How do I get rid of cockroaches in my car?

Most of the time they hitched a lift in a bag, a box or a piece of furniture, or came for food and drink left inside. A car is small, so this is the easy moment to deal with it. Acting now costs an afternoon. Waiting risks carrying them into your home.

First, is it a cockroach?

Lots of small bugs end up in cars: beetles, ants, things that fell off a plant or blew in through a window. Take a clear photo with something for scale and compare it with our four cockroaches side by side. A small, tan one with two dark stripes behind the head is likely a German cockroach, the one that breeds indoors. That is the one to take seriously.

Not sure? Our page on whether it is a German cockroach goes through the lookalikes.

Clear out the car

1. Find what brought them. Cockroaches hide in the cracks and joints of furniture, in cardboard and in bags. If something like a roadside shelf has been sitting in the car, check it outside with a torch. Do not take it indoors until you have.
2. Empty everything. Boot, glovebox, door pockets, under the seats, the spare wheel well, child seats, floor mats.
3. Take away food and drink. Wrappers, crumbs, old cups and half-empty bottles. A bottle with a little drink left in it is a feeding spot.
4. Hoover slowly. Seat seams, the rails under the seats, the edges of the boot, between the seats and the centre console. Empty the hoover into a bag, tie it and put it in an outside bin.
5. Wipe sticky spills and wash removable seat covers as their label says.

Bait, traps and aerosols

Monitor traps under the front seats and in the boot show you whether there are more. Check them every few days for the first week, then weekly. See how to use monitor traps.

Bait stations are closed plastic stations with bait inside. Wedge them under the seats so they cannot slide around. First, check the label allows use in vehicles. Bait is made for buildings, and a parked car gets far hotter and colder than a kitchen.

Aerosols in a closed space need care. A growth regulator aerosol stops young cockroaches from becoming breeding adults, but it does not kill the adults, so on its own it is not enough. A car cabin is small and holds fumes, so use any spray only if the label lists vehicles, and air the car out exactly as it says. Never leave an aerosol can in a hot car. Skip foggers and bug bombs: they leave residue on every surface you touch while driving and miss the cockroaches tucked into the gaps.

These are regulated products. Follow the label every time, and check the product is allowed where you live.

Kids and pets: car seats and dog boots are exactly where bait stations and traps end up within reach. Place them only where neither a child nor a dog can get at them. If you cannot, leave the bait out and rely on cleaning and traps. After any spray, keep children and pets out of the car for as long as the label says.

Keep them out of your home

• Check what comes in from the car, especially bags, boxes and the item you suspect. Shake them out over a light surface, outside.
• Put a monitor trap by the front door and one in the kitchen for a few weeks, so you would know early if any got in.
• Stop eating in the car for a while, or clear up straight away when you do.

If you are worried that one has already come inside, our page on whether you brought cockroaches home has a calm watch plan.

When to get help

If the car traps keep catching cockroaches after a few weeks, or you catch young ones, it is time for a professional. Ask a pest control company whether they treat vehicles and what they would use. If the home traps start catching too, the home comes first.