How to give your car a makeover

How to give your car a makeover

Once you’ve finished giving your house a fresh new look, you may start to turn your attention to other areas of your life that are also in need of a makeover. One of the first to spring to mind might be your car. Here are some ideas on how to proceed.

Set a budget

Much of what you need to fix up your car can be picked up for just a few dollars at a time by visiting the same craft stores and hobby shops you make use of when fixing up your home. Set a budget in advance and make an agreement with yourself not to go over it. There may be a temptation to purchase certain items at full price as this will be far more convenient, but there will also be other, lower cost avenues you can explore.

In addition to your regular haunts, you may also need to visit a few auto parts dealers to find certain specific items, but always try to find a cheaper alternative to anything that is out of your price range. Often, few service centers charge you more than necessary. Therefore, while deciding on the options, you might want to be crystal clear with your requirements and expect the same from them also. Many centers may incorporate customer experience management software (like the ones provided by Xtime) where the client has complete access to the payment details, diagnostics, and delivery time estimate. You could make your choices based on such facilities.

If you’re planning on upgrading your vehicle, you may first need to get rid of your existing one, so you can offset some of the cost. Some of the same tips and tricks you can learn while giving your existing car a makeover in order to prepare it for sale can also be used to give a fresh new look to your next vehicle.

Assess the project

If you had your vehicle for a while and especially if you have children, the interior may no longer be looking as fresh as it did the say you brought it home. Say you find the perfect Audi A3 for sale, and know that you need to make your vehicle as spic and span as possible to achieve the best price for it, but when you go to look at it, you find there are a few unsightly stains or marks around the interior of the vehicle, the seats are ripped, and the carpets are filthy.

Follow these tips and transform your vehicle into something wonderful. Thankfully, with a little, time attention and tender loving care, you can give your vehicle a new lease of life, all without the expense of having it professionally detailed.

Get to work

Seats often split among the seams. Invest in a specialist needle along with some extra strong thread and simply stitch them back together. Rather than attempting to patch torn upholstery, see if it is possible to simply stretch the fabric to cover any gaps. Done properly, such a repair will be almost invisible, and you’ll save the huge cost of replacement seat covers.

Other than a cursory sweep every now and then, few people take the time to thoroughly clean the carpets, especially under the driver’s pedals. Simply use a quality liquid carpet cleaner in combination with a stiff brush to fish loosen the dirt and then mop up the excess with a rag. You’ll need to repeat the process several times and leave the car somewhere warm if you want the carpets to dry in a reasonable time. If you can get hold of a steam vacuum, this can hugely speed up the process and is highly efficient at loosening up ingrained dirt.

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