By: Keira Gong

Libby Denault is a person who has been going to the same auto shop for years now for checkups for her car. After a visit in January 2021, the mechanics had a hard time finding if something was wrong with her car; there was a machine called the “Check Engine” which notified the mechanics that something was wrong with her car. The machine kept beeping, so something was definitely wrong. As Libby said, “[t]hey did a bunch of tests and couldn’t figure out what it was.” After leaving, the auto shop with spent 700 dollars to repair her car, and the problem was none other than a rat. Yes, a rat.

In New York, rats aren’t big news when it comes to then living and making a home in your car, but lately the auto shops have been finding many rodents hidden. In a New York Times article, it explains that they interviewed a total of 28 mechanics, and a vast majority of 20 said there was an increase of vermin, and 10 of the 20 said “[t]he number of such appearances had doubled during the pandemic.”

Ozzy Dayan, one of the mechanics that they interviewed, said, “I see new cars, old cars, everyone is coming in now with these rat problems, it brings me a lot of business, but it’s disgusting.” It seems that ever since covid began, rat problems have gotten more frequent. Since covid, people have been buying a lot of cars or homes for the rats. More people who experienced this are Jenna Carpenter-Moyes; she found some snacks hiding in her car:

chicken bones, breadcrumbs, some bacon, and an old egg and cheese sandwich.

Next time there are rats in your car, who you gonna call? THE AUTO SHOP!

Link to Sources in Article: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659884374596x191782835133899940/Why%20So%20Many%20Cars%20Have%20Rats%20in%20Them%20Now%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf