How to get bad smell out of my car?

My idiot dad borrowed my car and put a bag of garbage in the trunk. He forgot to throw it away so it sat in the trunk for 12+ hours before it was taken out. That was 3 days ago. No matter what I do, I can't the get the smell out.

I've let it air out, sprayed a ton of fabric and air freshners. Vaccumed the entire car. Nothing is working. Any suggestions? The car is an 06 Honda Civic Ex with fabric seats.

Get a room freshener or an air freshener and spray it in the car

Buy a bag of charcoal. Smash the pieces into powder. Put them in your trunk. Change it daily until the smell is gone.

Take everything out of the trunk and wash the trunk.Airing out the front should work, it might just take a while Try a solar powered fan in the window if you can't leave the windows open.

My son let friends smoke in my truck a couple of years ago when he borrowed it for a few months. When I got it back I was so mad at him and repulsed by the smell that I super cleaned it. That did pretty much nothing. I then did a lot of research online and came across some common advice. That was to use vinegar. I tried it and it actually worked.

You place a bowl or 2 or 3 of vinegar inside the vehicle and leave it closed up except for when you need to drive it. Of course in your case put a bowl or in the trunk but put one in the cabin too. Change out the vinegar each day and over a few days the smell should be gone.

Be sure to wipe down all the surfaces inside your trunk with a vinegar solution too. This will speed things up if any of the ooze from the garbage got on the surfaces in there.

Here is a link on removing smells from cars and about halfway down the page you'll see info on using vinegar. There's some other good advice here too. http://neighborhood.vivint.com/good-neighbor/deodorizing-your-car/

Here's a good video on using vinegar. I think you'll enjoy it, the guy is pretty funny in how he talks about how to do it.

Everything you are doing is just keeping the air in. What I personally do is buy some shampoo take the mats out wash them, boil some water. Scrub the soap into the mats, pour boiling water onto the mats and brush them out with a nylon brush, and more shampoo and rinse out to have a good smell. Now in interior I use a carpet cleaner with a hand extension. I put the shampoo into the tank for the carpet cleaner as long as it sucks the water out that's all you need a shop vac will work. Spray the soapy water all of the seats or wherever let it sit for a minute then get the vaccum to suck the water out and suck it all out then repeat a few times, and leave all the windows down/ truck up to ventilate for 4 hours. I trench my seats in the soapy water then suck it out and place the car in the direct sun with windows down to dry out faster. That will get any smells out and it will smell like the shampoo your using you need about 1 bottle of shampoo for the whole car maybe less.

Note: use a nylon brush for the interior don't be rough if you have fabric just enough to agitate the surface. Also use boiling water for the interior fabric or floor to get rid of hard to get out stains it works every time it might take a few times to master it but the key is patience.

The smell is probably in the carpet on the floor of the trunk. You should be able to clean that with a carpet cleaner.

Detailers have these things called ozone generators to remove smells. If the DIY things don't work that is an option. Check it out on you tube.