The Best Car Vacuums, Tested in a Messy Parents Car
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The best car vacuum makes it easy to traverse your vehicle's tiniest crannies, whether those are under the seats and floor mats or between the crevices of a car seat. Outdoor lovers might find themselves fighting dirt and sand on a regular basis, while pet and people parents are constantly battling pet hair and messy snacks from their beloved child of choice. Safe to say, cars get messy easily, no matter your lifestyle, but some lifestyles are harder on cars than others.
If you're looking for a vacuum that makes car cleaning easy, we've got you covered. Sure, you could just lug your upright vacuum to the garage or disassemble a stick vacuum, but if car vacuuming is something you're doing often, you're probably craving a device that's actually made for it. Good news: We've found the best car vacuum for you. The Worx 20V Cordless Cube Vac ($100) is my favorite to use in a car, with its compact form and ability to carry the attachments within the vacuum. If you're looking for something extra compact for detail cleaning, try the Airify Pro V3 ($99). Looking for something else? Read on to find out everything we've tested and recommend.
Don't miss the rest of our vacuuming guides, including the Best Cordless Vacuums, Best Dyson Vacuums, Best Handheld Vacuums, Best Robot Vacuums, and Best Vacuums for Pet Hair.
Best Overall
The Worx 20V Cordless Cube Vac is my favorite vacuum I’ve tried for cleaning the car. The compact, boxy design is easy on the eyes and on the hands, letting you hold it in one hand while you move around the car's messes with the flexible hose in the other. You can also set it down inside the car and extend the hose around, which reaches up to 3 feet, but I found it easier to just hold it. My favorite part is that there are two compartments in its little box form to hold its various attachments. No more carrying them in my pocket or having to track them down when I realize I need the crevice nozzle or brush to get between the seats or a tricky spot on the car floor—they're always nearby and handy.
The Worx doesn’t have a massive dustbin, though I found it plenty to vacuum a sedan car full of sand. It has solid suction power to get up finer sand and larger debris, like the Cheerios my car is constantly full of. The battery life also promises only 10 to 25 minutes of range, depending on whether you’re using the high- or low-speed setting, but again, I found this more than enough for two car vacuuming sessions in a sedan. You might need to charge it each time if you’re using it for something like a three-row minivan, but the design makes it easy to switch it on and off, so you aren’t running the vacuum when you don’t need to. All in all, it’s a great vacuum to use in the car.
Capacity: 0.8 cup Attachments: Crevice tool, brush attachment Run time: Up to 25 minutes (on low speed) Filter: HEPA filter Charger style: Removable battery plugs into included charger base Warranty: 3 years limited Best for Detail Cleaning
The Airify Pro V3 is made with cars in mind. It's a tiny vacuum compared to the traditional hand vacuums you'll see in this guide but still packs plenty of power. It's great for spot cleaning and reaching tricky smaller areas rather than vacuuming an entire car, and can pick up various small debris. It's a good pick for someone who's vacuuming the car regularly or just focusing on the nooks and crannies around the front seat rather than the entire vehicle. The dustbin and size are too small for larger cleaning sessions, but if you're a regular car cleaner, you might prefer something compact.
It comes with a small storage bag with multiple attachments, plus extra filters. There's even a small brush attachment to help with pet hair. But one of the coolest parts is that it doubles as an air blower, letting you add one of the compressor attachments to the opposite end of the vacuum to have it start blowing air instead of sucking air (and debris) in. It can be handy to blow away things like leaves on the windshield or rock climbers' chalk, but it doesn't fight against your standard dust. Still, a fun option for detail cleaning.
Capacity: 1.6 cups Attachments: Pet brush, brush attachment, two crevice tools, and multiple compressor/extension wand options Run time: 20 to 35 minutes Filter: HEPA filter (four extras included) Charger style: USB-C cord Warranty: 3 years extended
Best Splurge
You can't talk about vacuums without talking about Dyson, and Dyson's latest vacuum is designed specifically with cars in mind. (And boats, if you've got a boat.) The Dyson Car+Boat (7/10, WIRED Reviews) is compact, powerful, and very portable, making it a great choice if you're looking for focused cleaning. It's got fantastic battery life for a handheld vacuum, so it's great for bigger vehicles. It's also much cheaper than the rest of Dyson's lineup at $280 (it often goes down to $200 on sale), though much more expensive than other options in this guide.
If you really want a Dyson handheld vacuum cleaner, this one is our favorite. But if you're already spending a pretty penny for Dyson power, you might just want to get a Dyson stick vacuum that could double as a handheld.
Capacity: 2.24 cups Attachments: Mini motorized brush, crevice tool, and combination tool Run time: Up to 40 minutes Filter: Whole-machine filtration Charger style: Dyson power adapter included Warranty: 2 years parts and labor Best Extras
- Courtesy of Black & Decker
- Photograph: Nena Farrell
- Photograph: Nena Farrell
You're probably thinking the extras are cool attachments. You're wrong! (Sorry if you were excited about attachments.) Instead, the extras that make this vacuum are the charging stand and the longer, flexible hose. The little charging stand is perfect for a garage or storage room shelf, as long as there's a power outlet nearby. It's flat, so it doesn't take up much space but still has two little plastic mounts to place the accessories in that aren't attached to the vacuum. It's a great way to keep this little vac fully charged, especially since it has a shorter run time than our other picks.
It also has a 4-foot hose, the longest of any handheld vacuum I've tried. It makes it easy to either hold the body of the vacuum in one hand and hold the hose in the other, like you would with the Worx, or put it down and reach farther-away spots. I also think the design is fun, with the hose wrapping around the entirety of the little vacuum's body. It's got nice power but only one setting, while others in this guide have a couple of power settings. But it's certainly the easiest to keep charged and reach more spots.
Capacity: 2.1 cups Attachments: Dust brush, crevice tool, and pet brush Run time: 15 minutes Filter: Washable filter Charger style: Charging base with power cord attached Warranty: 2 years limited
-Reviewer-Photo-SOURCE-Brenda-Stolyar.jpg)
Bigger Power and Capacity
If you're looking for more from a car vacuum, this is the one for you. The Ryobi 18V One+ Powered Brush Hand Vacuum has a bigger capacity and longer battery compared to our other picks, and even has a mini motorized beater bar attachment if you need something that can better fight hair in your vehicle.
WIRED reviewer Molly Higgins says this handheld vacuum works great for hard-to-reach spots and that the motorized beater bar is great for pet hair on carpet and fabric. She says while it's one of the most powerful handheld vacuums she has tried, it's also heavier and louder than others. It's a great choice if you need more power to clean your car's messes.
Capacity: 2.7 cups Attachments: Mini motorized beater bar, crevice tool, dust brush Run time: Over 40 minutes Filter: Dual HEPA filter Charger style: Removable battery plugs into included charger base (can be used with other Ryobi tools) Warranty: 3 years
Honorable Mentions
Bissell AeroSlim Handheld Vacuum for $41: This is a great little budget vacuum and a fine detail cleaning option. It doesn't have as many attachments as the Airify Pro V3 and it’s battery life isn’t as long (the AeroSlim only lasts up to 12 minutes), but it's a good option if you're on a budget and are mostly fighting small messes.
Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum for $80: This is our favorite handheld vacuum for cleaning pet hair. If you want something really designed for pet hair over other messes, this is a good pick.
Dyson Humdinger for $290: This is another great Dyson handheld. The Car+Boat is more powerful, and the Humdinger costs more, so it makes more sense to go with the Car+Boat. But the Humdinger is still a great hand vacuum to use both in and out of the car.
Shark Ultraclone Pet Pro Plus Handheld Vacuum for $80: This vacuum is made for pets, but it's great for car messes from kids, too. I preferred the picks in this guide, but this one is still a solid handheld vacuum for cars and indoors alike.
What to Look or in a Car Vacuum
For this story, we focused on cordless handheld vacuums that would be easy to maneuver inside cars. While you could use a corded design, power outlets aren't always easily accessible in garages or driveways, and can make the task of vacuuming your car seem more difficult. It's especially limiting to move around with a corded vacuum holding you back, which is why we prefer handheld vacs.
A great car vacuum cleaner isn't just portable, it’s also powerful. We tested to see whether the suction power was enough to clean your usual car messes like dirt, sand, and larger debris. You don't need a ton of attachments for car cleaning, but you'll want one that at least has a crevice tool to get between the seats, and if you have a pet there are models that offer pet brush attachments, too. It's not always easy to switch out attachments in the midst of car cleaning, though, so I don't recommend you buy a model just because it has a half dozen attachments you could use.
All of the models we recommend have rechargeable batteries, though the charger style can vary from each model. Some work like power tools, with the battery popping off to be charged, while others simply plug into a cord to recharge. Each pick has details on its charger style.
Where Should You Store a Car Vacuum?
Should a car vacuum live in your car? I'm certainly tempted to keep the adorable Worx hanging out in my trunk for quick cleans on the go. But vacuums aren't designed for outdoor use or for storage in the extreme temperatures that cars can reach when sitting in the sun or in a snowy climate. It's best to keep your car vacuum in your garage or house. Especially since you need to charge these small vacuums often.
What About Stick Vacuums?
Do you really need a special car vacuum, or can other vacuum cleaners work? Your classic upright vacuums can work, but they're frustrating to lug into the garage and connect to power and then unwind the hose to use in your car. If you wanted to buy one vacuum to do it all, I'd recommend a cordless stick vacuum, since those usually break down into a handheld vacuum. Check out our guide to the Best Cordless Vacuums for more suggestions.
