Car won’t start? Check the battery. And then check for rats.
Rats can wreak havoc under the hood by gnawing at wires and causing thousands of dollars in damage.
Jefferey Santos, a 31-year-old Bronx native, noticed that his dashboard lights were flashing when he started his 2018 Honda Accord one day. He soon learned that rats were the culprits.
“It felt gross to have rats inside my car,” said Santos. “I ended up fixing the car and then, I kid you not, less than a year later, it happened again.”
Gothamist asked three mechanics serving Ridgewood, Crown Heights, Bed-Stuy and East Harlem — neighborhoods with some of the highest rates of rat damage-related complaints in the last three years — about what car owners can do.
Here are some of their tips:
- The problem can be worse in the winter when rats are looking to stay warm, so take more precautions during that season.
- Avoid parking on dirty streets and sidewalks, where infestations are exacerbated.
- Certain scented oils can deter rats.
- Rats like to gnaw at wires in certain cars because of soy-based material used in the engines, according to the mechanics, who all cited Hondas as being particularly prone to infestations. The soy insulation used to protect the wires was the subject of a lawsuit.