How to Get Rid of Ticks in Your Car

As someone who’s been in the pest control business for years, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of properly dealing with ticks, especially when it comes to your vehicle.

One of the most common scenarios I encounter is when people take their furry companions on hiking trips. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs as much as the next guy, but they’re practically tick magnets. Those little critters latch onto our four-legged friends like it’s nobody’s business, and before you know it, they’re hitchhiking their way into your car.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “But I always check my dog after a hike!” And that’s great, but let me tell you, ticks are crafty little buggers. They can hide in the nooks and crannies of your car like it’s their own personal hideout. And once they’re in, they can survive for weeks without a blood meal, just waiting for their next victim. They can carry lyme disease, too.

Whether you’re hitting the trails or riding with your pup, you’ll want to know how to get rid of ticks in your car. This guide will help you do just that.

The Best Ways to Prevent Ticks in Your Car

As they say, the best defense is a good offense. If you do the work to thoroughly check for ticks at the end of each hike, there is a much lower chance of them setting up shop in your car.

Checking for ticks is easy if you follow some simple rules:

1. Check Yourself First

Checking for ticks is easiest if you wear light-colored clothing and have a buddy help you. Proceed in a systematic fashion, first checking your arms, armpits, and chest, before you move on to your lower half.

Also, try running your fingers through your hair, check areas like the back of your neck well.

2. Check Your Dog

Ticks can be surprisingly hard to find on dogs with thick, dark fur. So, use the same systematic approach that you used to find ticks on yourself to avoid having to remove ticks from your dog. Start at your dog’s head, carefully spreading their fur and looking all the way down to their skin.

Once you have worked your way through all the fur on their backs, have them roll over and check their belly. Be sure to check in their armpits and between their legs, as well — ticks love these warm places.

Between the toes is another key place to check, though it may be difficult to get a good look if your dog is sensitive about their feet being touched.

3. Use Light-colored Seat Covers (or Bedsheets)

By covering your seats with a very light-colored fabric, you will be able to easily see if any ticks fall off your pack or your dog when you put them in the car. If you can catch any ticks before they tuck themselves away into the dark recesses of your car, you will have a much easier time defeating them.

Though this is just a quick checklist of things you should check before you get in your car and leave for a hike, there are a few more steps to checking for and preventing tick bites on your and your dog. You can find all the steps in our Full Guide on Checking for Ticks.

While these steps will help prevent ticks from getting in your car, avid hikers will find that it is almost inevitable that a tick or two sometimes escapes the process.

How to Eliminate Ticks in Your Car

If you suspect that your car may be infested with one or more ticks, you should probably take the time to get rid of them before they bite you, your family members, or your pets.

Ticks carry a lot of serious diseases that can be life-threatening, such as Lyme Disease. The good news is that it can be relatively simple to eliminate ticks from your car using the methods below:

Park in the Sun

This is likely the easiest way to remove ticks from your car, however, it only works in the right conditions. If you go hiking on a bright, sunny day, simply park your car in direct sunlight when you get home. Though the exact temperature that kills ticks is not well-documented, temperatures about 130° F for at least 1 hour should do the trick!

Considering that the inside of a car can get up to 170° F in the right conditions, this is definitely a viable option for killing ticks. It’s effective for killing ants and other insects in your car, too.

To make sure this method is effective, you must park to maximize the heat energy your car builds up and watch the temperature. Roll your windows up, and park so that your windshield is facing the sun directly. By placing a temperature recording device in your car, you can check your car as the sun is going down to ensure that it reached temperatures above 130° F.

Vacuuming/Steaming

Believe it or not, a vacuum is a great tool for extracting ticks from the fabric of your car. This method works best if you have a handheld vacuum attachment that has a rotating brush. Ticks can hold on tightly to certain fabrics, and a spinning brush helps pull them free. An even better option is to use a steamer.

Steamers are effective for the same reason that parking in the sun is effective: high heat kills ticks. To effectively use a steamer on the fabric of your car, go slowly. You want to increase the heat of each area to treat as much as possible before moving onto the next area.

The steam will literally cook the ticks you pass over, sort of like how you cook a lobster. This method can be especially effective for any ticks hiding in the folds of your seats. 

Use a Nuvan Strip

The Nuvan Strip is a device created to kill insects in small spaces like closets. It works by slowly emitting a powerful, organophosphate insecticide that is lethal to nearly all pests.

Luckily, the trapped air in your car is very similar to the conditions in a closet and these strips can be an effective way to eliminate ticks in colder weather and without the hassle of having to vacuum every crack and crevice.

Simply unpackage the Nuvan Strip, and hang it somewhere on the inside of your car. Leave the strip in the car for 2–3 days, and let the insecticide do its work. After this waiting period, you can air your car out again for 1–2 hours and it should be completely safe to drive.

The only disadvantage to this method is that you shouldn’t drive the car with the Nuvan Strip in place, as you may be exposed to the organophosphates.

How to Remove Ticks

Tick removal is important as soon as you see a tick on you. As I’ve said, there are so many tick-born diseases like rocky mountain spotted fever, lyme disease, and more.

If you go out on a lot of hikes in tall grass you’re prone to getting deer ticks or dog ticks on your pup at some point. Carry around tweezers and rubbing alcohol to remove them.

Be sure to perform a tick check after every walk in a wooded area. If you find a tick, use the tweezers and pull off the whole tick’s body right down to your skin.

To prevent ticks, wash the bite area with rubbing alcohol and don’t hesitate to spray your legs with DEET insect repellent.

The Best Trick for Ticks in Your Car: Be Persistent

Ticks can be crafty little beasts. So, you’ll want to keep an eye out for any ticks that you come across. Checking your clothes, animals, skin, and car for ticks regularly is the best way to ensure that you don’t get bit. 

That being said, ticks probably won’t stay in your car for long. They prefer to live outdoors if they are not actively trying to bite you. This means you’re more likely to find a tick on your body or on your dog than you are to find a tick simply hiding out in your car. Plus, ticks don’t tend to congregate. So, if you do find one or two in your car, it’s not likely that there are many more.

Take everything you’ve read in this guide and put it to good use. Ticks carry dangerous diseases and they can become quite a hazard for our pets so be sure to get them out of your vehicle as soon as possible.