Rat vs Car vs Dealer

[jorgemiranda]

Well, I bought a new car (335xi Coupe) less than two month ago, and approximately 2 weeks ago the check engine light came up. Took it to the dealer, supposedly fixed it, the next day it comes up again. I took it back yesterday and I got a call today. According to the dealer, a rat bit through a gas vent hose. Considering the car is parked in an indoor car garage, where I've never seen any evidence of rats, I find this a bit strange. They want to charge me $700 to replace the hose. Maybe somebody can chip in...

1. What's the possibility of a rat biting through a gas vent hose?

2. Is $700 a bit too much?

I called them back and talked to them about the car being parked in an indoor garage and everything, supposedly they are going to try and see if they can have it fixed through the warranty. I wouldn't mind paying if the car was a few years old, but less than two months?

Thanks for any input

[Beer Goggles]

Rats/Mice can ruin lots of things in cars. Seeing that you live in Chicago I'd bet you have more rats and mice than you know about.

My buddy had an old 98 Porsche 928S and it ate the main wiring harness.

Have them show you the part and look at chew marks.

[mryakan]

sorry for your troubles, but I couldn't but lol at the title. My mind went somewhere else completely. Pursue the dealership, they may be able to fix it under warranty as a good will gesture. But I'd put some mice/rat traps around the garage if I were you.

[jorgemiranda]

Thanks for the reply.

Well, the car is kept in indoor garages 95% of the time. It's less than two months old, and when it is parked in the street it's usually for short periods of time.

If the warranty claim does not go through, what would be a reasonable price? I'm being quoted $550.

[jorgemiranda]

sorry for your troubles, but I couldn't but lol at the title. My mind went somewhere else completely. Pursue the dealership, they may be able to fix it under warranty as a good will gesture. But I'd put some mice/rat traps around the garage if I were you.

It's a garage that belongs to the entire building. I'm on the second floor. There are several traps in the place. I have never seen any indications that there could be any in the garage area.

[mryakan]

It's a garage that belongs to the entire building. I'm on the second floor. There are several traps in the place. I have never seen any indications that there could be any in the garage area.

I doubt you'll see them easily, they are called rats for a reason :D. I've had experience with rats/mice in previous lives and those sneaky rodents can hide and squeeze through tight spaces you wouldn't think a cockroach could fit through. You can use some of the rat glue stuff and put a perimeter around your car. Or hire a rat PI ;).



If the warranty claim does not go through, what would be a reasonable price? I'm being quoted $550.

Get a breakdown of parts vs labor and exactly how many hrs of labor they charge. Then we can judge better if they are taking advantage of you.

[Critter7r]

I'd be a rich man if I had $10,000 for every time a customer told me that there was no way a mouse could have chewed through the wiring in their car because they park in the garage, and that there aren't any mice in their garage. (hint: that's where they live, you just don't see them because they don't WANT you to see them) Yet, there the wiring sits, little gnaw marks plainly seen, and oftentimes evidence of a nest and droppings.

[slow323Ci]

Mice ate the fuel vent hose in my 528. They showed me the hose, there were definite chew marks on it. Car was always parked inside, with no evidence of mice being around.

Dealer wanted $1200 to fix. Independent shop fixed it for $350. They gave me a baggie with 3 dead baby mice they found, apparently there was a little nest on top of the gas tank.

[jorgemiranda]

Mice ate the fuel vent hose in my 528. They showed me the hose, there were definite chew marks on it. Car was always parked inside, with no evidence of mice being around.

Dealer wanted $1200 to fix. Independent shop fixed it for $350. They gave me a baggie with 3 dead baby mice they found, apparently there was a little nest on top of the gas tank.

Wow. Well, after that $1,200 quote. The $550 they are quoting me don't seem too bad (I did get them to drop it down from $770). I'm sure I could take it to an independent shop and save more money, but I do need it this weekend for the Indy MotoGP. So after I see the hose, I think I'm going to go ahead with it. Thanks for the help guys

[slow323Ci]

The hose cost $8. Removing and reinstalling the exhaust sytem and gas tank to get to the hose was the expensive part.

Good luck!

[Pitch Black]

They must like the taste of gasoline.

[slow323Ci]

They must like the taste of gasoline.

They like the taste of plastic.

[eisenb11]

In MI, a rat chewed up the fabric on the bottom of my hood in my Saab.

Dealer said that it was actually pretty common and they wouldn't fix it under warranty since it's not a mftr defect.

For fun I showed it to another Saab dealer when I moved to CA and he answered "rats" as soon as I popped the hood.

Apparently it's a pretty common thing everywhere.

[zaxjax]

I swapped out my Eaton supercharger for a Whipple and found huge nest under my lower intake. Those bastards will nest anywhere.

[car62]

Maybe homeowner's insurance should include a "vermin" clause. It probably does, as an exclusion. Act of nature and all that, you know.

Once bitten, twice warned. Place traps everywhere you can think of.

On the old 911, the alternator was inside the engine cooling fan. My car stopped charging after having been stored for a while - mice had made a nest inside the engine fan and chewed through the alternator wires.

[Mugen89]

theres like 30 cats around where i live sooo..i dare the damn mice!!!!



they do like to sleep on top of my car tho...idk why....

i dont really mind i mean cats are hella clean animals...

but still ....cudnt they use the neighbors ferrari as a bed?

[reed872]

If you have a $100 deductible or thereabouts, just file a comp claim with insurance....

[mryakan]

If you have a $100 deductible or thereabouts, just file a comp claim with insurance....
I doubt there is a rodent clause in any auto insurance policy ;).

[mgthompson]

My E36 fuel guage stopped working. Mice or a chipmunk ate the insulation off all of the wires that go into the gas tank. Easy to get to to fix.

I keep a roll of TP in the trunk for emergencies. About half of it is missing now. Must make nice nesting material. I wonder how they get into the trunk?

[997 Dude]

Is it possible the rats ate the wires before you purchased the car and the problem only just emerged? I'm thinking there are a lot of rats on boats and the car was recently on a boat ... Has anyone else in your garage had this problem.

[raceyBMW]

I had an E36 328is, started up in the morning and drove about 1 minute, and the entire cabin filled up with white smoke. So I turned around and garaged it, and no start after that. Replaced the battery, thinking it just had a bad cell, and it started after that, but all kinds of electronic craziness going on (blinkers were reversed, car was jumpy, lots of service engine lights on). Took it into shop, and they found that a mouse made a home behind one of the back seats, and chewed through some non-fused wires in the main wire harness. Called insurance, they estimated $7000+ just to replace wire harness, and that was without knowing if the ECU was good or bad. So they totaled my car out.

Moral of the story: Yes, a garaged car can get messed up by rodents, they sure got me!

[M Wringer]

Saw some rat damage in an 05 528i at work. Rat managed to get between the left fender liner and washer resevoir, ate through the resevoir, grawed on the washer pump body, ate through the elbow at the pump. nibbled on the wiring going to the washer pump. That was what was found today. Same car was in last week for wiring damage on passenger side! They really like the hood insulation on the E63 and E65 Seven Series, too. We see this type of "critter damage" all the time at the dealership where I work. All of it has been customer pay.