Cars, pickups and work vans
Blood and biohazard cleanup in a vehicle
After a crash, an assault, a medical emergency at the wheel or a death in a parked car, the vehicle comes back to the family in the state it was found. Most people have no idea who deals with that.
Phone answered all day and all night, seven days a week
First, where is the vehicle?
If police had it towed or are holding it as evidence, it cannot be cleaned until it is released to you. For vehicles taken by Santa Maria Police, tows and impounds are handled by the Records Bureau: (805) 928-3781, extension 2590. Ask what you need to bring to collect it and whether storage charges are running.
A cleanup company can often work at a tow yard, at a body shop or on your driveway. Say where the vehicle is when you call, and whether it can be driven.
Why a detailer is the wrong call
A car interior is mostly sponge. Seat foam, carpet, the padding underneath, seat belt webbing and the headliner all absorb liquid, and fluid runs into seat tracks and under trim where a wet vacuum never reaches.
California law treats a vehicle the same as a room for this purpose: the state's definition of a trauma scene expressly includes vehicles, and a business that removes blood and body fluids from one as paid work is expected to be registered with the state health department. A registered company takes seats and trim apart, removes what cannot be cleaned and carries the waste away.
Is the car worth cleaning?
Sometimes it is not. If the price of cleanup, plus new seats or carpet, comes near the value of an older car, an insurer may prefer to write it off. Before you authorize work, ask the cleanup company what it expects to remove, and ask your auto insurer whether your policy applies and how it wants the damage documented.
If the vehicle has to be sold or returned to a lender or a rental firm, keep the company's invoice and its description of what was done.
When a crime was involved
The state's victim compensation rule on cleanup names two places: a residence and a vehicle. So after a crime in a car, the person who pays for the cleaning may be able to claim it back, within the program's limit, if a registered company did the work. The Victim-Witness office in Santa Maria, (805) 346-7529, helps with the forms.
Questions about vehicles
Can the smell be removed from a car?
It depends on how long the vehicle sat closed and how far fluid travelled. Removing the affected foam and carpet is what makes the difference. Ask the company what result it expects before it starts.
Will they come to the tow yard?
Many will, if the yard allows outside contractors on its lot. Ring the yard first and ask.
Does this cover motorhomes and trailers?
The same companies handle them, and state law lists trailers and mobile homes alongside vehicles. Describe the size and layout on the call.
Whenever suits you
Hand the room to people whose trade this is
Two sentences about the situation are plenty. You then hear how the firm would tackle it and what it would bill. Yes or no is yours alone to say, today or next week.
The number for Santa Maria and the valley
Whoever picks up belongs to a cleanup firm that takes jobs from Guadalupe up to Grover Beach. It is a separate business from this website. Name your town, say what sort of place it is, and ask anything.
Call (805) 362-1926Phone answered all day and all night, seven days a week
The call may be recorded. How this works is set out in the referral disclosure.