During the coldest months, all stray animals are looking for a place to keep warm. Our vehicle’s engine is one of their favorite spots! You can find cats mostly hanging out around and under your car. Other common animals are raccoons, possums, squirrels, and also rats.

All of these can cause an inconvenience and unpleasant trip to the mechanic.

These animals tend to look for shelter in your car after the car is turned off and the engine is still warm. They can get into the air filter and make nests. But the main issue is that some of these creatures like rats and squirrels also like to chew on your wires.

This can cause headaches for you since it can be difficult to detect where the issues in your car are coming from. Rats chew things to keep their teeth trim because their teeth grow constantly. Your car has multiple wires, hoses, and plastic to keep them entertained.

Some common problems include blown fuses, headlight problems, fuel sensors not working, and most dangerous: fires.

Other animals that may not chew your wires but cause an unpleasant surprise include cats and raccoons. These too seek warmth, but will mostly hide around your tires and other small crevices under your car. We recommend tapping your car’s hood and sides, specially around the tires to scare them out before starting your car. If they crawl deeper into your engine compartment, you may find yourself with a larger and stinkier problem days later.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do to keep these animals out of our engines. There are few alarm systems that create high pitched noises, unnoticeable to the human ear, but noticeable to animals in order to scare them away. Although, this may not always work.