Smokers car - baby

[jrtt]

This is a bit of a WWYD I guess.

We've been to look at a car today which has clearly belonged to a smoker - cigarette burn in the front seat and a mild smokey smell. The car hasn't been valeted yet and the man at the garage said the smell would come out, so come back and have a look next weekend when it's been done.

I don't doubt that the smell may well come out, but we have an 8 month old DS and plan to have another baby on the next couple of years. My concern is that there will still be nicotine in the seats that could affect their lungs, even when the smell is gone.

Of course, if it weren't for the cigarette burn, we might have tried it after valeting and never known that it belonged to a smoker, but I do know and it's playing on my mind. The car is otherwise ideal and there isn't much else about within our budget.

I can't find out much about older second/third hand smoke in cars. Anyone got any thoughts?

I really think you are being ott. Aeroplanes are still in operation that we’re flying when smoking was allowed on the plane. Cinemas still have seating from when smoking was allowed in there too. A valeted car will be perfectly safe to travel in.

Smoke is a very difficult smell to remove, I wouldn’t worry about kids being in there but you’ll likely never get rid of the smell. Unless it’s something rare there will be plenty more out there that don’t smell like an ashtray.

Thanks both.

I did wonder if it might be a case of PFB!

I guess I was just worried about the baby being in there time and time again, if it was a plane, cinema etc it's a much less frequent occurrence. I probably wouldn't buy something second hand for the baby if it came from a smokey home, so I suppose I'm applying the same logic.

Whilst I do think old nicotine smell isn't a big deal health wise (like a op said, it's in buildings and vehicles we use all the time) the stink itself may be very, very difficult to shift. Even with valeting.

We ended up having to take every room back to plasterboard to get rid of the smell when we moved into our current house. The smell seeped through new wallpaper and paint. 🤢

Check out the car again a few days after the full valet. Find out if it worked. If it did? Great. If not? Yuck. Smelly (but hardly dangerous) car.

my first

Sorry @gillybeanz, but it was a genuine question. I have found the odd article online about how old smoke can be a risk but couldn't find lots of info on it, hence my post.

Not sure why it is biscuit worthy - I haven't posted in AIBU and I have made a PFB joke about myself below!

There are also a lot of articles about the dubious research which was done to obtain the figures on third hand smoke.

The smell will never come out.