How to Get Rid of Spiders in Your Car

Are you concerned about a spider crawling on your steering wheel or ceiling in the car while you are driving? Spiders and cars can make a deadly combo, so you’ll want to act quickly to get the spiders out of your vehicle for good.  

Fortunately, there are some easy ways to keep them out. In this guide, we’ll advise you on how to get rid of spiders in your car and ideas for repelling spiders, and how to keep them out for good. Following these prevention strategies, you can keep your vehicle spider free.

Let’s get started on how to get rid of spiders in your car!

Why Spiders Are Attracted to Your Car

To get rid of spiders, you’ll first need to understand why they are there in the first place. This knowledge is key to preventing them from using your car as a shelter. Specifically, spiders like your car because it’s:

• Warm

Spiders are more likely to inhabit your car and build webs when it’s cold outside, and during wet weather, a vehicle provides warmth and security. This is why you will find spiders crawling around your air vents, doors, or other places in the car.

When you start your car, spiders move out of their hideaways, such as the steering wheel, air conditioning vent, engine, or under the seat, due to vibrations disturbing them.

• Cluttered

Could your vehicle double as the city garbage truck? If so, you’re at an increased risk of housing spiders. Spiders like to hide in dirt, trash, and debris and are just an old fast-food wrapper away from meeting you face to face.

• Not Serviced

You’re more likely to encounter spiders when your car’s dirty under the hood. Having leaves or other debris under the hood and on the engine is an invitation for them. Leaves and clutter can bring in other bugs to the inside of your car, as well.

How to Prevent a Spider from Infesting Your Car

Now you know why you saw that huge scary spider crawling near your air vents. Maybe you feel better, or maybe you don’t, but at least you’ve got a solid starting point for putting the lid on your spider problem. Using this information, let’s go over a few ways that you can prevent spiders from moving into the interior of your car and creating webs:

• Seal off Entry Points

While it’s impossible to block spiders completely from entering your vehicle, you can make it more difficult by sealing off any extra entryways near your door frame, roof, and windows. If your car has any gaps or small cracks between the interior or exterior cracks, and gaps around the door trim that are not supposed to be there, you can seal them off with rubber to keep them out.

Check your vehicle for any holes of this kind, and be sure to verify the integrity of all rubber seals around your vehicle. Not only will this help prevent spiders in your car, but it will also give you better insulation.

• Clean Your Car

We have touched on this a bit, but one of the best ways to prevent spiders from coming into your car (and other places, too) is to keep it clean. It may seem like a hassle, but cleaning the car every week could go a long way to getting car spiders out of your vehicle for good. Make sure not to leave food wrappers or papers that spiders can hide in.

While you can keep your vehicle clean at home, we recommend going to a car wash at least once a week to ensure that spiders stay out of your vehicle. Do not forget to keep your mirrors clean as well, as this is a popular spot for most spider species. Park your car away from trees and shrubs.

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Getting Rid of Spiders in Your Car

These strategies are great, but they are not guaranteed to get existing spiders out of your car’s interior and back into the environment. Knowing this, let’s take a look at some specific ways you can kill off the eight-legged creatures who are hiding in your air vents and behind your side-view mirrors:

1. Fumigate

If you’ve cleaned your car inside and out and sealed off any outside entryways, the next step is to go after the spiders you see in your vehicle and remove them. Popular ways of doing so are fumigation or chlorine bomb, which will bomb the car with toxic chemicals that make living there impossible for spiders and other bugs. Importantly, these chemicals can make driving unsafe for you, as well, so you’ll have to stay out of your car for a while if you go this route.

If you do decide on proper fumigation, we recommend going with a pest control company that treats pests. It’s easy to commit a mistake; you don’t want those toxic fumes in your air vents. Instead, allow trained professionals to seal off your vehicle for you and fume out the spider.

2. Use Essential Oils

Another effective way to get rid of spiders in your car is to use some DIY spider or spider repellents, such as essential oils, for keeping spiders out. While these oil scents are great to us, other bugs and spiders hate them. Use oils like rosemary, citrus oil, and peppermint to repel spiders, as all-natural ingredients are safer than fumigation. These DIY methods do a fantastic job of warding away those freaky arachnids.

The best way to apply oils is to put them in a spray bottle and spray them around your car or add a few drops on a cotton bud and dab them onto areas. Ensure to get behind your side view mirrors, near any air conditioning vents, under seats, in the glove compartment, and anywhere else you’ve noticed spiders directly. This will keep spider infestations out of your car, and it will smell good.

You can also use eucalyptus leaves in your car to repel and remove arachnids. Or you can spray a eucalyptus oil mixture in places they hide.

3. Use Sticky Traps

Prefer to do things the old-fashioned way? Drop the spray and effectively rid your car of spiders quickly with traps. Ensure to place in areas that attract spiders, like under your seats and around any air conditioning vents, mirrors, and other places they could hide or live behind.

4. Break Out the Vacuum

Car spiders like quiet and solitude. Therefore, one of the best ways to get rid of them is to use a vacuum cleaner. If you have a car vacuum, sweep over your car regularly to suck up any hiding spiders. Vacuuming is one of the most effective ways to get rid of spiders in your car because it not only takes out those pesky arachnids but also their eggs.

5. Squash Them (or Not)

Okay—hear us out. We know maybe the last thing you want to do is go spider-stomping in your vehicle. Many states in the U.S. have poisonous spiders; you’ll need to be sure what type of spider you are dealing with. If you can determine it’s not poisonous, take a glass jar to your car, bring the spider out, and put them into the jar swiftly and precisely.

You should wear gloves while doing this for maximum safety (plus, who wants to touch spider legs—yuck). By doing this simple trick, you can keep your car clean of hairy spiders without hurting them.

Or you could squash them—your car, your rules, after all.

And finally,

No one wants creepy crawlies like spiders and other insects in their car. If you are looking to stop spiders from entering your car, you’ll need to create a protective web and use extermination methods for both short- and long-term success.

In this guide, we discussed How to get rid of spiders in your car, the reasons why spiders enter your car in the first place, and popular prevention and extermination techniques to remove spiders that should keep your car spider-free for weeks and months to come. Ensure you keep your car clean and use these techniques regularly for keeping spiders gone for good.