We Tested the Best Car Vacuums for Keeping Your Interior Fresh

Best Overall: BLACK+DECKER Flex Auto Compact Bagless Handheld Vacuum

4.7

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Our Ratings

• Setup
  5/5
• Effectiveness
  4.5/5
• Maneuverability
  5/5
• Ease of Emptying
  5/5
• Portability
  4.5/5

The BLACK+DECKER Flex Auto Vacuum impressed us with its design, suction power, and portability, earning it the top spot among the car vacuums we tested. To start, it weighs 3.3 pounds and is basically assembled out of the box. It took our tester just 42 seconds to unpack this car vacuum and have it ready for action on both hard and soft surfaces. This corded model delivers fade-free suction with the help of a 12V outlet, and has a 16-foot power cable plus an additional 4-foot integrated hose. This gives you 20 feet of reach for accessing every area of your vehicle. 

The Flex has a simple accessory package that only includes a combination brush and nozzle tool, along with a long crevice attachment. However, when combined with the reach of the flexible hose, our tester felt like this vacuum covered all the bases for car cleaning. A clever design keeps the footprint small, and its square base means that it can rest on the floor of your vehicle or the ground as you go about your vacuuming. We did find it tipped over during testing, so you will need to keep an eye on the unit if you’re really reaching for a spot and pulling the cord excessively.

When it came to effectiveness testing, the Flex did a particularly outstanding job on clearing sand from hard surface areas, including a dusty dashboard and cup holders. On soft surfaces like car mats, we had to employ the use of attachments to boost the vacuum’s effectiveness, especially for clearing sand and hair, so any pet owner may need to put in a little extra elbow grease. It cleared most types of debris in three or fewer passes, but we did run into a problem with mulch. The diameter of the cleaning hose was just too narrow to pass the mulch to the dust bin. On the plus side, the narrow hose diameter means that children’s toys are less likely to be sucked up accidentally. 

All in all, the suction power and user-friendly design were enough for our tester to overlook the car vacuum’s narrow hose diameter. The overall feel and use of this car vacuum is efficient, capable, and convenient. While the noise level was average and we enjoy cord-free operation of a car vacuum, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that this car vacuum won’t ever run out of battery power. The clear dust bin is incredibly intuitive to open and empties in a clean, simple way. Despite the small, 0.59-quart dust bin, you also won’t need to run to the garbage to empty it too often, either.

Best Budget: THISWORX Portable Car Vacuum Cleaner

4.3

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Our Ratings

• Setup
  5/5
• Effectiveness
  4.5/5
• Maneuverability
  4/5
• Ease of Emptying
  4/5
• Portability
  4/5

Ready to go out of the box, this affordable car vacuum cleaner is basic, but efficient. It plugs into your car’s 12V outlet and gives you 16 feet of cord to work with you as you vacuum hard and soft areas, like upholstery, car carpeting, and cup holders. In our product testing, we were pleased with its performance on both types of surfaces. The suction was superb, according to our tester: “It’s strong enough to grab pieces of cereal from underneath levers for the hood and gas tank, saving me the step of using a smaller attachment to reach this tight area.” A flexible attachment hose looked flimsy, but proved to be very secure when we connected the crevice tool or brush tool to it. It gives you extra reach for under car seats or into door pockets—spots that are hard to reach with the wide body of this handheld vacuum.

The frills-free THISWORX car vacuum isn’t without its shortcomings, but they aren’t enough to discredit it for light-duty clean-up on your vehicle. We wish that the nozzle tip of the vacuum detached, like some other handheld car vacuums, since a piece of cereal or hair could become lodged at the end of the vacuum. It also only features a basic filter, which did allow some fine particles of sand to pass through. We noticed a few grains of sand escaping from the exhaust on the vacuum, but only after we had vacuumed nearly an entire ¼-cup of sand. If you plan to do a lot of fine particle clean-up (like sand or dirt), it would probably help to frequently empty the dust bin. Our tester found it easy to detach the dust bin and empty it into the trash. It takes just a few shakes to clear the bin of debris before re-inserting the filter and attaching the dust bin to the vacuum. 

Best Splurge: Hoover ONEPWR Blade MAX AutoVac Vacuum Cleaner

4.6

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Our Ratings

• Setup
  4/5
• Effectiveness
  5/5
• Maneuverability
  4.5/5
• Ease of Emptying
  5/5
• Portability
  4/5

If cleaning your car is one of life’s little luxuries, then it’s worth investing in a premium car vacuum. More basic car vacuums may be able to get the job done, but with less convenience and ease than what you’ll find using the Hoover ONEPWR Blade MAX. This cordless car vac offers the longest runtime of the nine cordless options we considered, and includes a slew of accessories that make quick work of large and small debris alike. It’s no surprise that it’s the most expensive option we tested, but it’s worth the splurge for the extra battery life, suction power, and large-capacity dust bin. It also was very quiet on its standard suction mode, resulting in a 5-star rating from our tester for this attribute. 

This vacuum looked the most intimidating to assemble and did take nearly four minutes to do so, but the process was far from complex or challenging. The components click together easily and the vacuum is ready for use—once you charge the batteries. It’s worth noting that Hoover includes two lithium-ion batteries with this cordless vacuum to extend the runtime of this vacuum to about 45 minutes. Each battery fully charges in three to four hours, which is about half the charging time of some other battery-operated car vacuums we tested.

When tested on hard surfaces, the Hoover ONEPWR Blade MAX zipped across the car dashboard, clearing sand quickly and easily in a single pass. With the use of attachments, it also reaches into cup holders, compartments, and door pockets. It performs well on soft surfaces too, clearing carpeting of hair, mulch, sand, and cereal in just one to two passes. We found the boosted suction mode works especially well for capturing fine particles that are embedded in car carpeting with less elbow grease when compared to some other car vacuums. The motorized brush tool is also a big help for hair, clearing short and long strands in two passes. 

User-friendly features that elevate the experience of using this cordless vacuum include a long, flexible hose and an extra-large dust bin. While the manufacturer doesn’t provide the size of the dust bin, our product tester notes that it’s significantly larger than nearly every car vacuum tested. “It’s simple to release the dust bin from the vacuum and its large opening means that dirt and debris are easily released into the garbage can. It definitely has enough capacity to vacuum my entire sedan before needing to be emptied.” It would be great to see a charging stand for this cordless vacuum, since it feels like something we would want to keep handy at all times, but it does include a useful hanging storage bag to house the attachments.

Best Cordless: eufy by Anker HomeVac H30 Venture

4.3

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Our Ratings

• Setup
  4/5
• Effectiveness
  5/5
• Maneuverability
  4/5
• Ease of Emptying
  4/5
• Portability
  5/5

The eufy HomeVac H30 Venture is both convenient and capable, making it our top recommendation for a cordless car vacuum. After trying nine different cordless models, our tester was most impressed by the way this model performed on hard and soft surfaces. (It earned 5 stars for overall effectiveness.) The nozzle of the eufy HomeVac H30 is wide enough to capture large debris, like mulch, which is something that other cordless car vacuums struggled with. At the same time, it also vacuums up even fine debris like sand and strands of hair. We found the 2-in-1 crevice tool very convenient to use since we could flip down the bristles for extra agitation when needed. The dust bin is small, as expected for a compact car vacuum. Still, it didn’t fill up even after capturing ¼ cup of Cheerios, plus hair and mulch. The dust bin is easy to empty and slides out along a track, which did get a little jammed up with sand. It has a washable filter, which is a plus. 

At about 20 minutes, battery runtime is average for this cordless car vacuum. A charging stand is included and makes it easier to ensure that the battery stays charged up when not in use. We love the fact that this vacuum includes multiple power modes—Max and Eco—letting us add extra power when needed (like when clearing hair from vehicle carpeting) or conserving battery life for more basic messes. The HomeVac H30 packs some serious suction power, but it’s worth noting that it also was one of the noisiest vacuums of the bunch. Our tester says, “The noise level is annoying, and it even has a piercing or whining noise at times. I wish it was quieter, but I think it's the trade-off for the tremendous suction power.”

Best Corded: BLACK+DECKER BDH1220AV 12V Car Vacuum

4.5

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Our Ratings

• Setup
  4.5/5
• Effectiveness
  4.5/5
• Maneuverability
  4.5/5
• Ease of Emptying
  5/5
• Portability
  4.5/5

Battery-powered car vacuums offer cordless maneuverability, but experience fading power and a drained battery after as little as 20 minutes or so of vacuuming. If you want to deep-clean your vehicle without worrying about your car vacuum giving up in the middle of the job, a corded model like the BLACK+DECKER 12V Car Vacuum is our top recommendation. We tested six corded car vacuums and this option was our favorite for its dustbuster design, long nozzle, and useful attachments. 

The BLACK+DECKER car vac looks similar to a standard household dustbuster, but is designed to operate efficiently in a vehicle. It’s equipped with a 12V charger and a 16-foot power cable, giving you room to reach high and low spots in your car. It has a long nozzle that we found great for reaching under the seat of a sedan as we tracked down cereal, sand, and hair. For extra reach, a flexible hose is included and you can pair it with a long crevice tool or brush. It only took a handful of passes to clear debris from soft surfaces, and a single pass or two on hard surfaces.

However, our tester does report that the nozzle opening of this corded car vacuum is too narrow for especially large debris. “I thought it was doing great capturing large pieces of mulch I spread around the floor of the vehicle. But then, I realized none was entering the clear dust bin. Turns out all the mulch was jammed in the nozzle. It has enough suction to pick up the debris, but too small of an opening to capture it.”

Despite this single shortcoming in our testing, we appreciate how well this car vacuum maneuvered, especially when using the included hose and attachments. The noise level was average for a car vacuum and didn’t make our ears ring. When the cleaning session was over, our tester appreciated being able to wrap the power cord around the base of the vacuum and put all the accessories in a storage bag. “Everything packages up neat and tidy," they said. "It would be easy to store this vacuum in the trunk or a cabinet in the garage.”

Best Compact: Brigii M1 Handheld Vacuum Cleaner

4.2

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Our Ratings

• Setup
  5/5
• Effectiveness
  4/5
• Maneuverability
  4/5
• Ease of Emptying
  3.5/5
• Portability
  5/5

This compact car vacuum is just 10 inches tall and weighs only about 1 pound, but surprised our tester with its capable suction and useful attachments. The Brigii Handheld Vacuum Cleaner features a polished metal exterior and cylindrical body with a clear dust bin. Setup was complete in about 30 seconds and the vacuum can keep cleaning for up to 25 minutes before needing a recharge. 

Based on its small size, it’s obvious that this compact car vacuum is meant for quick clean-ups and light messes. When tested on hard surfaces, it cleared sand from our cup holders and dashboard in a single pass. Due to the narrow nozzle opening, we had to make repeat passes to capture the wide swath of sand we spread across the dashboard, but the ergonomic design of the vacuum didn’t make it feel like a chore. On soft surfaces, the Brigii shines with small but firm debris, like the cereal we dumped on the floor and around the seat.

It’s worth noting that mulch was too big to pass through the Brigii’s narrow nozzle, and we wouldn’t recommend it for fine particle pick-up. It eventually succeeded at clearing sand from the carpeting, but not after spreading it around a bit. A washable stainless steel and HEPA filter make maintenance fast and easy for this vacuum, and the filter did a good job of keeping fine particles from reaching the motor. Everything about this car vacuum is lightweight, tidy, and efficient. It includes a carrying case for the vacuum itself and its attachments, so we could see keeping it in the glove box or trunk for easy access.