Dear Sonoma Car Guy:
A friend of mine told me his car had rats … literally. Have you ever heard of such a crazy thing? How does a car get rats?
Salvador Monella
Dear Sal:
Having been in the car biz for 30 years, I’ve seen it all, and rats are just the half of it! One female customer called and told me her car wouldn’t start. She said the dealer told her the battery needed replacing; it was located under the seat inside and it was replaced, but when she got home it wouldn’t start again the next morning. We towed it into the shop. When we popped the hood of this beautiful $60,000 Porsche Cayenne S? A huge rat’s nest was nestled into a nice protected spot in the engine compartment! Rats seem to really like wire insulation, and it had literally been chewed off the wires, causing a short.
Particularly here in a rural area, all kinds of animal and insects can make a home out of your car, and if you park or leave your car outside you’ll need to pay attention or may end up with a real mess. Rats, mice, cats, insects…a nice cozy car gives protection from the rain and provides an attractive home – and the rent is cheap!
So, here’s my advice on keeping your car free of vermin:
1. Keep food out of your car. Hey, I know snacking on a scone and half-latte on your way to work has become a tradition, not to mention fast food burgers and fajita pitas, but all those crumbs and fallen chunks of food attract hungry pests. My best advice: eat at home in the kitchen and keep food out of the car. If that’s not possible – c’mon – clean your car, how ‘bout!
2. Keep your windows closed at night if you park outside. Many small animals are active at night, like mice, rats and cats. An open window is an invitation to explore, and possibly set up house under the seats or elsewhere. We’ve found mice living in hollowed-out insulation under the dashboard, happily at home. Cats, in particular male cats, will mark their territory, which may include your car, with a rather foul-smelling spray!
3. Look for evidence of infestation. This suggestion goes along with cleaning your car regularly. Discovering an infestation means learning to recognize tell-tale signs. Rat and mouse droppings are tiny, hard, oblong black pellets which can easily be mistaken for little seeds – luckily they are bigger than the poppy seeds that fall off your bagel! If you find such droppings, it’s a sure sign your car is being visited or has even become a mouse hotel. Similarly, while an occasional ant might be found crawling on your shirt while you’re driving, having made its way in with you on your clothing, continuously finding ants in your car is not normal.
Using baits and poisons to solve infestations in your car is a problem. You don’t want to poison yourself or the kids, and if a mouse dies from poison while still living inside your car’s insulation the stink will nearly kill you! By far the best solution is to protect your auto in the first place.
Inspect your car for clues. Get down on all fours and look under the seats; think like a mouse about what spot looks cozy and warm. Open your hood and see if there are sticks and leaves gathered in protected spots. Believe it or not, if a nest of leaves ends up in your engine compartment, it can be set on fire from the heat of the engine.
If your car sits outside in the same spot for long periods of time, it becomes an attractive target … move your car from spot to spot so that it does not become “territory.”
It’s a pleasure for all of us to live in a beautiful valley filled with wildlife, but it can turn into a nasty experience if you end up living with wildlife in your car. Over time, cars can naturally develop all types of squeaks – that’s normal. The sound of a mouse, however, is one squeak you don’t want!
John Fisher has been repairing and maintaining cars for 30 years. He owns and operates Metric Motors here in Sonoma Valley.
