We’re all well aware of what’s going on in the news of late, with the coronavirus pandemic making headlines on a daily basis. By now we should be well versed in the recommended guidelines of washing our hands for 20 seconds whilst singing ‘God Help us’ twice through and the importance of doing so. However, with reports indicating that the coronavirus can survive anywhere between 24 hours to 3 days on different surfaces, we at Import Your Car Nigeria have come up with some top tips for keeping the inside of your car as clean and germ free as possible.

Vacuum the interior
Giving the interior a proper vacuum from the doormats to the seats, will get rid of bitty debris and lift away ingrained dust and grime too. Checking all major compartments and removing any rubbish from gloveboxes, door pockets, cupholders and footwells will keep your car clutter-free but also get rid of any lingering germs and bacteria.

Cleaning the interior with antibacterial wipes
As we constantly hold the steering wheel and touch many other parts of the car interior as well, germs can build up over time. The best way to get rid of these is to wipe down the interior with antibacterial wipes or alcohol-based sanitizers.

Clean the inside of the windows
Parents with children will know the struggle of keeping windows clean from sticky fingers and condensation doodles. However, grime and smudges can build up on the inside of car windows regardless of whether you have children, so take a few minutes just to wipe these down as well.

Things to keep close at hand
We’ve all heard the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ phrase and that’s become even more important during these trying times so it may be useful to keep a box of tissues close at hand when behind the wheel to avoid spreading germs all over the dashboard and steering wheel. 

Again, keeping a pack of antibacterial wipes in the dashboard will help when it comes to giving the steering wheel a quick wipe down – particularly if you’re not the only person driving the car.

It may also be worthwhile to have some form of rubbish bin the car – even if this is just a plastic bag that can be emptied or thrown away at the end of every journey, for everyone to throw tissues, wrappers, cans etc in to, keeping rubbish contained.

We understand that it may not be physically possible to wash hands with soap and water at every opportunity so keeping a bottle of hand sanitiser in the car will help in those moments. While it isn’t effective on all germs, hand sanitiser can help kill some microbes and will certainly reduce the risk somewhat until you are able to wash your hands, it’s recommended that you clean hands with soap and water whenever possible.