How to remove smoke smell from a car
Cigarette smoke in a vehicle can be a very challenging thing to remove. If you are looking at buying a car my advice is don't buy it if the vehicle has strong cigarette smoke smells as to eliminate the smoke odour can be expensive. The removal also depends alot on the intensity of the contamination i.e one person smoking 5 cigaretes a day for a period of 3 months versus one person smoking 40 per day and over a period of 5 years with the windows up. Obviously the later may be a permanent contamination and no matter how much ozone or cleaning is carried out the odour still remains.
Many imported cars contain smokers residues and the stink of cigarette smoke can be masked by the seller for a short time. The heat is what usually brings out cigarette smells out and the odour re-emerges when heat is applied to the car at a later date. i.e sitting in the sun for a period of time with the windows closed.
The smell no matter how many times you clean the upholstery and flooring still lingers and is annoying to the breathing system of a non smoker due to the toxic cigarette residues that are very difficult to remove
Pregnant women and people with sensitive noses in particular seem to suffer the most in a smokers car due to the toxic residues that remain in the ceiling, and fabrics
Tips for buying a car and how to avoid one with smoke contamination.
1. Check for any change in colour around the sun visor above the drivers seat. Fold it down and compare colours on the roof. If there is a ring where the sun visor normally rests,a colour difference, and the car smells of cigartee smoke then it may well be a serious contamination.
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2. Check the ashtray for odour. If it is strong and looks like it has been cleaned then you know it was used alot by a heavy smoker potentially.
3. Smell the vehicle manual in the glovebox for smoke odour. Sometimes the dealers forget to remove them or clean or mask the glovebox.
4. Smell the roof lining. Take a deep intake with your nose pushed hard up against the fabric. If you can feel smoke odour or a little tickle in the back of your throat then you have potentially a serious contamination
We have however been able to help alot of vehicle owners who have been duped by car dealers into buying seriously contaminated vehicles and make the vehicles safer for the family and more pleasant to drive in..
Hi Craig
Thanks for treating our mazda van. We are thrilled with the outcome and had no idea how bad it was until you showed me the residues. Ugh Glad we are not breathing that in anymore. The smell is gone now and we can enjoy the new car. Certainly I won't get caught again!
Thankyou Amin
Craig
The van is all good now and we feel alot happier. I also appreciate the in-depth updates provided over the weekend concerning our ceiling. We were unaware how bad it was and appreciate the extra effort you went to to remove the smoke products in the fabric of the roof. I have showed the photo to the car dealer with little response. Cheers Michael Chou

This is the residues extracted from the ceiling of the vehicle
At Odarid NZ we have treated many hundreds of smoke damaged vehicles over the years. The price can vary between $150 and $1000 depending on the level of contamination. We alwasy do our best but there are cars on the odd occassion that are too far gone to bring back and the cost of doing so is not feesible.
We use a range of treatments depending on the level of contamination.
One treatment is to use just ozone gas to reduce the cigarette smoke odour from a vehicle and this can be effective. The ozone treatments can be combined with a specialist cleaning system developed by Odarid NZ Ltd where we inject a chemical into the ceiling and seats plus floors and extract it out several times with a machine to remove the contaminants.
Ozone will help break down the residual chemicals found in smoke contaminations and help remove the odour as well.
Please contact us to arrange a ozoning of your vehicle to remove the smoke odour
You will need to bring the car to us and the minimum charge for ozoning is $150 plus gst for a 24 hour period of ozone treatment. This will help break down the contaminats and make the car safer. however specilaist cleaning may be required and this starts at $200 plus gst
You may need to leave the car with us longer than 24 hours
Please contact us here to arrange a ozone treatment of your vehicle or home
Pricing
Odour removal and sanitising of Vehicles
- Ozone Treatment of vehicles $150 plus gst (if car is bought to us) If we come to you a callout fee of $85 plus gst plus ozone treatment is applicable
- Pet Urine, milk, dog odours, rotten meat etc $100 per contamination plus call out fee if required (One contamination is 800mm wide max)
- Severe contaminations are subject to quotation or hourly rate
- Please note smoke contaminated vehicles may need ceiling cleaning and upholstery cleaning for severe contaminations and this is chargeable based on time spent
Labour rate is $85 plus gst per hour
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