Rats ate my wiring :(

Electric

Electric

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My 2007 VW Polo would not start on Friday morning.
I took it in to get checked out this morning and have been informed that rats have nested in my car and have chewed on lots of wiring under my hood and below my dash.

I was hoping it was covered by insurance by it is unfortunately not.
I am still waiting for the quote but I wanted to get some views here to prepare myself.

What can I expect to pay?
What can be done to get rid of these feckers?
I have dogs and there are loads of owls in the area so I am very weary of using poisons.

Please advise.
 
Fill petrol tank, get extra 5l.
Park car in garage.
Close all windows.
Put car in neutral and start the engine.
Seal the garage and leave it for about 10 hours.

Open the garage and let it air out for about an hour.
Find the corpses.
 
Simple solution - keep a cat in your car :D
 
Electric said:
My 2007 VW Polo would not start on Friday morning.
I took it in to get checked out this morning and have been informed that rats have nested in my car and have chewed on lots of wiring under my hood and below my dash.

I was hoping it was covered by insurance by it is unfortunately not.
I am still waiting for the quote but I wanted to get some views here to prepare myself.

What can I expect to pay?
What can be done to get rid of these feckers?
I have dogs and there are loads of owls in the area so I am very weary of using poisons.

Please advise.
Click to expand...

Did your car sit for a long time out of interest?

You will unfortunately pay quite a price to fix the electrics that have been destroyed...
 
ToxicBunny said:
Did your car sit for a long time out of interest?

You will unfortunately pay quite a price to fix the electrics that have been destroyed...
Click to expand...

My car is driven everyday to work and back.
So I can't understand how they had the time to build nests and destroy the wiring when it's dinner time.

As MickeyD says, I live next to a open piece of land covered in bush, trees, etc.

Shaun108 - I have a cat, he is too pampered to even bother with rats.

akescpt - I have no idea.
I have comprehensively covered as well, they just don't cover damage caused by vermin it seems.
 
The problem with it being outside is that an exterminator won't do much good, unless they find and destroy every single rat in the clearing opposite you.

Since there's lots of owls in the area, don't opt to poison the rats; you'll be killing the owls and any other animal as well.

See if you can't get a hold of peppermint oil and spray that around your car for a few weeks. Rats can't stand the smell of it and will after a period of time avoid the area all together. Repeat it every few months though.
The other thing is that they won't stop at your car, they'll get in your house as well, so as a prevention, put some of the peppermint oil in your ceiling and at the back of your cupboards.
 
You can get peppermint oil at Dischen or most health shops (essential oils)
 
MrR said:
The problem with it being outside is that an exterminator won't do much good, unless they find and destroy every single rat in the clearing opposite you.

Since there's lots of owls in the area, don't opt to poison the rats; you'll be killing the owls and any other animal as well.

See if you can't get a hold of peppermint oil and spray that around your car for a few weeks. Rats can't stand the smell of it and will after a period of time avoid the area all together. Repeat it every few months though.
The other thing is that they won't stop at your car, they'll get in your house as well, so as a prevention, put some of the peppermint oil in your ceiling and at the back of your cupboards.
Click to expand...

Too late :(
I heard them 2 nights back :(

I know not to use poisons as we are very much against harming the bird life and our pets.
I will try traps and peppermint oil as mentioned.
I am also waiting for a reply on a pet friendly rat poison.
 
I've heard about this happening before, apparently some super genius decided it's a good idea to make cable insulation out of soya...

Sounds like it's going to be expensive to fix.
 
You can also sprinkle some of your cat's used litter under your car. Rats tend to avoid areas where cats are active.
 
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