Rodents in Santa Cruz PiP

I'm really just posting this to share what I've learned (painfully) over the past 2 weeks. Two weeks ago, after a rainy night, my abs light and traction light came on. I took the car in. A rat had eaten the ABS sensor on the left front side, above the wheel. $950 and three days later, the sensor had been replaced and rodent guards were installed to keep the rats from getting inside the cabin of the car (!). Not under warranty. My insurance covered all but the $500 (!) deductible. My PiP has 2000 miles on it... Service dept. said "this happens all the time, especially to Priuses, and even more often to new Priuses, possibly more often to PiP because there are more wires." Yes, they love that soybean covering on the wires, particularly the orange stuff. Popcorn For Rats.

I live very near downtown Santa Cruz. I'm not in a rural area. The car is parked in a covered carport. There are rats in almost all urban areas in CA now. More this year, apparently. They love getting inside when it rains, warm up, make a nest out of insulation and wiring, have a little snack. Service dept. advised anybody with a newish Prius to at least get the rodent screening to keep them from getting into the cabin of your car, and showed me another car that had come in where that happened. New car, carpet eaten, seats eaten, the smell really remarkable...

Two days later, rain again, lights came on again. This time, it was the right front speed sensor. Great car insurance paid for the whole thing, but if it happens again, I'll have to pay the $500 deductible again. Have read all threads and more on keeping rats out of PiP.

This is what I've tried this past week (lots of rain...). So far, so good. When the car is parked, every day:

(1) lit up the carport with a 200 watt lightbulb and white LED lights on the sides and under the car at night (rats hate light). (2) keep the hood open now at night (ditto). (3) sprinkle cayenne pepper around and on top of the front wheels (burns their noses/uncomfortable but not harmful) (4) sprinkled red pepper flakes same places (ditto). (5) put a rodent cab pine scented packet underneath the car when parked (6) Bounce dryer sheets on top of the front two wheels (7) lit up our front yard (8) spray 100% pure peppermint oil drops in water all around the car.

Annoyed that Toyota and Honda use soybean products in wiring, and have for years, and know about this. Glad they're trying to be green, but... if they could just put a little cayenne pepper in the wiring coating... Sigh.

ETA: We just can't bring ourselves to use snap traps. We did catch a big rat with a havahart last week.

 

I'm sorry, Bisco! Really, I've never seen rats running around here. We've never had them in our house. Most people I talk to about this can't believe it, although one friend went hiking with a Prius owner up in the mountains, and when they got back to the parking lot, the Prius wouldn't even start..hungry rodent... Rats hide well, and they're very, very smart. Will add the mothballs to my regimen, n6ifp. Thanks!