Easy to Overlook

• There are plenty of shiny parts to catch your eye in a car. Floor mats certainly are not among them. In fact, floor mats largely are overlooked unless they become stained or start to stink. But that's when it's most important to understand the steps for proper maintenance.
  
  

How Bad Is It?

• A serious stain or smell should be taken care of by a professional auto detailer. Auto detailers are easy to locate, either in the phone book or on the Internet. If you have a particularly difficult stain or odor, call a professional to use his equipment to provide a deep and thorough cleaning.
  
  

DIY

• Most problems won't require professional help, and do-it-yourself maintenance is quite easy. The first step to cleaning car mats is simply to vacuum them, removing pebbles and other small impediments. This can be done with a traditional home vacuum or with a vacuum hose available at most gas stations and car washes.
  
  To clean a deeper stain or odor, however, a soap or shampoo might be necessary. This can be as simple as purchasing a commercial cleaning product such as Resolve and washing the carpet as you would a carpet in your home. Just remove the car mat from the car, apply the carpet cleaner, scrub and let dry.
  
  For more complicated jobs--or for those who like to use a little more power--you can use a carpet cleaning machine to get in deep. According to an article published by Reader's Digest, this machine "sprays the carpet with a solution of water and cleaner and then sucks the dirt and grime into a reservoir." These products aren't prohibitively expensive--Target sells the Bissell "Little Green," a perfect machine for such uses, for $99--and the Reader's Digest article noted that "a machine like this pays for itself after just a few uses."
  
  Carpet cleaning machines also are available for rental, the article mentioned.
  
  And that's that. Whether you are scrubbing with your hands, relying on a machine or taking your car to a professional, there are plenty of ways to keep car mats clean and fresh. That way they can blend back into the background behind all the fun, shiny stuff.