NYC Professor Says Rat Gang Has Ravaged His Car 4 Different Times

Of the millions of people in New York City for the millions of rats to target, one professor is sure he is being plagued by a persistent group of rats he said have invaded his car four times.

Tom Marion has taken to unusual tactics to ward off his rodent foes. He's used minty tape to wrap his ignition wires, covered his engine with a garlic-scented liquid and changed up his parking spot each night to throw the opponents off the scent, he told the Washington Post.

Nothing deterred the vermin.

“They will find you,” he told the paper. “And they all know each other and they talk to each other.”

The pest problem started for Marion at the end of 2022. Rats chewed through wiring in his car – causing $1,000 in damages that Marion's insurance covered.

He started to bolster his defense and covered the car in smelly oils and steel wool. Just a few weeks later, his 2015 Prius C died and he found a rat under the hood, alive and well.

After that encounter, he started parking on the street rather than in a lot and continued to apply rodent repellants. Only two weeks passed before his car experienced another critter crisis and died as he was on a bridge, the outlet reported.

His insurance offered another $1,200 repair.

A man desperate to rid himself of rats, Marion sold his car and bought a new one – but he can't shake the fear of the rodents returning.

“I’m never in the same place. I am all around," Marion said about moving his new vehicle to thwart potential rat coups.

According to the Post, Marion is not the only victim of this siege.

Between July 2022 and end of June 2023, a State Farm analysis estimated the insurance industry paid out over 91,700 car damage claims caused by squirrels, rabbits, and – you guessed it – rodents, the outlet reported.