Mould in Your Car: What to Do (and What Not to Do)

Why it happens

Mould needs moisture, organic material and still air. A car provides all three: carpet and seat foam are organic, cabins are sealed, and moisture comes from leaking door or sunroof seals, blocked drain tubes, wet gear left inside, or simply humid air condensing on cold glass through winter. Bendigo's cool, damp winters — mean July minimum around 2.7°C — plus a car left parked for a few weeks are a reliable recipe.

What not to do

Don't just wipe it off with a supermarket spray and close the car up again. You'll remove the visible growth, leave the spores in the carpet underlay and seat foam, and it'll be back within weeks. Don't blast it with bleach — it damages fabrics and leather, doesn't penetrate porous materials and the fumes in a closed cabin are dangerous. And don't ignore the smell; the spores are in the air you're breathing.

What actually works

Professional remediation follows a sequence: kill the mould with an appropriate biocide, physically remove it, hot-water extract the carpets and seats, dry the cabin thoroughly (forced air, sometimes dehumidifiers), treat the ventilation system and finish with an ozone or chlorine-dioxide cycle to deal with spores and odour. Just as importantly, find the water source — a blocked sunroof drain or a perished seal — and fix it, or it will come back. We do all of this at our Spring Gully studio, and we'll point out the likely moisture source when you collect the car.

More guides

• Is Ceramic Coating Worth It in Bendigo? An Honest Breakdown
• Why Tank and Bore Water Wrecks Your Paint (and How to Fix It)
• How to Wash a Ceramic Coated Car (So the Coating Lasts)
• How to Sell Your Car Faster in Bendigo: Presentation, Photos and Timing
• Caravan Black Streaks: Where They Come From and How to Stop Them