World's Most Industrious Rodent (or, How Many Chips Can a Chipmunk Chunk...)

[VStar650CL]

Because he took his stash of nuts with him after we peppermint-oiled the car, we're pretty sure the culprit was a chipmunk and not a rat or mouse. He began his journey by getting underneath the cowl and chewing a hole in the grille for the HVAC air inlet...

...then chewed a hole in the partition between the fresh air inlet and the recirculation inlet, then chewed through the recirculation grille to get into the cabin...

...made a short pit stop under the passenger side carpet to chew a corner off the foam spacer...

...headed north toward the passenger A-pillar, pausing to munch on some sound insulation...

...then headed up the A-pillar, using the plastic ribs as both ladder and lunch, then chewing his way along the side curtain airbag...

...then crossed the headliner to gnaw apart the wiring and destroy the overhead console (this was actually the customer's initial complaint, the microphone quit working)...

...then headed to the back of the car, descending through the D-pillar and munching on the cargo room insulation, at which point the car reached us. Needless to say, we discovered and evicted him.

The funny thing is, the car (a '17 Rogue) was only saved from the scrapyard by having very low miles. Coupled with the crazy used-car prices of late, trade-in book came to around $20K. Insurance companies will usually draw the line around half of that, and the chip-chunks came to almost $9K. Had this happened 18 months ago, the car would have been JY toast!

[AZhitman]

HOLY crap.

With all that said, we occasionally get desert packrats here. Considering some of our cars don't get driven for a few weeks at a time, what's the best deterrent you've found?

[VStar650CL]

With all that said, we occasionally get desert packrats here. Considering some of our cars don't get driven for a few weeks at a time, what's the best deterrent you've found?

If you don't mind the smell of peppermint, pep oil hangs around for a long time even in an engine box, and it's a sovereign chaser for every rodent we know about (even raccoons, and even some non-rodents like opossums). It's cheap in the Home section at Walmart and a little bit goes a long way.

[macgiver]

I don't like peppermint , could spearmint be a possibility ? hmmm. I like spearmint , spearmint gum , spearmint candy , and it seems to wreek about as much as peppermint . I will Google it .

[VStar650CL]

I don't like peppermint , could spearmint be a possibility ?

I dunno. But if you try it and it doesn't work, well....
how many chips can a chipmunk chunk?