get rid of dead animal stench in your car

You open your car door and it hits you like a freight train of funk – the unmistakable stench of death. The source, most likely, is a small animal that got into your engine to heat up and fail at work. This article is about how to get rid of dead animal stench in your car

But getting rid of the smell will take more than hanging a second scented stick on the back mirror.

Wildlife, including rats, mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and opossums, have been known to hide under the hoods of cars and trucks, especially during the winter months.

Attracted by the warm and protected environment, they build homes in safe spaces and have fun biting the electrical wires of cars (which their teeth are enlarged).

In fact, wiring and other interior damage caused by a running mouse is a common occurrence that will be covered by a comprehensive car insurance policy.

An employee at the California Mercedes-Benz dealership actively told Popular Mechanics in 2014 that his team had found evidence of animals under the hood – feces, shells, paw prints, and more. – almost every day.

And four or five times a year, real rats jump out of the car.

Jumping is one thing, but what if the animal collapses and dies inside?

Most of the time, you don’t know this has happened until you smell a bad smell in your car.

how to get rid of dead animal stench in your car

find the creature

Finding dead creatures may not be easy.

Machines of various types are full of machine bays and it is difficult to see or reach every hidden part in the nook.

Then there is the issue of animals encountering power loss in the car’s waist or crankshaft.

It can be planted in cages and placed in hard-to-reach spaces.

If you can find the dead body yourself, carefully remove it using gloves.

The CDC recommends soaking the body in a solution of one part bleach to 10 parts water for five minutes before placing it in a reusable plastic bag and throwing it in the regular trash.

If you can’t find the body or if you can’t clean the mess without removing the engine parts, call the gas station or the shop and have the report properly destroyed.

They should deliver the animal to you.

Get rid of that stink

Once the rest is done, it’s time to work on the smell. Long-lasting bad breath is produced by bacteria left on the surface after being excreted from the body.

• Put on another pair of gloves,
• clean any areas that come into contact with the dead tissue with a commercial disinfectant or diluted bleach, and
• let the vehicle drain as much as possible.

However, it is tricky, if the animal died near your air filter (they like to tear the air filter and use the garbage for the net) or inside the car let the air flow.

In this case, there is a good chance that odor-causing bacteria have spread throughout the room.

Here, you can call the experts. Frank Simmons is the founder of The Odor Doctors, an automotive odor removal company.

Although Simmons says dead animal calls are “rare,” he has seen cases where mice have climbed into the air conditioner and become trapped, spreading the smell throughout the car.

Simmons uses a three-step process to eliminate all odors (cigarette smoke, he says, is the worst).

The first pass is made with saturated dry steam. It’s a type of hot steam cleaner that directs 360 degrees F (182 degrees C) and sprays any bacteria on the surface to, as Simmons puts it, “melt the funk.”

The second pass is an antimicrobial agent.

Insurance for rescue

Worst case scenario, you remove the body, damage the engine compartment and interior, but the car still smells so bad you can’t drive it.

You can try to sell it, but who’s going to buy a car that leaves a dead opossum? However, there is still hope.

Your insurance company may agree to write off the affected vehicle as a “total loss” (due to your comprehensive coverage) and write you a check for its monetary value.

We checked with Allstate, America’s largest public insurance company, and spokesman Justin Herndon acknowledged that there are situations where an animal dying in a car accident could be considered a covered loss.

Not only can the dead body damage the engine, but its decaying dust can pose a life hazard.

“Insurers will attempt to repair any damage and odors by washing and detailing the vehicle as necessary, but it is possible that the vehicle may be totaled due to this condition,” Herndon wrote in an email.