smokers car

[bode61]

I am still shopping for my Mini. Today I found a very nice 2008 with 26K on it. It is at a dealer and I decided to go and drive it. When I got in it I got the smell of smoke. I asked the sales person if the car had been detailed and she stated that it had. If the dealer could not get the smell out then how does one do it? I would like to think an=bout buying it but would not be able to deal with the smell.

Any suggestions?

[SilverBeam]

The smell is in the headliner, a normal detail wouldn't get that. You could fabreeze the headliner then put a fridge pack of baking soda in the car, that should absorb most of the smell.

[Gundun]

I've been there when I bought my 2007 Cooper with 23.000 km on it, previously owned by some filthy smoking b*tch who managed to leave few burns and holes on the seat and on the carpets...and a terrible smell in the car...it was a good deal though.
Up to date I left the car with a disinfecting spray few minutes and feebrezed the headliners and seats.
Still when it's very hot I can smell some, but most of it has left.
@ silverbeam: that fridge pack of baking soda you mentioned...is it something you could easily get in Europe as well?

[madsedan]

I had an experience about 10 years ago where I "overlooked" the smoke smell because it was a decent deal and thought I could get it out and I was wrong. I tried everything on that M3, had the head liner cleaned, removed the carpet and cleaned it in the drive way with a steam cleaner, detailer suggested chemicals, etc. But after a few days of heat with the windows rolled up it started to come back.
The problem is that anything plastic will also get the smell permeated into it, and you pretty much can't get it out. Once I thought it was about gone someone else would ride in the car and ask "oh, you smoke in here?"
You start to get used to it so that it "seems" like its going away but its really not.

The best advice I got was to drive the car with the windows down allot to just let it breath out, I drove the car in Alabama summer with the windows down the whole time and it was allot better, but if it rained for a couple days or was particularly humid it would come back. When I sold the car I got lucky and a friend that was a smoker bought it so he didn't care.

When shopping for my Mini I came across a good deal on an 06, loaded up, at a Kia dealer, the reason it was cheaper than the rest was because it had strong smoke smell and nobody would buy the car, salesman said they had it for a few months, and then I saw it at a secondary/wholesale lot where it sat for a couple months before being sold or sent off to auction.
With fewer and fewer people smoking now its more and more difficult to sell a car that smells like cigarettes.

[MINIGURU]

If it is a smoker car you can get rid of most the smell by running an ozone machine in the car for a couple days. Also I've heard leaving an open bag of charcoal in the car for a week can help.

[bode61]

I decided to skip the smokers car and I ended up purchasing a one owner 2007 MCS with 36K. Love this thing!