PHOENIX — Some Valley residents are facing unexpected problem: rodents taking over their car.
Matt Allen, owner of Virginia Auto Service, said they've seen an uptick in cars being brought in with rodent damage.
"Cars are a great place for a rodent to make a nest," Allen said. "It's a safe environment. Sometimes it's warm, but there's all kinds of tasty treats in there for them to either eat or sometimes or mostly, to make a nest with."
Allen explained they've found chewed-up wiring, remnants of rodent waste and dead rats in some of the vehicles.
"Whether you’re in Arcadia or north central Phoenix or Buckeye, we’re having cars from everywhere," Allen said. "It’s not specific or doesn’t matter to one area or town [and] they don’t care if you have a Toyota, really nice Porsche, Maserati or a Nissan Sentra."
Allen said it's important to pop open your hood to check for tiny footprints, collected leaves and other debris, along with rodent waste, which he said looks like dark rice.
"If you don't detect it in time, we've had some recent occurrences where we've had several thousands of dollars worth of damages to people's cars," Allen said.
Allen noted that people who have comprehensive car insurance coverage could get rodent damages covered.
Jo Martin with Arizona Pest Solutions suggests you should first identify what type of rodents are living in your car and then get rid of the nest.
"[You] definitely want to use PPE when you're dealing with pack rats, and making sure that you're at least eradicating the rats first, and then removing all that nest so that new ones can't come in," Martin suggested.
Martin said he's seen other solutions that have worked including using lights to ward off the rodents.
"I've heard great success with solar-powered Christmas lights that flicker," Martin said. "You can put those around the engine compartment at night, and they do have solar ones you put out, you don't have to plug it in, and it just flickers all night."
Martin also suggested popping the engine hood open to let air circulate and said peppermint oil can also help keep rodents away.
"Spray that around the engine," Martin said. "Just don't get it on the block, you don't want to get too hot. But that really works well to discourage the rats as well."
Martin said as a precautionary measure, it's important to to keep properties clean to discourage rodents from starting anew.
"Keep it clean, keep stuff off the ground, so they can't collect debris and make a nest," Martin said. "The cleaner the yard is, the less material they have to make a nest, the better off you're going to be."
Both experts said rodents can move to other areas of vehicles and suggested that you should contact a professional if rodents have not left after trying the methods mentioned above.
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