A rat ate through the fuel line on SWMBO Diesel Espace, near full tank destroyed the tarmac, fuel line was cheap, tarmac wasn't 

 

May be urban legend but apparently there was a time when insurance would write off a car with a rat damage due to health and safety concerns after repair. Possibly different now with mechanics required to wear gloves but there should be some sort of decontamination process regardless.

Plenty Rat eating car wiring stories and people saying it happened at Airport parking.

Also stuff on claiming on your Insurance.  House insurance when car parked in the Garage and car insurance if parked outside.

 

There are even stories about Denver Airport and some saying German Cars with Soy based wiring are at greater risk. 

 

eg

How cars became tastier and turned into rat food - The Globe and Mail.mhtml

Edited 8 February, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

13 hours ago, MaddicIrl said:

A rat ate through the fuel line on SWMBO Diesel Espace, near full tank destroyed the tarmac, fuel line was cheap, tarmac wasn't 

 

May be urban legend but apparently there was a time when insurance would write off a car with a rat damage due to health and safety concerns after repair. Possibly different now with mechanics required to wear gloves but there should be some sort of decontamination process regardless.

 

I can imagine them writing a damaged car off if the wiring damage is so extensive and dispersed across the car that they're faced with a virtual re-wire of the whole thing. I can't imagine that would be feasible on a fully built car - even the Service Manager I spoke to seemed to imply that if they had to start tracking every wire it's full length to find the source of errors it could prove to be too costly to consider.

 

Hopefully that won't be the case, although we're not out of the woods yet. Very early indications suggest replacing and repairing the immediately visible damaged wires has been successful and the errors aren't coming back up, but it's only had a very short road test. One of the techs has taken it home tonight to put some more miles on it, and I'm expecting another update in the morning.... 

13 hours ago, AwaoffSki said:

Plenty Rat eating car wiring stories and people saying it happened at Airport parking.

Also stuff on claiming on your Insurance.  House insurance when car parked in the Garage and car insurance if parked outside.

 

There are even stories about Denver Airport and some saying German Cars with Soy based wiring are at greater risk. 

 

eg

How cars became tastier and turned into rat food - The Globe and Mail.mhtml

 

Thanks @AwaoffSki - I've seen similar things (many from the US) but unfortunately the link isn't working for me.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/adventure/red-line/how-cars-became-tastier-and-turned-into-rat-food/article28848304/

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/investigators/lawsuit-rodents-eating-through-toyota-insulation-disabling-vehicles

BTW @AwaoffSki, I would strongly recommend you switch from IE to pretty much any other browser. It was slow and bloated back when it was still being developed and it’s only been getting essential security fixes for quite a while now.

 

Chrome has very good compatibility and speed, but the latest Firefox is lighter on memory and sometimes faster. Opera has some great built in security features and is less of a target than the popular browsers

 

I am on a phone in the hills. But thanks for your advice.

What are you creating the mhtml files with?

 

8 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

 

I can imagine them writing a damaged car off if the wiring damage is so extensive and dispersed across the car that they're faced with a virtual re-wire of the whole thing. I can't imagine that would be feasible on a fully built car - even the Service Manager I spoke to seemed to imply that if they had to start tracking every wire it's full length to find the source of errors it could prove to be too costly to consider.

 

Hopefully that won't be the case, although we're not out of the woods yet. Very early indications suggest replacing and repairing the immediately visible damaged wires has been successful and the errors aren't coming back up, but it's only had a very short road test. One of the techs has taken it home tonight to put some more miles on it, and I'm expecting another update in the morning.... 

I'd say you are right, would depend on how badly damaged, I believe it also had to do with Weil's disease and their culpability subsequently.

 

Its so frustrating when there is nothing you have done or could do to prevent it, I hope it works out well for you and cheaply.

Sorry to read this thread @CheshireBumpkin.  Hope you get something sorted.

 

Keep us posted

 

Check your insurance. They should cover it.

11 hours ago, xman said:

Check your insurance. They should cover it.

 

Thus far, I don't want them to, and I don't want them to have an excuse to triple my premium next year. With several fingers crossed, the replacement of the obviously damaged wires seems to have resolved all the errors. I'm not sure we're out of the woods yet, and I'm sure I'll be paranoid for a long time about damage I may not be aware of yet, and of course the risk of it happening again. If it does turn out that new errors appear and tracking of wires back to source is necessary I'd have to make a claim, but as it stands I've got the car back apparently fully-functioning, for an equivalent cost to my excess.

 

Have to say that Mitchell Skoda in Cheshire have been incredibly good in every respect - from the initial video-walkthrough of the damage they found, right through to their ongoing communications and (hopefully) final resolution. I've been really impressed with them.

Once it’s fixed give a few of these a try:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultrasonic-Deterrent-BearPEST-Electronic-Eliminates/dp/B0756WLZ2J/

Then apply this to areas with an accessible loom:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/100ml-Peppermint-Pure-Essential-Oil/dp/B00BBXTK8I/

Good luck

23 minutes ago, Alan_P said:

Once it’s fixed give a few of these a try:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultrasonic-Deterrent-BearPEST-Electronic-Eliminates/dp/B0756WLZ2J/

Then apply this to areas with an accessible loom:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/100ml-Peppermint-Pure-Essential-Oil/dp/B00BBXTK8I/
 

 

Good luck

 

 

"bittrex" is also good for deterring any animal (or human!) from nibbling anything! 

One of my colleagues had this happen a few years back.  Insurance company paid up and it was classed as an ‘at fault’ claim.

Thanks folks. I'm a bit sceptical about the ultrasonic things, but it's got to be worth a try. I have a plan involving a Keto outdoor ultrasonic thing being placed so I can edge the front of the car over it at night, along with some spray under the car. No idea if it'll work, but worth a try.

Is there something else locally that's drawing the culprits to the area?;   rabbit hutches, an untidy neighbour, bird tables?   My parents recently had an issue with rat's, they were finding their way in through the cavities (the rat's not my parents!) and scuttling around.  Turns out the adjoining neighbour had cavity insulation with those tiny recycled balls which apparently is rat nip/candy and they had huge holes around their facia's which allowed the rats easy access.  

 

 

9 hours ago, penguin17 said:

Is there something else locally that's drawing the culprits to the area?;   rabbit hutches, an untidy neighbour, bird tables?   My parents recently had an issue with rat's, they were finding their way in through the cavities (the rat's not my parents!) and scuttling around.  Turns out the adjoining neighbour had cavity insulation with those tiny recycled balls which apparently is rat nip/candy and they had huge holes around their facia's which allowed the rats easy access.  

 

 

 

I don't think so - I live in a rural area so there've always been plenty of field mice around (outside) who haven't generally caused me any problems. However, there are a couple of factors that may have had an impact. Firstly, I've been too idle to change the bulbs in the floodlights outside, so the parking area has been very, very dark for a few weeks. Secondly, I had to say goodbye to my old dog a couple of weeks ago, and although not as fast as she once was, I'm sure her presence probably discouraged them from hanging around the car and house too much. The first thing I've resolved today, the second I wish with all my heart I could!

Sorry to hear about your dog. I know how you must feel. 

10 hours ago, xman said:

Sorry to hear about your dog. I know how you must feel. 

 

Thanks @xman - not the first dog I've had to go through this with, but it never gets easier. Sorry to hear it's a horror your familiar with, but I guess it's the price we pay for the privilege of having them....

Any update on this? I had a pair of field mice that have taken up residency in my garage and done a lot of damage to shoes, shoe laces etc and even dug a hole in the corner of the concrete floor! They also munched their way into my 20yr old Alhambra, dont know how but no functional damage and I traded it in as Scrappage against the new Superb which now I am worried about.

 

Have thoroughly cleared the garage out , found and cleared at least 2 nesting places, blocked the underground lair and  disposed of several shoe fulls of grain (covered meticulously with stainless bolts that they seem to have dragged from my lin bins - clever critters) Not seen them or evidence (poo or bedding) lately, but they are very small and quick.

 

Very nervous now. Don't want to leave a brand new car outside in this foul weather.

Just set a few mousetraps and leave them set all winter in the garage.

 

It has been scientifically proved mice prefer peanut butter to eating cars.

 

Joking aside, they can do lots of damage to lots of stuff, I am inclined to catch two in one night then nothing for weeks or months. Mr and Mrs Mouse tend to enter together and if a few traps are set they dont survive the night 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aspectek-Mouse-Trap-Reusable-Traps/dp/B00HDVUTZA/ref=pd_sim_86_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WY3Z6ZSRRQ9J4XP7ABKD

In Switzerland there is a specific clause for rodent damage to internal components, when I first saw it on the insurance form I thought it a bit strange so asked and it seemed it is a common issue by all accounts (particularly martens).

So jump forward a couple of years to when we moved into our new home and a short while after one of the turbo hose gnawed into by a marten of some kind late last year on our Superb, very please I did tick the specific box on the insurance form!

 

Possibly ask Rentokil for advice too as they may well have dealt with this problem on a few occasions.