These are some interesting times for sure! Wash your hands, stay home, wash your hands, wear gloves to the store, use hand sanitizer and …oh wash your hands! Now repeat. If we are doing this during our grocery store runs, to our hands, houses and clothes, what are we doing about our cars? This had my carlady brain wondering…Can we reduce the spread of Covid-19 by wiping down and cleaning our cars? I was so moved by this topic that I did a podcast episode you can CLICK HERE TO STREAM I was watching people everywhere freaking out about touching stuff, washing their hands and not wiping down the door handle, steering wheel, seat belt buckle, climate controls, touchscreen, push to start button and everything they touch in their car. WHAT?!?!?
I pride myself on educating and empowering consumers so I started to do a little research online. Turns out, some of it is elementary, and some of it might actually surprise you. First things first, lets talk about what NOT to use. This is super important. Even though we want to kill the sh*#t out of Covid-19, you don’t was to damage your vehicle’s interior. Please, whatever you do, DO NOT bleach the inside of your car or use Hydrogen Peroxide. They will take that bad boy virus out, but also totally take out anything leather, wood grain, vinyl and ruin your touchscreen and say a big fat NO to anything that has ammonia in it. This will brake down the plastic and vinyl on your dashboard, making it feel sticky or tacky after the sun hits it and eventually just ruin the surface. Not to mention that it can ruin the anti-glare surface on your touchscreen. (Oh, and by the way, wash your hands). There are some websites out there that could tell you exactly what the scientific chemical reasoning is, I am just here to tell you, DON’T use it.
So what can you use to clean your precious Bessie? I am glad you asked! You can never go wrong with good ol’ soap and water. Any household soap will do, It doesn’t need to be special or antibacterial (remember we are dealing with a virus, not a bacteria). The 20 second rule still applies to your car just like your hands. My daughter is a microbiology major and helped me to understand. This virus has an outside layer that is fatty- like. Let me remind you, I am not a microbiology major, I am a car salesperson so I took what she said and put into terms that seemed easier to understand. This fatty layer gets broken down by the soap and water after the 20 seconds and the particles basically attach themselves to the soap and get rinsed away. Just like oil and water gets broken down when you put soap in and mix it around, that is what the soap does to the virus. Before you get too excited with the suds, Please DO NOT put soap and water all over your technology! You can still use the wipes and the hand sanitizer. I used that the other day on my hands, phone and key fob when I got into the car. At the end of the day, some of this may seem like common sense, but if we have learned anything, The most important way that we can do our part is to be informed. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay home. Wash your hands. REPEAT!
Here is the link to the CDC website that may be helpful if you are not sure about cleaning materials:CLICK HERE
To listen to all my podcast episodes including one on this topic.. STREAM HERE
“Be the change you want to see in the world” ~ Gandhi
