Roaches are common pests found in households across the county. While often associated with filth or areas rife with food, cockroaches can appear in even the cleanest kitchens and homes!
Did you know that there are other areas where roaches are common too? They can infest your car, leaving you with creepy and unwanted passengers.
Check out our tips to learn how to get rid of roaches in car trunks and interiors. Plus, whenever you need interior or exterior roach treatments for your home or business, we can help! Contact us today to learn more.
Why are Roaches in my Car?
How exactly did these pests manage to sneak inside your vehicle? Apart from the occasional fly, wasp, or bee, insects won’t typically invade your car, instead preferring other areas with sufficient food and water.
However, there are a few ways roaches can climb in your car to give you the creeps!
Cars full of undiscarded trash or crumbs can attract roaches or other insects. Because these pests regularly hunt for their meals, any stray wrappers, opened bags of food, or sticky spills could entice them to enter your vehicle.
It’s easy to throw a fast food bag into the back seat and just as easy to forget about it! Leaving messes behind in your car may encourage a hard-to-remove insect infestation.
Cockroaches can also invade your car through an infested item. Packages, furniture, bags, electronics, or clothing could hide handfuls of these pests, especially if they were previously in an area full of roaches.
If you have an existing roach infestation in your garage, they may branch out to forage within your vehicle. While it’s unlikely that a group of roaches will take up shop within your car’s interior, you may have recurring problems as more pests strike out to hunt for food.
How to Get Rid of Roaches in Car
Whenever these pests invade your car, you’ll want them quickly eliminated! Roaches are highly unsanitary creatures and can easily track harmful bacteria around. Plus, no one wants to be surprised by a stray roach as they drive down the road!
The easiest way to get rid of roaches in car interiors is to clean up any messes. Throw away discarded food wrappers, chip bags, and candy. If you have any uncovered food left behind in your car, toss that in the trash too!
Look under and in between your seats for any unnoticed rubbish. Cockroaches are persistent pests and will go to great lengths to secure a good snack.
After disposing of the waste, consider cleaning the interior of your car! For many vehicles with carpeted flooring, the course fabric will easily catch and hold on to stubborn food debris.
You can quickly remove crumbs and stray fries with a car vacuum cleaner. Run the machine along the floorboards, between seats, and under seats. If you have car mats, remove those for a quick vacuum or rinse.
Any stubborn spills or messes stuck to your car’s interior can be quickly cleaned with a washcloth, soap, and water. Avoid applying corrosive cleaning products to your radio or the car’s heating and cooling system to maintain your vehicle’s electronic integrity.
How to Get Rid of Roaches in Car Trunks
Besides infesting the main portion of your car, roaches can invade your car’s trunk too! If you’ve recently transported items infested with pests in your trunk or backseat, cockroaches could have taken over this area.
First, remove the infested object to ensure these pests won’t spread to other spots in your vehicle. Instead of leaving this in your garage or outdoors, place the item in a sealed plastic bag or container to keep these pests controlled.
If you only have a few cockroaches in your car’s trunk, you can easily vacuum the stray insects. Larger-scale infestations may require more intensive measures to remove multiple cockroaches properly.
Cleaning Your Garage
Photo by Lisa Fotios
Roaches may collect in your garage if you have stored trash, canned foods, packaged goods, or freezers. Depending on their hunger, cockroaches may even flock to your garage to feast on cardboard!
If you keep dog food or plant seed stored in your garage, place these items in tamper-proof containers to keep the pests away. Cockroaches aren’t picky about their next meal and will consume almost anything left out!
Avoid leaving trash bags or cans in your garage; roaches could quickly populate the area and even crawl into your car.
Also, consider storing your food indoors within a pantry. According to Pennsylvania State University’s extension program, storing food outside in garage areas could compromise the integrity of your groceries and encourage outdoor pests.
How to Get Rid of Roaches in Car Using Pest Control Methods
Removing roach attractants can keep these pests at bay, but you’ll need to try other methods to eliminate them. Follow these tips to learn how to get rid of roaches in your car and garage!
Sticky traps can catch a few roaches scurrying around your floorboard but won’t eradicate them completely. However, this method can work in conjunction with other pest control solutions!
Borax can similarly eliminate cockroaches by affecting the pests’ nervous system. Just make sure your little ones don’t interact with the powdery substance.
Other baits and pesticides may work, but we caution you against using anything too toxic. Because you regularly utilize your vehicle, strong chemicals could impact your car or even make you sick.
Never attempt to use a bug bomb, either. Not only can the fumes stain your seats, but the aerosol solution could become a fire hazard!
Check out this video from the Environmental Protection Agency to learn more!
Always stay safe when trying DIY solutions to your pest control problems, and contact a pest control agency for advice! But when you’re still wondering how to get rid of roaches in car trunks or interior spaces, we can help!
If cockroaches in your garage or home are sneaking into your car, call proof. pest control! We can locate these pesky insects and eliminate them after two services. Contact us today to learn more!
