Keep your Home and Auto Free of Rodents and Rodent Damage

As temperatures drop, there’s nothing more cozy than a warm home with a roaring fire, warm drinks, and seasonal treats. However, you’re not the only one who finds this appealing: rodents like rats, mice, and squirrels find your home, car, or RV as the perfect space to wait out the winter.

They make homes in foundations, crawlspaces, and engine compartments, leaving behind damages that can be costly to repair. But happily, there are ways to protect your possessions from rodent damage. 

Protecting your Car from Rodents and Rodent Damage

Rodents have always been drawn to cars, but as more car parts are being replaced with eco-friendly options, like soy wiring insulation and natural fiber seating, even more rats and mice will view your car as a tasty treat and potential home.

However, some insurance companies won’t cover rodent damage even though rodent damage like chewed wires or ripped upholstery are common. The best course of action is to ask your insurance agent about rodent damages when you purchase your policy. If you already have a policy in place, ask them about what animal damages are covered. Selecting the appropriate company as well as the appropriate coverage can make all the difference.

Comprehensive insurance coverage is your best bet for getting rodent damages covered; however, some insurance companies define animal damages in comprehensive coverage as “collision with an animal” and have a specific clause that excludes rodent damages.

Of course, the best method to avoid damages is prevention. Here’s how you can avoid costly repairs because of rodent damage:

  • Park inside and check your garage doors are shut with no gaps
  • Clear the area around your car
  • Clean your car of any debris, especially food
  • Close all windows, doors, and sunroofs
  • Leave the lights on in your garage and shine lights on your wheels
  • Use peppermint oil, cedar shavings, or ultrasonic pest repeller to drive pests away from your garage
  • Strong scents like cayenne are also good repellants, but can be annoying for passengers
  • Drive your car often, as unused cars are rodent breeding grounds

Protecting your RV from Rodents and Rodent Damage

It isn’t just cars and homes that are targets for rodents – RVs are prime candidates, too. While RV insurance comes with Replacement Cost Personal Effects, rodent damage may not be covered through your carrier. Comprehensive coverage may include rodent damage, but check with your insurance agent to be sure.

The best way to stop a costly claim is to prevent rodents from making a home in the first place. Here are some tips on keeping your RV safe from pests:

  • Remove all garbage and food (even dry good) when not in use
  • Clean any spills, crumbs, or mess
  • Cover your RV and its undercarriage
    • Place lights underneath the tires to further scare them off
    • Place deterrents and traps (rodents don’t like strong smells like peppermint, cedar, or cayenne)
  • Seal off any entrances larger than a nickel
    • Shut all the doors
    • Close all the windows and install screens
    • Seal any gaps with door seals or silicone sealing
    • Close any small gaps with copper mesh (which rodents cannot chew through)

If you’re wondering about insuring your RV, check out our blog post about RV insurance. If you have more questions about your RV insurance, check out our blog post with important facts about your RV insurance.

Protecting your Home from Rodents and Rodent Damage

Rodents invade homes for the same reasons we buy homes: warmth, shelter, and sustenance. Your home looks like a palace to a rat or mouse for them to live and breed without the danger of predators.

Because of this, rodents cause damage to hundreds of thousands of homes each year in the U.S. They can destroy insulation, chew through wires, weaken floor joists, and even chew through brick.

Before you call in pest control, you can conduct a search yourself in the following areas frequently used by rodents:

  • Storage containers, boxes, or cabinets
  • Building foundations
  • Roofs and crawl spaces
  • Inside ceilings and walls
  • Inside furniture
  • Yards (especially piles of compost, leaves, or bushes)

To see if there are rodents nesting in any of these areas, check for feces, footprints/tail marks, smudge marks, and gnawed corners. You can also listen for sounds of claws/squeaks and smell for any urine odors.

Rats especially love crawl spaces. They can squeeze through any space that’s a quarter of an inch wide! Here are some crawl space areas to check and how to rodent-proof them:

  • Screens that cover vents
    • Winterize them by closing the louvers or covering the vents
    • For damaged wire or mesh screens, buy a new screen and replace the old one
    • For damaged foundation vents, buy a new foundation vent and replace it
  • Gaps around brickwork 
    • Use copper mesh, mortar or weather stripping to seal gaps
  • Access panels
    • Ensure the access door fits tightly with absolutely no gaps

If rats have already damaged your crawl space, you’ll need to check with your agent about what your insurance will cover. Rodent damages aren’t typically covered by your home insurance policy because for most losses to be considered, it needs to be “sudden and accidental.” This means it has to be abrupt, unexpected, and unwanted. 

While a rat’s entry into a home is definitely unwanted, insurance usually counts rodent damage as a preventable misfortune. A rodent making a home in the crawl space of your home may come overnight, but the damage they cause is caused over a period of months, or even years, which means it is not abrupt.

Of course, prevention is worth an ounce of cure. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

  • Never store food in your garage or crawl space
  • Keep trash in tight, sealed containers
  • Keep your yard tidy and pick up weeds and pet waste immediately
  • Don’t keep pet food in a garage or other outdoor area
    • Or store it in a sealed container with no holes or gaps
  • Don’t stack items near your home where they could hide (lumber piles, wood piles etc.)
  • Use peppermint oil near entry points 
  • Seal any gaps with caulk, steel wool, copper mesh, or a combo of the three

If you have questions about your home or auto insurance or want a quote, call the insurance agents at Trucordia. They have years of insurance experience and can help you with all your insurance questions.