Mice are devouring my customers Subaru's , and ideas how to stop it ?

[fastfredracing]

I fixed their legacy a few months back, mice chewed through all the fuel pump wiring, and some light wiring to the rear of the car.
Monday, I had their 2015 Forester in, shifting funny and trans codes. Sure enough, found chewed wires to the intermediate shaft speed sensor . Repaired that on Monday with good weather pack connectors, shrink wrapped it, then wrapped it in electrical tape.
Back in this morning. They ate the wires next to my repair. I see they are also having a field day with the insulation in the transmission tunnel.
I am pretty sure this has soy based wiring insulation .
They live out in the country, on 11 acres, have a few barns and are surrounded by farm fields , so the mice have a good food source.
They have cats, and said there are plenty of snakes around. They have traps in the cars, and get dead mice daily ,but cannot seem to stop them.
I told them it is just a matter of time before they get in behind the dash and do some real $ damage
Any ideas ??

[RANDY P]

you might have to get rid of the car- find something they won't dine on. What else can be done?

[Noah930]

park on a lift

Do they park indoors or outside? I think if outside, they're stuck. But if in a garage (though maybe not a barn), at least there are ways to seal up a place to limit critters.

[Steve F]

Try putting a bar of Irish Spring soap in the area (without the box). I have them on all my cars. When you open the hood it is quite fragrant!

[id10t]

Mothballs may work....

May keep your customers out of their cars too...

[manbridge 74]

Dryer sheets work well. Not potienally messy like soap.

[Soterik]

We've had better luck with the cars that are outside rather than in the barn, go figure.....

American iron appears to be less tasty than foreign.

Put a moat around the vehicle literally or figuratively. The old suburban parked away from the house in the rocky driveway get's no visitors. Golf in the barn gets mice. The mice are in the barn in the walls etc. It's cozy in the barn and cozier in the car in the barn.

We've tried the electric noisemakers, dryer sheets (makes nice nesting material), etc.

I actually hate squirrels and chipmunks more than mice... they make more damage to the house.

E

[Aragorn]

Bounce dryer sheets inside and out. Bounce seems to have an odor the furry critters don't like. Might also try some moth flakes around the perimeter of the car but not inside unless they like a strong lingering smell. Mice are also highly incontinent so there are probably pee stains everywhere in that car. If they have cats, I would stay away from poison and glue traps.

[Scott Douglas]

Timely post. My wife just told me some friends of ours had friends in Huntington Beach that went on vacation for a couple of weeks. Got home and found out rats had gotten into their Prius which was sitting in the garage while they were gone. Dealer said to call their insurance company as it was $6k to get the smell out and fix the damage to the Prius.

[RKDinOKC]

Was visiting a friend for a week. They had mice in there house. I got some sticky traps and put them were they said they usually see the mice running when they enter the room. Heard a noise and went to check it out. There was a dish rag from the hamper across the room covering the sticky trap! Told my friends I had to leave because those mice were too smart and I didn't feel safe.

Maybe you could undercoat the car and dust the undercoat with moth crystals while it is still wet. Not enough to make the car stink, just enough to discourage the rodents.

[CT993]

Tomkat pellets. Zzzzzzzzzz.

[wdfifteen]

park inside a circle of this stuff poured on the floor of the garage. They sell it at Lowes and HD. It smells strongly of moth balls, so be warned.

[jamesnmlaw]

[sammyg2]

Many years ago mice got into my wife's honda pilot and did $750 worth of wiring damage.

I put a glue trap under the engine and caught a mouse that next night.
1 week, 3 traps, 3 mice.

No more problems after that.

[Evans, Marv]

I think most of anything you do would only be partly or temporarily effective. I posted sometime back asking about the same problem with the instrument panel wiring for my tractor. A long time ago, mice/rats ate the insulation off of the wiring behind the instrument panel. I replaced it and within a month, they had eaten the insulation off of my replacement wiring. Apparently the insulation is soy based. One of the members here suggested buying wire with PVC insulation, which I did. However I haven't had time to redo the wiring to see if it works. I doubt it would be worth it to try that with a car.

[berettafan]

I read somewhere of new wire coatings being made of a tastier material. supposedly the fault of yet more overbearing EPA regs.

[Arizona_928]

Enough poison to kill a elephant

[GH85Carrera]

Short of having a shipping container delivered and parking in there, not much. The idea of parking on a lift is one other way but that is a bigger pain in the butt than parking inside a shipping container. I presume it would be safe to have rodent proof vents on the roof the shipping container. I have no idea what a shipping container delivered to them would be but likely less than a new car or constant repairs on the Subie.

[Tobra]

Bubble gum. Sweet and tasty, stops up their plumbing

[Bill Douglas]

Spray those areas with bitrex and vinegar.