So late February my car didn't smell on a Friday and by Sunday it was horribly smelly. I got my car detailed and it still stunk. Took it to the dealership and they found three dead rats and took them out and cleaned out the area. My cars been clean since, or so I thought. Today I drove it this morning and it was fine and went in the car again this afternoon only to see the rat run our from under the passenger seat.i got out screaming and made hubby come find it. He searched the whole car and couldn't find the rat. Eventually he looked again and found chocolate wrappers that were empty . He took the glove box out and removed the filter and found another rats nest. I've been using peppermint spray as recommended by the dealership and apparently it hasn't worked. Or maybe it's the chocolate wrappers. Idk. But I now refuse to drive that car. I got 30 traps and set them and now we shall see what happens. But anyone got any recommendations?
Good god, that sounds terrible! Is it parked in a garage or outside? When I’ve had a mouse problem in the past, the glue traps worked well, but they sometimes don’t completely kill them, leaving whoever finds them to finish the job.
Years ago we had a mouse die in our stove. Horrible everytime we used it. Had to end up getting a new stove
We live in an apartment so the car is parked outside. Our other car isn't affected. Both are parked outside.
You might try a pest service. I did when our development had a prolem years ago. They'll do traps where needed including crawl space and most important, identify entry points and fix. They caught one under kitchen along with finding a main entry that they sealed. Over about six months they sealed the whole house. Haven't had a sighting in years. They were about $30-35 a month.
It killed the mouse. A cat works too. Haven't had a mouse in the house for 28 years. And I live in the country. Mice know, trust me
I put traps all around the car and in the car. We live in apartments and aren't allowed cats. And we park outside. I just wonder if the damn rat climbed up and left the car or what
First of all I'm so sorry this happened to you. How awful! I worked for a major auto insurance company and we had many claims similar to what is happening to you. An adjuster told me that mice/rats are attracted to the coating on the wires of some vehicles. If they chew your wiring it's a huge expense to fix. They can smell it and will keep coming back. I'm not saying this is what is going on with your car, just throwing it out there. Is there anyway you could trade in the car for something similar in price? Just an idea. Again, I'm sorry. I hope you get it figured out. What a pain!
The car is 9 years old and has 110k miles on it. We bought it used 3 years ago. It's a great car, except for the rat issue. I wonder if even though it's been disinfected and cleaned and has the peppermint smell if they still smell their friends and come back. Idk
Also good for keeping squirrels out of the house. But in a car? That may be a little more complicated.
Rats like to chew the new soy-based wrapped wires (older cars had better petroleum-based wrapped wires) and you can't prevent that parking outside. I don't think a new car would fix that as it will have the same soy-based wrapped wires. However, if it's just the rat smell, buy an ozone generator and run it for a while. Absolutely do not let any kids, humans, or pets near the car while you run it inside the car. See video on how to use it here: Article about the class action against car manufacturers using soy-based insulation in wires in new'ish cars here: Detroit Free Press
Generally speaking, rodents are found where there is food to be had. I suspect that there is/was a food source inside the vehicle, other than a wrapper. If we are eating inside the vehicle, the food aroma can linger. And since the vehicle is parked outside, there could be a food source nearby and car is used for nesting. Interesting that there were three dead in one location.
