8 best car vacuum cleaners to keep your vehicle crumb-free

Small but mighty, the Eufy is exactly what you want from a car vacuum. It’s been specifically designed for cleaning cars, and it showed during testing. It’s lightweight yet has very decent suction power, while the attachments get into the cup holders, between seats and across the air vents with ease. A front torch means we can see the crumb carnage under our children’s car seats and get into the hidden depths with ease.

We’re able to whip around a large family car in one charge. While it’s battery powered, it comes with a charging kit, so you can keep and charge it in the car – game changer, right there. There’s an eco and turbo mode, so you can go big guns, if you want, but this will rip through your power more quickly. The whole thing zips neatly into the bag included, and can be kept under a seat or in the boot.

At less than £40, this vacuum is great value. It can handle wet and dry mess – great if you or your offspring are prone to spillages – and it stores everything in a clear bin with a decent capacity. Our pro tip is to empty the bin if it’s wet debris, otherwise things can get a bit grim in there.

The suction power on the Beldray is impressive, especially when you consider the price. This is a battery-powered number, and while not as slimline as the Shark or Eufy, say, we found it pretty good for getting into most corners of the car – although, it’s not amazing between the seats. It requires mains charging, and comes with a wall-mountable charger. This does entail you having to store it in the house but it’s compact enough to just tuck in a corner.

We were thoroughly impressed by the suction power on the Shark. Despite it being incredibly lightweight and easy to wield, it got crumbs, gravel and Cheerios off the floor of our car with no problem. The duster crevice tool did a great job of getting in between seats and sucking up crumbs that had been dwelling there for who knows how long.

The battery life is 15 minutes, which is enough to do a fairly thorough clean of a moderate-sized car. It charges via mains, so you’re going to have to store it in the house, but the stand accommodates the attachments neatly, and it is all fairly discrete and neat. Plus, it’s handy to have in the house for the daily stairs/sofa/under the kitchen table vacuuming gauntlet. We appreciated the easy one-hand bin-emptying function, too.

If your pets are leaving your car a bit grim and, dare we say, stinky, this Gtech vacuum is just the ticket. The power-brush bar was fantastic at whipping away even ground-in dirt on the carpeted floor of the car.

We found the extension on the crevice nozzle was handy at getting hard-to-reach spots in the boot, but it gave our arms a bit of a work out. An innovative element of this vacuum is that the filter has scented cartridges inside, blasting your car with fresh scent while sucking up the grim parts. The result is a pleasingly clean car.

This is another vacuum that relies on being charged via the mains, so you’re best off storing it inside the house. However, the 30-minute battery life will have cars of all sizes sparkling in just one charge.

For those who don’t want to worry about recharging batteries, the Black + Decker car vacuum plugs into your car’s 12-volts socket. This is great, as it means you can take as long as you please, and you don’t have to lug the vacuum inside your house to charge it. However, if your car is like ours, be wary of it automatically locking when all the doors are shut and the key is in the ignition to run the socket – make sure you leave one door open, to avoid being locked out.

While the suction on this vacuum isn’t comparable with some others in this line up, we liked that the very long hose and 5m power cable meant we could go absolutely everywhere in our large family car. The transparent bin means you can check on how full it’s getting, and, although it’s a two-hand affair, emptying the bin is very easy to do.

If your car is in need of a bit more TLC – if the kids have spilled a sticky drink on the seats or a chocolate bar has melted all over the floor, for example – this Bissell upholstery cleaner is perfect. It has two tanks, one for clean water, one for dirty. When you switch it on, the suction starts automatically, so you could do a bit of a vacuum first. Then press the trigger on the end of the hose so the water sprays out. You can then scrub baked-in stains to loosen them, then the spot clean sucks up all the dirty water.

It’s hard to exaggerate how grimly satisfying it is seeing all the brown water suck up out of your car’s upholstery. Downsides are you need to plug in the device to use it, so your car has be close to the mains. It’s also quite heavy for lugging about the car but we got totally addicted to using this cleaner – so much so, our carpets and sofas got the once over, too.

This Beko vacuum is great for the car, and works well in the house, too, making it a versatile option. The suction is powerful and got up every scrap from our fluffy car floor. The crevice tool made light work of the crumbs lodged between seats and on the seat stitching. With a whooping 45-minute runtime, it’s got the longest battery life of any vacuum in this round-up. It can easily handle the biggest of cars, even if you’re very particular.

Alas, you’re going to need to charge this bad boy in the house or garage, as it requires a mains plug socket. However, it’s going to be great in your house, too, with its flexible extension for reaching under the sofa and beds, and the helpful headlights on the floor attachment.