Police pull over more than 32 million Americans every year for traffic violations. This means that having your car organized so that you can find and show all of your important paperwork is really important. Because if you can’t, it’s very likely that you’ll be fined!
So Professional Motors of WNY is here to show you some car organization tips for car owners to keep their glove boxes clean, organized, and tidy. We’ve already explored what your check engine light means, answered the top questions about break repairs, and helped you prepare your car for winter. Let’s take a look at our next topic!
1. Clean It Out
The first step, if you want to keep car your organized, is to clean out the glove box. This means taking everything out that has been jammed and smashed up in there for the last few months — or maybe even years. As you begin to take everything out, keep an eye out for any kind of paper and set it aside. Typically you’ll have the following paperwork: car insurance, car registration, car warranty, car repairs records (including car service history), car ownership paperwork, and any other paperwork related to your vehicle.
Once you have everything out, it’s time to start organizing your paperwork.
Important Car Paperwork
Now that everything is out, you want to go through the paperwork and make sure that you have everything that you should in order to be legally driving. The following documents should always be kept in your car so that you can provide them in case you are pulled over:
- Driver’s License (Essential and just kept in your wallet/purse)
- Proof of Registration (Essential)
- Vehicle Insurance (Essential)
Those are the essentials, but you should also consider keeping these in your glove box as well:
- Vehicle Manual (Non-Essential)
- Car Warranty (Non-Essential)
- Repair Records (Non-Essential)
Having these non-essentials are great in case you need to provide them to a car repair shop or when you go to sell the car. Keeping them in your car is a good idea so that you don’t lose them.
2. Sort the Documents
The next step in our car organization ideas guide is to sort out your documents. Start sorting through everything that you pulled out of your glove box. Start with the paperwork and look for the documents we talked about above.
Once you have confirmed that you have all the proper documents, the best way to organize the paperwork is to place them into a car document folder. These will have multiple sleeves so that you can keep the document separated and organized. Lastly, these will also keep you from losing or ruining any of those documents.
Any other paperwork that you may have in there should probably be removed. Shred any documents that are expired, such as old insurance cards, coupons, mail, anything that has your personal information on it. Thirteen million consumers in the U.S. were affected by identity fraud in 2019 — you don’t want someone getting ahold of any of your personal information.
Sorting Non-Documents
If you want to keep the car organized, then you’ll also need to organize the non-documents in your glove compartment. There is not a lot of room in your glove compartment, so it’s ideal if you can keep the items limited to just your paperwork.
Try to refrain from jamming a bunch of non-document items into your glove compartment. Sort through everything that you took out earlier, and only keep the essentials — anything else will need to find a new home. This process shouldn’t take you more than 10 to 15 minutes; however, it’s important you do this to remove clutter. As you go through the items, ask yourself a couple of questions:
- Do I really need this in my car?
- Should this just be thrown out?
- When was the last time I used this item?
- What can I remove to make this fit?
By asking yourself these simple questions, you’ll easily and quickly decide on what items to keep in your glove compartment and which ones you should remove.
3. Placing the Items Back in Your Glove Compartment
After you have everything sorted and organized, it’s time to put the car documents back into your car’s glove compartment. The car documents ideally are in a car document folder and should be placed into the glove compartment so that you can easily grab them in case you get pulled over. Try setting it to the side closest to the driver seat and do not put anything on top of or in front of it. This will allow easy and quick access.
From here, you probably have a couple more items to put back in such as band-aids, extra napkins, hot sauce packets, ointments, and other miscellaneous items. Similar to what we did with the document, try putting these miscellaneous items into a small cosmetic bag or even two. By doing this, you won’t have any loose items moving around or falling out when you open your glove compartment. Go ahead and place the bag or bags next to — not on top or in front of — your documents.
This step is essential if you want to learn how to keep your car organized.
4. Take Out the Trash
The next car organization tip is to take out the trash. This means removing any leftover food items, wrappers, and crumbs from your car. Doing this on a regular basis will help keep your car clean and organized. Food particles attract insects and can cause an unpleasant smell over time, not to mention it’s just not sanitary to have food residue all over the place.
Grab a garbage bag and start cleaning! It’s best if you can remove the trash every time you drive, that way it’s easier for you, and you’re less likely to forget about it.
5. Pack Out What You Pack In
When talking about how to organize your car, the best thing to do is pack out what you pack in. This means if you brought something into your car, then put it back in your house when you’re done. It’ll help keep the car organized and decluttered, and it’s also a good way to practice discipline and only bring what you need with you.
That’s it for our vehicle organization ideas!
Your Car Organization Tips
If you want to keep track of all of your vital car paperwork and remove all of that clutter fast, follow our five-car organization tips. Clean everything out, sort the documents, organize them into your glove box, take out the trash, and, lastly, pack out what you pack in.
Now that you have the inside of your car organized, it’s time to clean up the outside with proper vehicle maintenance through the variety of services we offer. Contact us today at Professional Motors of WNY to get your car fully serviced!
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