I have come to distrust anything that plugs into the 12v car cig outlet. 99% of these small 12v appliances are too weak and too cheap. This vacuum is in the 1% of the items that actually work. We use this vac to clean out my wife's car. She has an all-you-can-eat membership to a car wash near her office, but they only wash her exterior. This vac has made it so simple for her to clean inside. She actually stores it in her car and uses it when she gets a wash during lunch. She's a tough customer, but she absolutely loves it. This is SO MUCH easier than dragging out the shop vac from the garage, and it works much better than a rechargeable dustbuster.