If you have a car, you need one of the best car vacuums. That’s because no matter how careful you are, all kinds of dust and debris makes its way to your dash and to your upholstery; if you have kids or pets, then the need for a good in-car vacuum cleaner is higher still. While many of the best vacuum cleaners can convert to handhelds, they’re still much bulkier and more awkward than a dedicated portable vacuum – and most of the best upright vacuums are corded, which isn’t much help if you’ve spilled something in a car park far from home or don’t park within a cord’s reach of your outlets.
For a long time car vacuums were the poor relations of their larger cleaning cousins, but advances in battery tech and in motor design means that some handhelds now are extremely powerful. And that means they offer the best of both worlds: the portability and easy storage of a small handheld but the power of something bigger.
If you only have the space and/or budget for one vacuum cleaner, we’d recommend going for one of the best cordless vacuums and selecting a model that transforms into a small handheld. In our guide below we’ll look at a mix of models: dedicated handheld cleaners and convertible models too.
The best car vacuums: in order
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Many will recognise the Dyson V8 as a household vacuum, but its form factor and included tools make it easy to turn into a car vacuum too. We’ve included it because it’s one of the lower-priced models in Dyson’s range ($449/£249/AU$499), should someone be buying more primarily as a car vacuum, though of course pretty much any of Dyson’s V-series vacuum cleaners would do the job here.
As a car vacuum, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the V8 outperforms most of its competition. The power and suction here are pretty much unrivaled when compared with smaller, more portable handheld vacs, but then you’d hope so when you consider the difference in price.
Battery life is good on standard suction mode, although the seven minutes in Max mode is a touch short. Thankfully we found it could pick up most debris on the lower setting with an occasional blast on the higher setting doing a good job of collecting anything left over.
The size of the handheld unit can be a bit of a downfall when trying to get in more awkward spots, even when using the crevice tool, and the added weight means it can get a bit tiring to hold too. But if you need the power and performance, you won’t find much better than this.
Read more: Dyson V8 review
The Black and Decker 12V Auto Flexi Vacuum is the only car vacuum in our list that runs via a 12V corded connection. It uses your car’s accessory power outlet, or the old “cigarette lighter” socket, for power.
It has a far more traditional vacuum style than most other car vacuums in our list, in that it has a larger main body for collecting debris, and a 1.5m-long hose for moving around. This is convenient for those who may find the weight of an all-in-one or stick vacuum a struggle, as the hose is very lightweight in use.
There’s a single level of suction and a large 19 fl oz/560ml dust canister. Despite feeling relatively soft on suction, it can provide an acceptable clean of both large and small debris, with perseverance. It will require several pass overs to get a good finish though and take longer than using something more powerful. It can’t tackle ground-in dirt and pet hair either, it simply doesn’t have the power to handle it.
Design could be better in some places. For example, the door for emptying the bin sits on the side of the vacuum’s main body so isn’t the easiest for ditching the dirt cleanly.
Overall, this is a handy car vac for those who need something that’s both budget and lightweight to use and who clean little and often. If you need something more heavy duty you should look elsewhere.
Read more: Black and Decker Dustbuster Flexi Auto review
The HomeVac H30 Venture is the entry-level model of Eufy’s H30 three-strong lineup and comes with a 2-in-1 crevice tool and the multi-surface tool for collecting pet hair. There’s a nice touch of a charging station in the box too, for storing it all neatly when not in use.
With a slim and lightweight design, the H30 is a great choice for a car vacuum. Both included attachments are useful, although we found ourselves using the 2-in-1 crevice tool most often, but the multi-use tool does a pretty good job with pet hair.
It offers two levels of suction – Eco and Max – with the former giving you up to 20 minutes of vacuuming. We found we regularly had to nudge it up to Max for the best results though, and even then, it didn’t quite manage the same cleaning performance as the very best.
With a fairly small 8.5 fl oz/250ml dust canister, the messiest cars may need the bin emptying once during a clean. But, for little-and-often cleans, the H30 Venture is a superb car cleaning companion.
Read more: Eufy H30 Venture review
The Shark CH950UKT / Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ is one of the better handheld vacuums we’ve tested, so it’s easy to understand why it’s a bestseller. Its size, shape and weight make it perfect for cleaning your car, with its range of useful tools also helping to ensure it’s always best suited for the task at hand.
During our testing, the standout attachments for car cleaning were most definitely the motorized pet hair tool and the crevice tool. The latter was particularly helpful, as despite the vacuum’s compact size, its all-in-one design still makes getting into the harder-to-reach areas such as behind foot pedals or inside door bins tricky.
However, the motorized tool is a great size for more widespread clear-ups on carpets and upholstery. It also makes quick work of both smaller and larger debris in our standard tests.
Its one power setting means one pass may not be enough for really set-in dirt – and it can struggle with the most stubborn of pet hair too – but overall the single power setting copes well with most tasks. We found you’ll get around 15 minutes of battery life, 50% more than its quoted 10 minutes and more than enough to do a good clean of your whole car.
Considering its low price, this Shark handheld offers tremendous value and is perfect for busy families. That’s not to mention a great option if you’re dealing with pet hair on a daily basis.
Read more: Shark Ultracyclone Pet Plus Pro review
If you’re looking for something small and simple, the eufy Clean HomeVac H20 could be the car vac for you. This cordless, handheld vacuum cleaner comes with an array of attachments that make it well-suited for car cleaning. Each component feels sturdy, and when switching between the attachments, a satisfying “click” delivers reassurance that all is in place and secure.
The HomeVac H20 offers two suction modes – Eco and Max – that you select by pushing a button on the main unit, beneath the power button, and there’s also a battery indicator light. Best of all, we liked that the HomeVac H20 could be charged using an in-car charger; we made use of this handy feature on a few occasions, and it’s a real boon for larger cars, for which its 20 minute battery life wouldn’t necessarily suffice.
The attachments and in-car charger make the eufy Clean HomeVac H20 a good option to have in the car at all times. It’s not as powerful as some rivals but it’s handy to have for quick cleanups.
Read more: Eufy Clean HomeVac H20 review
How we test car vacuums
To find the best car vacuum you can buy, we test how well each model can clean up a range of dirt and debris from different areas of a car, using crushed digestive biscuits for our finer dirt test, and oats for the larger one.
We then section off a testing area of 20cm x 20cm in the boot, to test carpet pick up, and on the driver’s seat for the upholstery test. This allows us to assess the performance of each in a controlled environment, while also carrying out “real-world” testing over a period of time too. This includes general car clean-ups, observing the handling of pet hair and how well they can get into tight spaces, like door bins.
As well as evaluating its cleaning performance, we also consider the other things that would be important when making a buying decision, including how long the battery lasts compared to the manufacturer’s claims (or how long the wire is for corded vacs), how loud it is in use and the usefulness of any included tools for different jobs.
We also consider the weight and ergonomics, to understand if people are going to be able to use it comfortably to clean the whole car and if the bin capacity it has will make that possible.
Lastly, we rate based on how easy it is to empty the vacuum cleanly, and how easy it is to keep clean, as well as general feedback on ease of use.
What to consider when choosing a car vacuum
If you’re in the market for a car vacuum, there are a few things you should think about. One of the first questions could be — do you actually need one? If you own something like the Dyson V8, it can shapeshift into a form factor that can work very well to clean cars with and comes with all the power, bin size and additional tools of a fully-fledged vacuum cleaner for great performance. Of course, this comes at a considerably higher cost than a dedicated car vacuum and can be heavier too.
If you decide you do need something more dedicated, there are several things to bear in mind. One of the first is whether you want corded or cordless. Most car vacs these days do run on a rechargeable battery, so do consider the battery life in these situations. Be sure to check whether it has more than one suction level to understand what the battery life figure refers to.
If you are going for corded, make sure the cord is long enough to allow you to do the full car.
Next up, think about form factor, including weight and how comfortable it looks to hold. Can you imagine cleaning a whole car with it, and does it come with the necessary tools for your situation? Crevice tools are particularly useful for cleaning cars, but pet owners will want to look out for specific tools to tackle pet hair if possible.
You might also want to consider the bin size, to be sure it has a decent capacity for a full car clean — if the bin is too small you might have to stop to empty it halfway through. Speaking of which, consider how the bin opens on the car vac and if it looks like it can be emptied cleanly. There’s nothing worse than losing half of your bin’s contents onto the floor — or worse, on you — as you try to transfer to the bin.
