible to remove. The recirculation system of the air-con/heating also gets coated.
Bombs don't delete, they mask and perfume - that's a further load of chemicals that you and your baby will have to cope with. It's not just odours that we should be considering, it's total chemical load.
Avoid completely unnecessary chemical exposure.
Natjack said:
We’ve found a car that we really like through an Audi dealership – we’re due to be viewing it in a couple of days, but have just heard from the salesperson that on inspection, the car smells heavily of cigar smoke and he’s advising us against having it sent down here and even looking at it….
My question is, if they are indeed being truthful and it does smell heavily of smoke – is this really a massive problem? It’s a leather upholstered Q5 – can the smell be removed? Another point to note is I am 5 months pregnant and this will be the main car I will be transporting my little one in.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5424415/Scientists-evidence-perfume-making-people-ill.htmlMy question is, if they are indeed being truthful and it does smell heavily of smoke – is this really a massive problem? It’s a leather upholstered Q5 – can the smell be removed? Another point to note is I am 5 months pregnant and this will be the main car I will be transporting my little one in.
Harji said:
I once bought a Subaru Legacy off a cigar smoking dog owner, that combination made the car smell of s
t. It was used in negotiating the price down and about a year later the smell went.
Or you got used to it? t. It was used in negotiating the price down and about a year later the smell went.To really get rid of the smell you essentially need to strip the interior down to its component parts, clean all surfaces, clean out the heating system, have all the carpets, fabics and foams cleaned and then top it off with an ozone generator. Chances are you'll still smell it if you're a non-smoker.
Find another one, it's not worth it unless it's £1000's cheaper.
If you are asking the question and you are a non-smoker - dont do it. It never fully goes away.
I had a car that on purchase didn't smell - other than of cleaningmaterials/car perfume (in hindsight probably a bit too strongly). After a few weeks the perfume started to wear off and the underlying cigarette smell started to come through.
It smelt like someones old granny that went through 40 a day then wore Chanel to cover it up. Whatever cleaning/scrubbing etc we tried it always came back and in the end my partner refused to get in the car.
Spoilt the whole thing really and it was just a cheap runabout. Ultimately it was only solved when the car was written off in an accident...
I had a car that on purchase didn't smell - other than of cleaningmaterials/car perfume (in hindsight probably a bit too strongly). After a few weeks the perfume started to wear off and the underlying cigarette smell started to come through.
It smelt like someones old granny that went through 40 a day then wore Chanel to cover it up. Whatever cleaning/scrubbing etc we tried it always came back and in the end my partner refused to get in the car.
Spoilt the whole thing really and it was just a cheap runabout. Ultimately it was only solved when the car was written off in an accident...
Don't do it - even if there is a discount.
I bought a car recently that only afterwards the smell of smoke came through (despite the dealer telling me it had never been smoked in! Another story...)
Despite professional cleaning and a smoke bomb, nothing would shift it.
Particularly bad are leather steering wheels - the heat from your hands on a long trip will release the smell into your hands. Mine was so bad I had to wear surgical gloves to drive it! And that's after a professional steering wheel clean twice.
Also you'll find the smell and residue gets into things like the seatbelt and can't be removed - the valet even tried neat cleaner on the seatbelt but couldn't shift the staining.
I was driving round with a large fridge deodorising block, and spraying the car with neutradol regularly - still the smell remained.
The only solution was to get rid of the car. I believe even the mythbusters proved that you can never remove a bad smell from a car.
I bought a car recently that only afterwards the smell of smoke came through (despite the dealer telling me it had never been smoked in! Another story...)
Despite professional cleaning and a smoke bomb, nothing would shift it.
Particularly bad are leather steering wheels - the heat from your hands on a long trip will release the smell into your hands. Mine was so bad I had to wear surgical gloves to drive it! And that's after a professional steering wheel clean twice.
Also you'll find the smell and residue gets into things like the seatbelt and can't be removed - the valet even tried neat cleaner on the seatbelt but couldn't shift the staining.
I was driving round with a large fridge deodorising block, and spraying the car with neutradol regularly - still the smell remained.
The only solution was to get rid of the car. I believe even the mythbusters proved that you can never remove a bad smell from a car.
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