5 Legit Car Hacks You May Not Know That Actually Work

Sami Haj-Assaad
by Sami Haj-Assaad

Everyone has little tricks they have learned that make their lives easier.

We’ve heard our fair share of car hacks, but which ones actually work? Here are a few tips that work and make sense.

Defog like a Boss

If you get to your car and all the windows are fogged up, most likely you’ll just crank the heat, hit the defog button and wait. You’re doing it wrong. If you want to effectively defog your windows, follow these quick steps:

First, turn the heater to its max. This will help get rid the moisture in the air.

Then, turn on your car’s AC. This may sound crazy, but it makes the air inside the car drier.

Following that, switch off the air recirculation so you get the cold outside air coming into your car while you’re running the heat.

Finally, open your windows a little bit, so that even more cold air enters the cabin.

While drying the air coming inside the car, the heater defogs the windshield and you’ll defog the windows quicker.


Clear your Windshield From Snow

If you live in an area with a lot of snow, you’re probably fed up with brushing all the snow and ice off your car in the morning. Some people get around this by putting a cloth, like a blanket across the windshield the night before a snowfall. Then in the morning, you just roll up the blanket off the car, and voila, no need to brush off any snow.

RELATED: Top 10 Best Car Covers

It’s like a winter version of a sunshade in the windshield, but instead of a reflective cover in your window, you have a soft cover on top of it. To make this easy, tuck the cloth into your side windows. So, why not use this over the entire car? Well, some cloths can scratch the delicate paint on your car when you drag it off, but a dedicated car cover would work well for this purpose.


Cool Down Your Car

Since the first two tips deal with the cold weather, here’s something you can do in warm weather to cool down you car. After your car has been sitting in the sun on a hot summer day, it’s often unbearably warm when you get in. Here’s a quick way to cool things down: open one window in your car, for example, the driver’s side window. Then walk over to the opposite side of the vehicle (the front passenger in this example) and open and close the door about five times. This forces the hot air out of the car through the open window and will quickly cool the vehicle down.


Use Your Head

Walked away from your car but can’t remember if you locked it? Too lazy to walk back? Don’t fret! If you’re far away from your car and want to quickly increase the strength of your remote key fob, place it under your chin and open your mouth when you press any of the buttons. As odd as this sounds, it uses your skull as a kind of satellite and will amplify the distance of the signal. No, this isn’t dangerous.


Ghetto Phone Holder

Need to use your phone as a navigation system, but don’t have a phone mount in your car? Use a rubber band or hair tie! You can loop the rubber band through your vents so it will be nicely secured to the vent. It minimizes blocking the display, making it easy to read for navigation instructions.

Or Get a Legit Phone Mount: Top 15 Best Phone Mounts and Phone Holders

Recent Updates

November 9th, 2021: Updated text for accuracy. Updated titles.

Sami Haj-Assaad
Sami Haj-Assaad

Sami has an unquenchable thirst for car knowledge and has been at AutoGuide for the past six years. He has a degree in journalism and media studies from the University of Guelph-Humber in Toronto and has won multiple journalism awards from the Automotive Journalist Association of Canada. Sami is also on the jury for the World Car Awards.

More by Sami Haj-Assaad

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  • Bernie Bernie on Feb 19, 2017

    the key fob thing sounds too funny!.....imagine someone on a busy street trying this repeatedly...bet he will get more than a few strange looks!

  • Megalink Megalink on Feb 27, 2017

    Used to do the fob trick in the 90's from my Dad's 5th floor office.

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