Rodents Damaging Your Car and Ways to Prevent It

Rodents chewing on vehicle wiring and components is a surprisingly common problem for people who camp or live out of their vehicles. Mice, rats, and other small animals often crawl into engine compartments or underneath parked cars looking for warmth, shelter, or nesting material.

Unfortunately, when they do that they can chew through wiring, hoses, and insulation, sometimes causing expensive repairs. (living.geico.com)

If you spend a lot of nights parked outdoors, preventing rodents from damaging your car becomes part of basic vehicle maintenance.

Some of the most common deterrents people use include:

• Lighting under the vehicle to remove the dark hiding spaces rodents prefer

• Leaving the hood slightly open so the engine compartment isn’t enclosed and protected

• Strong scents like peppermint oil that rodents dislike

• Rodent-deterrent tape on wiring in the engine bay

  
  

None of these methods are guaranteed, but many vehicle owners report that using one or two of them significantly reduces the chances of rodents nesting under their vehicles. (rxmechanic.com)

I was reminded of this problem very clearly last night.

My 1 AM campsite visitor

Around one in the morning I woke up to something moving around outside my car. At first I assumed it was people walking through the campsite, but after listening for a moment I realized that wasn’t it. Whatever was out there sounded heavier and slower, moving through the dirt and brush around my vehicle.

The noises continued for about twenty minutes while I lay there trying to figure out what I was hearing.

Then I heard something that made my stomach drop a little: a small chewing sound coming from the back of the vehicle. It sounded exactly like a mouse gnawing on metal underneath the car.

I didn’t really want to get out and investigate in the dark, especially since whatever had been wandering around sounded fairly large earlier. Instead I just started shifting my body weight back and forth to rock the car slightly.

The movement worked for a few minutes, but then the chewing sound started again and I had to rock the car a couple more times before everything finally went quiet.

This morning I walked around the campsite expecting to find tracks or some sign of what had been there.

Nothing.

No footprints. No disturbed dirt. No obvious evidence of any animal at all.

But it was a good reminder that parked vehicles are incredibly attractive to wildlife.

The experiment I’m trying tonight

One of the deterrents people swear by is lighting underneath their vehicles. Rodents prefer dark, protected places, so lighting up the area under a vehicle may discourage them from settling there.

That’s why you sometimes see RVs with bright blue or purple lights glowing underneath them at night.

I actually own a string of solar lights, but I rarely bother setting them up because they’re a bit of a hassle. After last night, though, I decided it was worth the effort. The lights are going up around the car tonight.

If nothing shows up, maybe the lights helped.

And if something does show up again… I’ll probably be rocking the car at 1 AM again.

I'm curious to know, what is your tried and true way of keeping rodents out from under your vehicle's underside? Share in the comments.