Your car should be a safe space that comfortably gets you where you need to go. If you find pests invading your vehicle, you need to find an effective way to get rid of them.

To eliminate pests from your car, first, determine which type of pest it is. Next, clean your vehicle to get rid of hiding places and food sources. Then, use an appropriate removal method for the pest, such as heat treatment, fumigation/poisoning or traps. Finally, prevent pests from returning by cleaning your car frequently.

With a little elbow grease, you can eliminate pests in your car. Keep reading this article for detailed tips on getting rid of pests from my years of experience in the pest control industry. 

You might also want to read my two article “Backyard Animal Poop Identification – Most Common Types” and “American Cockroach General Information“.

Identify Which Pest You’re Dealing With

To get rid of pests in your car, you have to find out which ones to target. Sometimes, it might be obvious which critter has invaded your vehicle. But others times, you must take on some detective work to discover the culprit.

Almost any pest can make its way into your car. Some of the most common ones in cars are:

• Cockroaches
• Ants
• Spiders
• Mice
• Rats
• Bedbugs
• Carpet Beetles

You might get lucky and find a dead specimen to help you know which pest you need to get rid of. Otherwise, you’ll have to look for various signs for identification, such as:

Signs of Cockroach Infestation

Cockroaches are winged, one to two-inch brown insects. Some signs of an infestation include:

• Droppings – cockroach poop looks like coffee grounds or ground black pepper.
• Egg sacks – cockroaches lay groups of 20 to 50 eggs in brown, flat, oval cases.
• Smells – a cockroach infestation comes with a musky or oily odor.
• Sheddings – cockroaches molt as they grow, leaving behind their old skin for you to find.

Signs of Ant Infestation

Ants are tiny, segmented red, black or brown insects. Seeing them in or around your vehicle is the most common way of recognizing an infestation. Ants can swarm in the thousands and make being in your car uncomfortable.

You might also see a trail of ants leading to your car. Lastly, you might notice dropped ant wings in your upholstery or carpeting.

Signs of Spider Infestation

Spiders are eight-legged creatures that range in size from tiny to hand sized. A spider infestation could make your car look like it was decorated for Halloween, with webs clogging corners or the dashboard.

Spider egg sacks look like small balls of cotton attached to a hidden spot in your car. When they hatch, hundreds of tiny spiders emerge and stay near the nest for a period.

Additionally, you could encounter spider droppings, which appear as small black specks. Also, you might see a spider meal: a dead insect caught in the web and wrapped in webbing.

Signs of Mouse/Rat Infestation

Rodents like mice and rats have the capacity to do the most damage to your vehicle. They might chew through electrical wires or plastic parts that would require a trip to the mechanic.

Hopefully, you can identify a rodent infestation before your car starts acting funny. Some of the signs of a rat or mouse infestation are:

• Droppings – small brown to black pellets in your car could be from rodents. 
• Bad Smells – rodents leave odors from their urine and body oils.
• Chewed upholstery – rodents might chew your car’s upholstery for nesting material.
• Strange Noises – rodents might make squeaking or scratching noises.

Signs of Bedbug Infestation

Bedbugs excel at staying out of sight, only leaving behind red welts from their bites. The other signs of a bedbug infestation in your car include:

• Reddish Stains – these result from crushed bedbugs.
• Droppings – period-sized black spots that could bleed into the upholstery.
• Skin Sheddings – bedbugs leave behind their old skin as they grow.
• Eggs – bedbug eggs look like tiny white rice grains.

Signs of Carpet Beetle Infestation

Carpet beetles are 1/16 to 1/8-inch black insects. They might have lighter-colored stripes or mottling on their shells.

These insects leave tiny holes in your car’s upholstery. Other signs of carpet beetles include skin sheddings or larval hairs.

Different Removal Methods For Different Pests

After identifying the pest that in your car, you can choose the best method to get rid of them fast. Below are the top ways to get rid of specific pests from your vehicle:

Getting Rid of Cockroaches in Your Car

First, thoroughly vacuum the interior of your car. You might even suck up some live roaches, so be careful they don’t escape from your vacuum.

Then, you can choose a cockroach trap or poison to kill any left inside. The best ways to kill roaches in your car are:

• Sticky traps – leave some glue pads on the floor or seats of your car where you won’t disturb them. Over a few days, the cockroaches will get trapped and die.
• Bait stations – place poison boxes in your car where cockroaches might like to hide. Follow the station’s instructions and remove them when you stop seeing roaches.
• Fumigation – A healthy dose of roach spray in your car could kill all the creatures inside. Only try this method if you can let your car sit for two to three days to allow insecticide dissipation. 

If you choose poisons for eliminating cockroaches from your car, always wear personal protective equipment and follow the instructions closely. In the end, call a pest control professional if you’re uncomfortable using insecticides.

Getting Rid of Ants in Your Car

Start by cleaning any food or containers from your car that could be a food source for ants. Next, ant bait stations are the best method to eliminate these insects.

Place bait stations in your car for a few days or up to a week. The ants will bring the poison-laced bait back to their nest, and the poison will spread throughout the entire colony and kill it off.

Additionally, thoroughly cleaning your car and parking in a different spot for a week could make the ants forget about it. If you keep your car clean, ants shouldn’t come back.

Eliminating Spiders in Your Car

Luckily, spiders don’t live in groups and there should only be a few to get rid of. You might be able to kill them individually with a towel or fly swatter.

Otherwise, the best way to get rid of spiders in your car is with a chlorine bomb. These are products sold for odor control in vehicles, but you can also make one yourself by following these steps:

1. Make sure chlorine bleach is safe on your car’s interior.
2. In a spray bottle, mix one cup of chlorine bleach with one cup of water.
3. Wearing rubber gloves, thoroughly spray every surface of your vehicle with the solution.
4. Close your car and let it sit for two to four hours.
5. The fumes from the chlorine will suffocate the spiders.
6. Open all the car doors and let it air out for an hour before driving again.

Getting Rodents Out of Your Car

Simply honking your horn for an extended period could be all you need to scare mice or rats away. They are afraid of loud noises, and if you and your neighbors can stand the noise, this might be enough to drive them out.

Alternatively, high temperatures could also make the rodents leave. During a hot summer day, leave your car in the sun and that might be just the trick to get mice and rats to flee.

Lastly, spring-loaded mice or rat traps will help you kill the critters. Set four or five traps in your car with peanut butter for bait. Check the traps each day until no more rodents appear.

Warning: Cleaning up after rodents can be dangerous, read my article to learn how to do it safely

Eliminating Bedbugs from Your Car

Extreme temperatures are your best friend for getting rid of bedbugs in your car. Luckily, a car’s small space is fairly easy to heat or cool to deadly temps for bedbugs.

Exposing bedbugs to about 113°F or hotter for 90 minutes or more kills them. These temps can be achieved by leaving your car in the sun on a hot day. Unfortunately, freezing temperatures take about four days to kill bedbugs, so you would need extreme winter weather and patience to kill the parasites this way.

Also, fumigation can eliminate bedbugs from your car. You can purchase a bedbug spray or get help from professionals with this.

Getting Rid of Carpet Beetles in Your Car

First, vacuum your car, focusing on cracks and crevices where there might be carpet beetle eggs and larvae. Next, rent a steam cleaner and clean the seats, carpets and all other upholstered surfaces.

Finally, you can apply food-grade diatomaceous earth into cracks and crevices. This natural product is extremely abrasive and cuts the exoskeleton of carpet beetles, which dries them out and kills them.

How To Prevent Pests From Returning To Your Car

Keeping your car clean is the best pest prevention method. Take the trash out of your car every few days and vacuum weekly.

Keeping the outside of your car and the engine well clean keeps pests away. Also, check the seals around your doors and windows and replace them if damaged. Always check items you bring into your car for signs of pests and don’t put anything suspicious in your car.

Try not to park too close to bushes, trees or other pest habitats. Trim branches away from your parking spot and clean debris regularly if you must park near plants.