You’ve heard the old wives tale that Irish Spring Soap keeps away rodents, so should you cut up some soap when you store your car for long periods of time?
One of the biggest problems you might face when storing your car over long periods of time without driving is mice getting into your interior and engine bay and wreaking havoc while you’re away. You’ve also might’ve heard the nifty old trick were you cut up pieces of Irish Spring Soap, place it around the car, and your rodent problem will be no more.
Irish Spring costs less than 50 cents a bar, it’s a temptingly cheap solution.
But, does it work?
The answer is probably not.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe logic is that Irish Spring soap, with its uncharacteristically strong smell, is pungent enough that it will drive away rodents once they get a strong whiff of the stuff.
Thanks to the power of the internet, there are a handful of people on Youtube that tried this trick out with no success.
This first video is from an off-grid camper named Dereck who lives in a van and has a reoccurring rodent problem. Dereck placed two bars of soap in his van in hopes to deter mice. Quite the opposite, rodents who got into the van where not only not deterred, they found the soap something nice to munch on. Derek gave the rats a nice appetizer.
This next video cuts straight to the point. Mythbuster Shawn Woods placed three bars of Irish Spring soap in the middle of a bare floor where mice are frequently seen. Like the first video above, not only did the mice not leave, one or two mice ate the bar of soap.
According to Shawn, “There is no indication that Irish Spring works as a rodent repeller.”
“Had a very nasty surprise when I got the car out of storage a couple days ago. It seems I had the mice from hell take residence in it over winter….These same magazines suggested using bars of ‘smelly’ soap (ie, Irish Spring). It didn’t work. They took up residence, got into my nice seats and headliner, and EVEN HAD SOME OF THE SOAP for a snack!“
I was able to find a couple of people who claimed Irish Spring works to deter mice but maybe they were lucky enough to place their car in rodent-free areas.
With proof Irish Spring does not work for car storage, would you risk your pride and joy?
So, how do I keep rats out?
The right answer is probably a combination of many tried-and-true techniques.
This article by Hagerty spells out some of the best.
If I were storing a car I would use a combination of moth balls, dryer sheets, and rat bait placed in strategic areas. I’d use the rat bait and mothballs outside of the car and dryer sheets inside. Also, I’d tape up the large gaps of the car interior to keep the moth ball smell from seeping in.
I would not trust Irish Spring bar soap alone to keep mice at bay.
