A Muskoka Lakes resident is warning other locals to watch for rodents after finding out mice caused $15,000 worth of damage in her car.
At the end of October, Aimee Sloggett noticed that the light for her windshield washer fluid was coming on when she had just filled up the tank. Thinking it could have a leak, she reached out to the Mini Cooper dealership since her car is just over a year old. They told her the tank was backordered and scheduled her an appointment for a month later. As she waited for her appointment, the engine light came on and she noticed the engine sputtering. She vocalized her concerns to the dealership, but it wasn’t until her appointment on Nov. 29 when they found the real problem.
“When they pulled the backseat up, right away they saw there was a huge mouse nest,” Sloggett said, adding that the mice chewed the backseat and pulled insulation from her house to make the nest. “They also chewed the windshield washer line. The line was open and draining into the backseat, so all the electronics that are underneath the backseat, which there is a lot, got soaked with jugs upon jugs of windshield washer fluid.”
The washer fluid also caused the leather in the backseat to swell, but since she never uses the backseat, Sloggett didn’t notice. The family of mice lived in her car for at least a month, leaving behind pee and droppings all over the carpets.
The mechanic initially quoted her $8,000 in repairs, but after further inspection, the number rose to $15,000, and it could go even higher. Until they pull the car apart to start testing and replacing parts, they won’t know whether components like the fuel pump or the engine have been affected, she said. Sloggett has comprehensive insurance to cover the damages, but if the total goes much higher, insurance may replace the car entirely.
“My mouth dropped, but then it dropped even more when they said that they’re considering fixing it,” Sloggett said. “I know most people usually have under $5,000 in damages when it’s a mouse, so to hear that they would consider fixing it when it’s 15k, I’m pretty upset because I bought a brand new car.”
The mechanics at the dealership told her they’ve seen rodent damage before, including three other cars that same week, but nothing to this extent. She wants to warn people that rodent damage doesn’t just happen to cars sitting in storage or left unused for months.
“It’s not a car that sits,” Sloggett said. “It’s a false idea that people think, ‘Oh, if your car sits, this can happen.’ It’s a car that’s used everyday.”
The mechanic gave her some suggestions, such as using dryer sheets around the car and mothballs under the hood since the smell can make the car less attractive for rodents. They also told her the problem could be related to the fact that her car is so new.
Wiring insulation used to be made from petroleum-based products, but in the last 10 years or so, automakers have switched to soy-based insulation on the wires. The change has led to multiple class-action lawsuits as consumers and mechanics believe the insulation now attracts rodents, but cases against Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and other companies have been dismissed.
Regardless of the outcome in court, mice can chew wires, rupture fluid lines and damage belts, leading to electrical issues, leaks and a myriad of other problems, so it’s important to keep an eye out for signs of mice and other rodents. Steve Burton, owner of Splat Pest Solutions based in Huntsville, said signs include rodent droppings, bundles of nesting materials like newspaper or paper towels, and foul smells that could indicate mice pee or even dead rodents.
Splat does a lot of mouse treatment services for houses and cottages across the region, Burton said. They set up bait stations inside or outside garages to prevent rodents from getting into houses and cars, and late fall into winter is the prime time to watch for rodent problems.
“Once the cooler weather hits then they’re looking for warmth,” he said. “A lot of people leave the garage open for a while or they leave the garage open for a couple minutes to bring groceries in or something like that. A mouse may run in, and all the sudden he’s got his warmth, he’s got his shelter.”
There is no foolproof way to eliminate mice issues, especially in Muskoka where mice are everywhere, he said, but there are steps residents can take to minimize the risk. Bait stations or snap traps around the garage are a good first line of defense, Burton said. Consumer Reports also recommends storing food waste somewhere other than the garage and removing food wrappers from cars to avoid attracting rodents.
Other suggestions include honking on start-up to scare away sleeping mice, storing pet food and nesting materials far from parking spots, and even wrapping wires in rodent-deterrent tape treated with capsaicin, a spicy substance found in various hot peppers. For people without garages, it helps to park away from trash bins or food sources like gardens.
Burton said some of these methods may work some of the time, but he believes the most important step is parking in a well-sealed garage.
“A lot of times, once they get into the garage, there’s almost nothing you can do to prevent them from going into a car,” Burton said. “There’s just no way you can make any kind of car mouse proof, so the only way you can do that is to prevent them from actually getting into the garage itself.”
The team at Splat has seen torn screens, mailboxes with broken flaps and many other entry points in garage spaces. Burton recommends that car owners do a careful inspection of their parking area to find any possible gaps since blocking up those holes is his number one suggestion for how to keep mice out of cars as well as homes.
“The only thing I would recommend is if you do exclusion,” Burton said. “If there’s an entry point where you know that there’s a hole or there’s a door sweep underneath the garage door that’s allowing entry points or allowing mice to get in, the more you can exclude the area and not have entry points, then the better off you are.”