How To Get Rid Of Ants In Car: Solved

Ants are indeed fascinating little creatures, but only when they are far from the insides of your home or your car. However, if the reason why you stumbled onto this article is that your engine, your carpets, or vents are infested with ants, worry not, because, with these simple steps, ants should be dealt with in no time.

Useful tips for beating an ant colony in your car

• Move your car away from trees and bushes
• Clean your car exterior thoroughly
• Clean your car interior thoroughly
• Clean your windows
• Park your car in the sun
• Spray your tires with ant spray
• Get rid of all food from your car
• Place ant traps and keep your car clean
• Use essential oils and orange oils for pest removal
• Dawn dish soap
• Ask for professional assistance

Move Your Car Away From Trees And Bushes

Ants are tricky little fellows, and the best way to beat them is to avoid them completely. Ants tend to settle near or inside trees, grass, or any place where there is decent vegetation. This means that if you park your car in a location far away from that, you should solve this issue proactively. Even so, this hardly ever solves the issue if your car is already infested with ants.

Clean Your Car Exterior Thoroughly

Ants can often voyage into places where they shouldn’t, however, if the places in question have no food sources nearby, they are likely to make their way out. This means that you should keep your car clean from the outside primarily because food stains or anything else which can be used as food should not settle on your car anyway.

Clean Your Car Interior Thoroughly

Even if your exterior is as clean as it can be, your interior should also be equally as clean. Many people don’t even release how many incredibly filthy stains are hiding in their interior. In order to get rid of ants from your engine, your vents, or your carpet, you should just clear out the reason why they came in the first place.

Clean Your Windows

If your car is infested with ants, make sure to clean the entirety of your interior which also includes cleaning your windows. It’s worth mentioning that most people tend to forget to clean the windows even though windows themselves might actually be the reason why ants are in your car anyway because they are an easy point of entry and we often smear them up with dirty hands.

Park Your Car In The Sun

Sometimes all you have to do is leave your car parked under the sun for an hour or two without any sun protection because the temperature inside the car can reach upwards of 150 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer. Temperatures such as these are capable of killing ants in a matter of minutes, but some types of ants can survive temperatures such as these.

Spray Your Tires With Ant Spray

After you clean your car up completely, you now need to make sure to delete all possible entry points for ants to get into your car. Obviously, your tires are the car’s contact point to the ground from which all ants originate. As such, if you spray your tires with ant spray, you are disabling them from even being able to get into your car. However, be sure to use a spray that does not harm the tires or their traction.

Get Rid Of All Food From Your Car

The biggest reason why one tends to find an ant colony inside the car is that your interior is likely infested with various ant food sources. Ants are capable of lifting up to 50 times their weight, and an entire ant colony can live out of a small piece of sandwich for a long time. To remedy this, just take your car in for a deep clean.

Place Ant Traps That Don’t Attract Ants And Keep Your Car Clean

If everything else fails, be sure to strategically place ant traps around your car's interior, but be sure not to buy ant traps that lure even more ants in. If ants are primarily roaming around your dashboard, your vents, or your carpets, be sure to place the traps there. Also, be sure not to let any of your pets near the vehicle before you clean the traps.

Use Essential Oils And Orange Oils For Pest Removal

Orange oil is a substance containing d-limonene which is known to instantly kill many kinds of insects including ants. Ants know better not to come in contact with this substance, so they rather leave the premises if they encounter d-limonene. Essential oil sprays are fairly similar, but be sure not to use them too much because your interior might smell afterward.

Dawn Dish Soap

If you can't be bothered with buying specific products just to keep ants away, you should just go into your kitchen, grab dawn dish soap and use it for ant-infested areas. Ants are unable to survive dawn dish soap, especially if you put it into a spray bottle and if you spray them directly. However, some of these do contain harmful chemical ingredients which are not made to cater to interior trim, so be sure to spray them carefully.

Ask For Professional Assistance

After you’ve tried all the remedies listed in this article and you still have a flourishing ant infestation in your vehicle, it's time to give it up and ask for professional help. Some types of ants are more stubborn than others, so you need to make sure you are well aware of who you are up against. It’s worth mentioning that professionals tend to charge around $250 for ant extermination, but this should solve the issue for good.

Things Not To Do If You Want To Get Rid Of Ants

Sometimes it’s more useful to avoid doing something to solve a problem rather than trying to solve it by doing something. Aerosol ant sprays are a definite no-go inside the car because they are known to displace oxygen which can even be deadly in confined spaces. Furthermore, sprays such as these can also ruin your upholstery.

Boric acid is known to kill pests significantly larger than an ant, but using it inside your car is equivalent to using a nuke to take down a tree. If you use boric acid in incredibly small amounts, even the smallest residual amount you leave behind will cause issues for years to come. Also, don’t even use specific types of ant baits because some of these will just attract more ants to your car.

Any sort of ant deterrent that is based on glue or any other sticky substance shouldn’t be used in a car because if you suddenly turn any of these to the other side, you might be looking at a brand new permanent interior part of your vehicle.

FAQ Section

What to do if there are ants in my engine bay?

Just start the car up and leave it running for a while. Even though some ants can withstand high temperatures, extended high-temp exposures are known to kill almost all insects out there. If you need to dial it up a little bit more, be sure to turn on the heating which should help raise the engine temperature significantly.

Which smell do ants hate the most?

Ants hate minty fresh surfaces, so keep your car minty fresh at all times. Cayenne pepper and black pepper are both intolerable for ants. Ants also hate cinnamon, but we humans usually love cinnamon so be sure to invest in a cinnamon-infused air freshener. Lavender and eucalyptus are also known for their pleasant odors even though ants tend to hate them. Finally, ants hate garlic, but it’s not all that common to find a garlic-scented air freshener out there.

Do all citrus fruits kill ants?

As mentioned previously, lemon, orange, grapefruit, etc. All citrus fruits are comprised out of d-limonene which is perfect for ant-infested car interiors. However, don’t use citrate directly onto your car’s interior components because these can make your entire car sticky which can sometimes be a pain to clean without damaging the surface. As such, try to opt for something a little bit more beneficial for your upholstery.

Can ants destroy my A/C?

Ants are known to cause A/C short circuits because if an ant dies inside the A/C, it sends an alarm pheromone to the rest of the colony. This usually attracts lots of ants into your A/C and your vents which can cause more issues. Ants can damage a lot more than just you’re A/C so it's better to act fast not to let them cause any more issues.

Are ants attracted by carpets?

If your carpet is clean, ants should not have any reason to be on your carpet. However, carpets are often wet and full of food remains, both of which are attractive to ants. Consider vacuuming your carpets every few days or so or spraying them down with specific ant deterrents which are not harmful to the fabric. Finally, you can even opt for a more rubberized carpet material which should be able to take more punishment and is easier to clean.