How To Get Rid Of Bed Bugs In A Car? Step-by-Step Tutorial

Bugs with no wings are known as bedbugs. Most commonly, they reside within eight feet of a bed, but can be found everywhere.

Blood is the primary source of nourishment for bed bugs. As a result, their bites might be itchy and red all over your body, but they don’t carry disease. Some people may not react at all to these bites, while others may experience a severe allergic reaction or even a life-threatening allergic reaction.

While you’re awake, bed bugs can be found hiding in various places throughout the house. At night, they come out to feast on blood. Having bedbugs doesn’t mean your house is unclean, even if they hide amid litter.

Bedbug infestations in automobiles are rare.

Bed Bugs in Your Car?

Unless you’ve had an issue with bedbugs in the past, you may want to think twice. Movie theaters, hotels, schools, and even offices have all been known to be infested by these hardy parasites. They can live anywhere, but few people thought to look for them in one of their most private abodes: the automobile.

Bedbugs spread by attaching themselves to their host’s clothing and moving from place to place. The pests that infest your home or office may find their way into your vehicle and swiftly infest it if you frequently travel by car.

The good news is that there are a lot of safe and practical ways to rid your car of bedbugs. To maintain your car bedbug-free and prevent infestations from growing, follow these tips.

How to tell if you have a bed bug infestation in your car

Look for physical indicators of an infestation, particularly around fabrics or small crevasses where the bugs could hide.. These are some of the signs:

• squashed bed bugs left behind scarlet stains.
• Period-sized black patches that could leak into the cloth (bed bug excrement)
• bedbugs shed their own skin as they mature
• eggs or eggshells in a pale yellow color
• themselves are the bedbugs

If you notice little, red, itchy bed bug bites, you should do a thorough inspection of your home and vehicle.

Start With Inspection

Confirming an infestation is the first step in assuring a bedbug-free vehicle. There are expensive and time-consuming treatment options available, so make sure you have bed bugs before investing in either of these options!

Begin by carefully cleaning your car’s inside and removing any clutter that could be hiding places for bed bugs. Make sure you inspect your vehicle thoroughly after you’ve done that.

Keep an eye out for blood stains and small, dark areas of fecal matter, which are both obvious markers of bug activity. Tape can also be used to improve detection accuracy.

How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs in Your Car

In every situation, there is a textbook method and a real-world method for accomplishing the same goal.

A simple Google search for “How to get rid of bed bugs in your car” can bring up a variety of information from various blogs. To get rid of bed bugs in your car, each expert has a different approach they recommend. To be fair, they do an excellent job of explaining what you should or shouldn’t do, but they fall short of delivering the results they promise.

We believe you deserve to be informed. To begin, getting rid of bed bugs permanently necessitates more than six procedures. To avoid yelling “Darn you, bedbug!” this will keep you calm. What a never-ending piece of garbage you are! Ahem. Our intention is clear to you.

Because we’ve dealt with bed bugs in our own automobiles and have first-hand knowledge of the problem, we felt compelled to provide our two cents. To help you get rid of bedbugs in your car, we’ve put up a detailed guide in this post. Are you ready for the big reveal? Let’s get this show on the road!

Step 1. Inspect your car for signs of bed bugs.

It’s a no-brainer in this case. The first step in ensuring that your vehicle is free of bed bugs is to determine whether or not you have any bed bugs at all. In the end, treating an automobile for bed bugs isn’t worth the effort.

Look for blood stains and small dark areas of their fecal matter when searching for bed bugs. You can learn how to find bed bugs by reading this article.

LED flashlights are a great aid in the search for bedbugs!

Step 2. Clean out your car.

It’s time for some serious cleaning if you discover a bed bug infestation during your inspection. It’s time to clear up the clutter in your vehicle. Toss that hamburger wrapper in the trash! Perhaps there’s a glitch in there somewhere!

To avoid detection, bedbugs like to hide out in a cluttered environment. Maintaining a properly cleaned vehicle is an excellent way to keep pests like bed bugs at bay.

It’s time to get rid of any clothing you’ve stored in your car if you fear it’s infested with bedbugs. You don’t want to invite bed bugs into your home via your clothes in the trunk.

If there’s only one bed bug, it won’t be a big deal, right? Bed bugs in cars can lay 200 to 250 eggs in their lifetime, with the eggs hatching within 6 to 10 days after they are laid. Those bed bugs can live for up to 11 months if left unchecked.

Step 3. Prepare your car for bed bug treatment.

Prepare your car for treatment after you’ve discovered one or more bedbugs in your vehicle and cleaned it thoroughly.

Remove the seat covers, rugs, carpets, and whatever else you can find that you can remove. These goods may contain bed bug eggs or larvae. In addition to vacuuming properly, you should also clean under the seats. Some of the bed bugs will be caught and killed in this way.

Step 4. Wash the floor mats and seat covers.

All the stuff you removed from the car must be cleaned before cleaning. Your floor mats and seat covers should be dried at a high temperature after being washed to kill any remaining bedbugs. Before placing these items back in your car, make sure you thoroughly inspect them.

Cleaning your car’s floor mats and seat covers on a regular basis helps rid your vehicle of any leftover pests, including bed bugs. So go ahead and wash yourself.

Step 5. Dry everything thoroughly.

Bedbugs can be killed by exposing any infested seat coverings and rugs to the sun’s rays for many hours. Placing these products in black plastic bags and exposing them to direct sunshine is a better option.

Step 6. Use an interior heat treatment.

Heat is arguably the best approach to get rid of bed bugs. While you may not have access to the same tools as a professional, a steam cleaner has the same ability to eradicate pests.

Make sure the steam machine you’re using is capable of producing steam with a temperature of at least 118.94°F (48.3°C). In order to eliminate the remaining bed bugs, this is the only method. Control the amount of steam being applied using a fabric attachment and a cloth cover.

Step 7. Kill the bed bugs with diatomaceous earth.

Diatomaceous earth is extremely effective in destroying a wide range of insects, including cockroaches and bed bugs. Use it around pets and people without fear of causing harm to them.

On the internet or at your local hardware shop, diatomaceous earth is available for purchase Leave this in your car for a few days, ideally three days, to see the most dramatic improvements. After that, you can vacuum your automobile to remove any dust or dead bed bugs.

Use this procedure at least once every two weeks to see the most dramatic results!

Step 8. Fumigate your car.

Fumigation is one of the most effective ways to rid your property of an infestation. The same holds true for cars infested with bedbugs.

Before fumigation, use a tarp to cover and seal your vehicle. This is the quickest approach to get rid of all of your car’s bedbugs.

Can bed bugs live in a car in the winter?

It is only at temperatures above 46 degrees Fahrenheit that bed bugs may thrive. Consequently, if you reside in an area where the winters are frigid, they are unlikely to survive in a car.

The majority of bedbug species can’t withstand temperatures beyond 113 degrees Fahrenheit, however there are a few tropical species that can withstand greater temperatures.

Bed bugs can thrive for a long period in your car if the temperature is just perfect.

How to prevent an infestation

Bedbug infestations can be prevented by frequently inspecting your home for signs of the pests. There are many other things you may do to protect your vehicle from an infestation, such as:

• Before bringing used furniture into your house or car, be sure it is safe to use.
• Bedbugs are more likely to hide in a cluttered car.
• Regularly clean the interior of your automobile with a vacuum and a hose.
• If you use a common laundry facility, put your items in plastic bags before and after you wash them.
• Avoid bringing bedbugs back from vacations. Before you leave for home, check your sleeping quarters, make advantage of the luggage rack at hotels, and thoroughly inspect your luggage and clothing.

Conclusion

Each of the eight steps works well on its own. However, combining them will yield the best results and allow you to rapidly and effectively eliminate all of the bed bugs in your vehicle.