The method
Five stages, and we stop at the one that does the job
A full interior clean is the first three stages: check the vehicle over and clear anything that has got down into it, shampoo the carpet and the fabric, then extract it all back out again. Hard surfaces, vents and glass are cleaned alongside that. Most vehicles start and finish there.
The last two stages exist for the ones that do not. A smell has a physical source sitting somewhere in the vehicle — air freshener adds a second smell on top of the first, and an ozone treatment on its own knocks it back for a few days before the source starts again. Neither is a treatment.
What follows is what we actually do, in order. Each stage is priced separately, so a vehicle that only needs the first three is only charged for the first three — and a vehicle that needs all five is quoted before anyone starts pulling carpet.
1
Find and remove the source
Every job starts the same way. Mats out, seats run through their travel, and a proper look at what has got down into the vehicle rather than what is sitting on the surface of it. On a straightforward interior clean that takes a few minutes and sets the price. On a vehicle that smells, it is the whole job.
Odour is not a smell hanging in the air. It is a physical residue sitting on or in something — spilt milk that ran down between the seat rails, urine that soaked through the carpet into the underlay, tar and ash from years of smoking that has settled on every surface in the cabin including the inside of the air conditioning system.
Until that residue is gone, everything else is temporary. This is the stage that separates a treatment from a cover-up, and it is the stage a cheap ozone service skips entirely.
Sometimes what we find is not a cleaning job at all. A perished windscreen seal, a blocked air conditioning drain or a plugged sunroof drain will keep making the car damp no matter how well we clean it. If that is what is going on, we will tell you and stop, rather than charge you for a clean that will smell again in a fortnight.
Where we look
- Under the seats and along the seat rails
- Under the carpet and into the underlay
- The boot well and the spare wheel tub
- Seat belt webbing and the retractors
- The cabin filter and its housing
- The air conditioning evaporator and ducting
- Door cards, door shuts and drain holes
- The headlining, sun visors and pillar trims
- The centre console, cup holders and glovebox
When we use it
Always. Every job starts here, including a straightforward presentation clean.
How it is priced
Included in every job. What we find determines which of the stages below you need.
2
Carpet shampoo
Vacuuming takes what is loose. What is left is held in the fibre — ground-in grit, spilt drink, food, the oils that come off hands and skin over a few years of use — and none of it lifts because you went over it again with a vacuum.
So the carpet, the mats and the fabric seats are shampooed: a cleaning solution worked through the pile and agitated, then given a little time to do its work rather than wiped straight back off. That is what breaks the soil away from the fibre, so the stage below can take it out of the vehicle rather than move it around inside it.
Shampoo on its own is only half the job, and it is where a cheap interior clean stops. These two stages are never done apart.
What it goes through
- Carpet through the footwells and under the seats
- Floor mats, front and rear
- Fabric seats, including the backs and the bolsters
- The boot floor and its lining
- Fabric door-card inserts
When we use it
Standard on every interior job where the carpet and fabric are dirty rather than dusty — which is most vehicles.
How it is priced
Included in the interior clean, with stages 1 and 3. See the prices on the pricing page.
3
Hot-water extraction
Shampoo loosens; this is the stage that removes. Hot water is driven through the pile under pressure and vacuumed back out in the same pass, and the contamination leaves the car dissolved in the water we recover.
The important part is the recovery. A shampoo that is not extracted leaves detergent behind, and detergent left in carpet attracts dirt and can smell worse in a month than what you started with.
Fabric needs to dry properly afterwards, which in a Hobart winter is a real consideration. Heavier extraction work is better done at the workshop where we can control airflow and heat, rather than in your driveway on a damp day.
What we use it on
- Carpet and floor mats
- Fabric seats, including under the base
- Boot lining and cargo area carpet
- Fabric door inserts and pillar trims
When we use it
When the contamination is in the carpet or the seat fabric rather than on a hard surface — which covers most pet, vomit, milk and drink spills.
How it is priced
Priced as its own stage, and by how much of the interior needs it.
4
Air-path treatment
Once the source is gone and the surfaces are clean, what can be left is odour that has worked its way into the air path and into porous material — foam, headlining, the evaporator. That is what this stage is for.
Ozone is effective at it and is also a lung irritant, which is exactly why it belongs in a workshop rather than in a driveway. The vehicle is treated sealed and unoccupied, under controlled conditions, and is then fully ventilated before it comes back to you. We do not run ozone at a customer's home, we do not leave a generator with you, and we do not hand back a car that still smells of the treatment.
Hydroxyl is the gentler alternative. It works more slowly but can run for longer and is kinder to interior materials, so it suits vehicles where we would rather not push ozone hard.
On its own, this stage is the cheap ozone bomb that did not work for you the first time. It only does its job as the fourth step, after the source is out.
When we use it
Smoke, long-standing pet odour, mould, and anything where the smell is coming back through the vents.
How it is priced
Part of the odour-removal job rather than a line of its own. See the prices on the pricing page.
5
Carpet out
The last stage is the one nobody wants and some vehicles need. Seats come out, the carpet is lifted, and the underlay — which is where urine, milk and flood water end up and stay — is treated or replaced. The floor pan is cleaned and sealed before everything goes back.
It is a full day of work or more, and it is the most expensive thing on the list, so it is quoted specifically rather than escalated to without asking. If your vehicle needs it, we will say so before we start and you can decide whether it is worth spending on that car.
This is the honest end of the ladder. Some vehicles are past the point where cleaning is the economic answer, and we would rather tell you that than take the money.
When we use it
Urine or milk that reached the underlay, flood and water ingress, and long-term smoke in an older interior.
How it is priced
Quoted per vehicle after inspection. Never started without your approval.
What we will not tell you
That it is guaranteed
Most vehicles clear in one treatment. If yours does not, the next stage of the ladder is quoted before we start it. Nobody who has not looked under your carpet can promise you an outcome.
That ozone is a whole service
It is one stage of five, it runs in our workshop under controlled conditions, and the vehicle is fully ventilated before it comes back. We will not run it at your home or leave a generator with you.
That every car is worth it
Some interiors are past the point where cleaning is the economic answer. If that is your vehicle, we would rather say so than take the money and hand back something that still smells.
Questions we get asked
Do I pay for all five stages?
No. You pay for the stages your vehicle actually needs. A standard interior clean is stages one to three, and that is where most jobs finish. The last two exist so that the bad ones have somewhere to go, not so that every car gets the full treatment.
How do you decide when to escalate?
By whether the previous stage did the job. We check the vehicle after each stage, and if it is not clear, the next stage is priced and agreed before we start it. Nothing escalates on its own.
Can you quote the odour work over the phone?
Not properly. The price depends on where the residue is, and that is something you find by looking under the carpet rather than by describing the smell. The published price for the clean we can give you on the phone; what the smell needs on top of it comes after a look.
Is ozone dangerous?
Ozone is a lung irritant, which is precisely why it belongs in a workshop. The vehicle is treated sealed and unoccupied under controlled conditions and then fully ventilated before it is returned. We do not run ozone at a customer's home and we do not leave a generator with you.
What if the smell comes back?
Ring us. Most vehicles clear in one treatment. If yours does not, the next stage of the ladder is quoted before we start it — and if what is causing it turns out to be a leak or a fault rather than a residue, we will tell you that instead of cleaning it again.
Get it booked in
Ring and describe the vehicle, or send a few photos and get a price back in writing. Either way you will have a price before anyone comes out.
Running a yard or a fleet? The same method, priced per unit. Trade and fleet work