If you’re a car enthusiast you probably put a lot of time into customizing your car and making it look great, which means you’re also likely to spend a lot of time cleaning it and keeping it in good condition.

Regularly cleaning and waxing the outside of the car, checking the engine, changing the oil, and doing other general maintenance are all important ways to keep your car in good shape, but what about the interior? If you’ve put a lot of time and effort into making the interior look fresh, you need to look after it properly. The interior gets a lot of wear and tear over time and if you don’t take steps to protect it, the car will start to look scruffy. If you’re worried about wear and tear in your car interior, here are some simple ways to protect it.

HAVE A NO FOOD AND DRINK RULE

If you’re serious about keeping the interior in good condition, you should consider having a no food and drink rule. If you’ve got people eating and drinking in the car all of the time, you’re going to get a lot of spills that can stain the seats and crumbs that will get into all of the gaps between seats. It’s not as much of a problem if you’ve got leather seats in there but it will still do damage over time.

COVER THE SURFACES

Covering the surfaces in the car as much as possible will make it easier to clean and stop any real damage being done to the interior. Things like floor mats are a must because you’re going to be tracking mud into the car on your shoes. Seat covers are a good idea as well, especially if you’ve got quite delicate fabrics that can easily get stained or ripped. If you’ve got pets and you take them in the car, it’s going to be hard to keep it in good shape. Always make sure that you’ve got plenty of blankets down, otherwise, you’ll be constantly trying to clean out all of the hair.

GET SOME AIR FRESHENERS

This is an important one as well, especially if you’ve got pets. It’s not nice driving around in a car that smells bad so you always need custom air fresheners in there. You can even get custom air fresheners with any design or scent that you like on them, which is a great way to add another personal touch to the car. They’re not expensive to buy and as long as you change them regularly, they’ll make the car a lot nicer.

TREAT LEATHER SEATS

If you’ve got leather seats, they will get dried out and start to crack over time, so they need regular maintenance. When you start to notice them drying out, you should wipe them down and then treat them with leather conditioner to stop cracks from appearing. If you do this once a month, the leather will look good as new for years to come. When you’re cleaning leather seats, you need to be careful that you’re not using any harsh chemicals that could damage the leather. You should always avoid anything that is petroleum or vinyl based because they can damage the leather and make it look too shiny. It’s best to go for more natural cleaning products instead if you want to keep the leather in good condition for a long while.

OPEN THE WINDOWS

When the weather is hot and the car is parked outside, the interior will get very warm. The heat can dry out leather seats and cause them to crack so you need to keep the car as cool as possible. In the summer, it’s worth opening the window a little and leaving it, as long as you’re parked somewhere safe. Just make sure to check the weather forecast because if it rains and you’ve left the window open, the water will damage the interior as well.

CLEAN REGULARLY

Cleaning the car inside and out on a regular basis is the best thing that you can do to keep it looking great. If you don’t, you’ll get a buildup of dirt and bacteria in the car that will wear the interior down over time. It doesn’t have to take you long doesn’t have to take you long if you’re doing it once a week, just wipe the seats and the dashboard down and vacuum the floors and seats and you should be fine.

These are all very quick and easy things to do but they’ll make all of the difference to your interior and stop it from getting worn as quickly.