My car flooded and now horrid smell

[Daisy556]

Hey my car flooded by a river about a month ago, all the floors were soaked with water and seats too. I managed to get most of the water out.

now I think the floors are damp, my windows now always steam up and when I get into my car there’s always this horrible smell.

my question is how do I fully dry the carpets and get rid of this smell once and for all

You can buy car dehumidifiers but I don't know how they'd cope with that much dampness.

www.carbuyer.co.uk/tips-and-advice/169140/best-car-dehumidifiers

I'd take it for a full professional steam clean valet. They're not cheap but you need something to kill any bacteria from the water, plus any mould setting up camp in the residual dampness.

I'd be expecting to pay about £150+ for a full steam clean and vac.

I’m surprised you didn’t have it written off by your insurer.

@Shade17 Why would it be written off if the car works perfectly fine? It just needs to be dried out

Our car had a terrible wet dog smell for weeks but I couldn't figure out why. Eventually lifted the shelf at the bottom of the boot to find the spare tyre well was full of stinky water. I think a seal on the boot had been slightly misaligned. Once that was dry the smell went. I also put bicarbonate of soda in there to soak up the small and left the doors wide open as much as possible.

If it was flooded to the point that water got into the interior then it would typically be written off. It’ll never be the same again.