Cleaning Your Rental Car Could Save You Money

Many people are not aware of the fact that when they rent a vehicle from a service that they are supposed to return it in the condition which it was rented in. Although that sounds like common sense, what most people consider “clean” won’t be clean as far as the rental service is concerned. Car rental services can charge cleaning fees if you don’t bring the vehicle back to them in pristine condition. There are a few things that you can do to guard against these fees, however.

Smoking in a rented vehicle is one of the biggest mistakes that you could make. This is especially true if you are renting the vehicle for more than one or two days, because the smoke will cling to the upholstery and to the carpet. This leaves an odor and many non-smokers are sensitive to this; since this could cost the rental service money, they will potentially charge you a fee to remove the odor. If you absolutely have to smoke in the vehicle, do so with the window down and make sure you clean the ash tray before returning the car.

The area underneath the seats will collect all manner of trash and garbage before your rental period is over if it’s of any significant length. Cleaning out from under the seats is in your best interest, anyway, since people often lose fairly important items there. It’s entirely possible that the holy grail could be found under the seat of a car. What you don’t want to find under the seat of a car before you return it, however, is gum and other candy stuck to the carpet.

Vehicle storage compartments are also great places for extra bits of trash to collect. Most vehicles come with at least a couple of these and it’s always best to go through them before you return the vehicle, even if it’s just to make sure you’re not leaving anything behind in them. This includes the glove box area, as well.

Last, but certainly not least, you want to keep in mind as you are driving the rental car that it doesn’t belong to you. Even if you really want it really really badly, you still have to return it at the end of your rental period, no matter how much damage you’ve done to the interior or the exterior. It is your responsibility to keep the vehicle in good operating condition while it is in your care, because after all, you wouldn’t borrow a friend or relative’s car and not take care of it, would you?

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