Body shop Rodent Vehicle assistant
Dealing with a rodent-infested vehicle can be a challenging task for any body shop. The key steps involve assessing the vehicle’s condition, determining the extent of the damage, and understanding the insurance coverage for the cleanup process. The Body Shop Rodent Vehicle Assistant guide offers a structured approach to handle these situations effectively.
Below are five questions that provide the fundamental information that is required to streamline the process of repair, while ensuring the client is adequately informed provinding a positive and valuable interaction with your body shop.
Question #1
Vehicle Is In Driving Condition
- If possible, have the client drop the vehicle off at your shop.
- Ensure the vehicle is left outside in case rodents remain in the vehicle. This will help prevent infestation inside your shop.
- Vehicle must be in close proximity to power and fully accesible to our cleaning staff.
- If there is a current and active infestation, please call 1st Pest Control at 1.844.737.8226 for guidance and assistance.
The vehicle is NOT In Driving Condition
- The vehicle would need to towed to the shop.
- Ensure the vehicle is left outside in case rodents remain in the vehicle. This will help prevent infestation inside your shop.
- Vehicle must be in close proximity to power and fully accesible to our cleaning staff.
- If there is a current and active infestation, please call 1st Pest Control at 1.844.737.8226 for guidance and assistance.
Question #2
ICBC
- If the car requires decontamination before your staff work on it, contact ICBC and let them know they will need to request 1st Trauma Scene Clean Up attend the shop for disinfection services.
- We bill ICBC direct at contracted rates that are not available to other clients. All service requests must come from ICBC directly.
- ICBC will provide us with the claim number and shop details. Once the claim information is received, we will contact your shop directly to arrange service.
3rd Party Company
Please contact us to discuss the process of disinfecting a rodent vehicle. We can also provide you rough pricing as part of your estimate to the insurance company.
We are happy to provide additional information by calling our office at 604.598.8887 and provide you with details on the process.
Question #3
Coverage Claim Status Started
- If they have a claim number you can use that to communicate with the claim adjusters.
- For ICBC coverage you can let the adjuster know to contact 1st Trauma Scene Clean Up with the claim and shop info.
- For third party coverage our company can provide you with an estimate for disinfection that you can add to your estimate for the job.
Coverage Claim Status Not Started
Unless they have no insurance coverage, the RO (Registered Owner) should try to file an insurance claim, as rodent vehicle claims can get expensive quickly.
Question #4
Visible Damage To The Vehicle
- This would include feces, urine, nesting, signs of chewing to carpet or upholstery.
- These signs can be inside the cabin of the vehicle, in the trunk or hatch area, or even under the hood in the engine bay.
No Visible Damage To The Vehicle
- Just because there is nothing visible from the outside does not mean there are no issues.
- Mice can easily fit under the carpeting of the vehicle and track front to back leaving feces, urine and chewed materials or wiring that would only be found with some amount of disassembly.
Question #5
Invoicing ICBC
If ICBC is the insurance company we will bill them direct for the disinfection and cleaning we provide.
In this case we usually provide the invoice to the shop to pay our services. You are then welcome to pass the cost (plus markup) on to the insurance company on the file (whatever your usual process is).
Pro Tips
Usually rodent vehicles will require 2 visits from 1st Trauma Scene Clean Up. The initial service will involve the use of HEPA filtered vacuum to remove rodent feces from surface and fabrics and then a wipe down of touch surfaces to sanitize those areas. This will make the vehicle safe to be worked on. We still recommend N95 masks (or better) and gloves be worn by your staff when working on rodent cars.
After the disassembly has been done and areas are more accessible you may uncover further contamination under the carpet, behind trim panels, or even behind the dash, as well as further chewing on plastics, wiring, and the padding on the backside of the trim panels.
If further cleaning services are required on an ICBC claim let ICBC know to contact 1st Trauma Scene Clean Up with the claim and shop info the same as before and request further cleaning services.
In the case of third-party insurance billing, you can contact 1st Trauma Scene Clean Up directly to set up a follow up cleaning service.
After the car has been pulled apart, cleaned and put back together some sort of deodorization treatment may be required. An overnight ozone treatment, or the like, should be sufficient for lingering smells. We can provide that service, or if you offer something similar you can do that.
If you have any questions, please contact our office at 604.598.8887 or by email at info@tscu.ca