Let’s initially take a high level view of the situation here to help answer this question.
In a general sense, rodents are very cautious creatures. They are very good at staying out of sight and always prefer to remain concealed. This is one of the main reasons why rodents have been able to coexist with humans in such close proximity for thousands of years.
Since rodents live most of their lives in the dark, they don’t rely on their eyesight too much and their behavior is more driven by their sense of smell.
When a rodent determines that a walking path, food, or a chew toy is “safe”, they will urinate on it. Other rodents will then also be able to detect the urine and gain comfort.
If you have had damage to your car by rodents, it was most likely marked as “safe” at one point. If you shine a black light where the damage was found, it should glow to show the rodent urine. Other rodents will detect this urine and think it is “safe” to eat/chew on your car.
So, to answer the initial question here, if your car was damaged by rodents at one point, it was probably urinated on as well. The presence of rodent urine in your car puts your car more at risk of new rodent damage. Even if your car was fixed by the mechanic, they most likely did not scrub the engine compartment with an enzyme based cleaning solution to break down and remove the rodent urine.
This ultimately means that if you’ve been attacked, you can’t let your guard down. Once your car is back from the shop, I highly suggest that you implement the 5 minute check at least a few times a week. This will help you stay on top of any new presence of rodents in the car so that you can take appropriate action as soon as possible.
I hope that this article has been helpful.
Thank you!!
Rat King Dave
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