PSA: Rodents and dormant cars

[Cosmacelf]

So I had my car parked outside, not being used, for a few months with a Tesla car cover over it. When I took the cover off, I had a nasty surprise when I realized a family of rodents had decided the wheel well and under frunk areas were great places to live. I'm in the process of cleaning it now, but so far I've had to take the wheels off, remove the wheel well covers, and take apart the frunk to access all the areas the rodents got into. Dirty, smelly mess. I live in the San Diego region, which is rodent central for anything outdoors.

So beware - that car cover works great, but it may hide a lot of other stuff going on!

 

[sorka]

The really really nasty surprise will be when you have a failure due to partially chewed through wire. Even worse if it's a time bomb waiting to eventually fail long after the warranty has expired.

 

[sorka]

Doh. Just occurred to me that it wouldn't matter how long after the warranty that happened as it wouldn't be covered by warranty anyways but rather comprehensive if insured.

 

[BruceR61]

A good friend of mine had his wiring eaten through on a Prius. Caused more than $6K in damage. Car insurance comprehensive covered it.

 

[kirkbauer]

I'm about to leave my MS parked for 2 months here in Georgia, but inside my garage. I'm thinking I should be safe in that case?

 

[jaguar36]

We had some mice decide to make a nest in the hood, this was in a garage, with a car that was used basically every day.

 

[snellenr]

I'm about to leave my MS parked for 2 months here in Georgia, but inside my garage. I'm thinking I should be safe in that case?

Get some mousetraps and peanut butter and find out. Use inexpensive "snap" traps so that you can keep track of progress. If you find out that there *are* mice around, you can thin the "herd" some more and then put out some bait traps for maintenance. I highly suggest putting at least one bait trap inside the frunk in that case.

Much better than opening your frunk (to show it off) and seeing a pile of nest material...

 

[Uncle Paul]

Old trick is to place some mothballs under your car during storage. Rodents hate that smell.

Can also thow a pack in the trunk.

 

[Kurt'sX]

I parked in a Colorado garage during winter months when I was away and always used a combination of small mouse traps and numerous containers of moth balls on the ground under the vehicle. I never had a problem, but always had mice in the traps when I returned. Electrical damage from field mice can be a very expensive lesson, best to avoid.

 

[CuriousG]

Just this morning I hear rustling in my garage near the two rat traps I have placed in the one corner my car resides. I look and one of the rat traps is missing. I'm pretty sure it's behind the the computer case door I had standing next to the trap. I'm still having flashbacks one night I was getting something in the garage and a critter brushed passed my leg. I shrieked like a little girl.

 

[Maximapolak]

Just this morning I hear rustling in my garage near the two rat traps I have placed in the one corner my car resides. I look and one of the rat traps is missing. I'm pretty sure it's behind the the computer case door I had standing next to the trap. I'm still having flashbacks one night I was getting something in the garage and a critter brushed passed my leg. I shrieked like a little girl.