Angie Beck had no idea her children were riding with another passenger – a rat.
“This totally can happen to anyone,” Beck told Channel 2 Action News. “I never thought that this could happen to me.”
It is unclear how the rat got in the car, but it made its home near foam insulation and feasted on the car seats – including a child’s car seat.
A mechanic discovered the rat when he dismantled the fender on Beck’s Dodge Durango, the news station reported. When he took the fender off, the rat leaped out at him.
“I was a little startled, but I wanted to catch him,” Jacon Alves told Channel 2. “I was up out of my chair running across the shop to get him.”
The rat was found in the shop a few days later in a trap.
Car rodents may not be rare.
Jody Voyles, shop foreman, told Channel 2 rats were found in a few of the vehicles he’s seen.
“We’ve got rodent damage where they’re chewing the wires, chewing the lube,” Voyles said. “So now it’s running on three cylinders.”
The soybean insulators, intended to be eco-friendly, may be what’s attracting rats to cars. Repairs can range from the hundreds to thousands.
As for Beck, her car was totaled, with more than $30,000 worth of damages.
“I go look under the hood of my new vehicle once a week,” Beck said. “That’s how traumatized I am.”
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