Is your car not working? Your neighbourhood squirrels might know why

Sometimes squirrels can get under the hood of your vehicle, and instead of leaving behind nuts, they can leave behind a trail of destruction.

That's what happened to Michele Collins when a squirrel ate through her car, resulting in repairs worth $7,000.

"How did they eat my car in three days? I don't know," she commented.

SEE ALSO: Your fall vehicle checklist before winter hits

"Most of the time, it's during fall season or spring seasons [squirrels] like to get into warm areas," says Tyler Goertzen, service manager at True Centre in Guelph, Ont. "A lot of the plastics that the rodents like to chew on thinking it's food. They get in there; next thing you know one thing leads to another: they're chewing and damaging wiring harnesses, plastic panels, they're getting inside the vehicle..."

Luckily, Goertzen has a few tips for how to tell if you've got squirrels in your engine. He says your "check engine" light or any other indicator lights might go off on your dash. You may also hear an abnormal noise from your fan that you normally don't hear.

So, how can you prevent squirrels and other rodents from chewing through your engine?

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Rodents don't like strong smells, such as from dryer sheets and mothballs. Keeping these in your car can sometimes work to keep these pests at bay.

Keeping the inside of your car as clean as possible is another way to make sure squirrels don't get their revenge on you and your car.

Copyedited by Anika Beaudry, a digital journalist at The Weather Network.

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