Kildare woman's Mercedes car ruined as rats eat through fuel pipes

A Kildare woman was forced to pay out more than €500 to repair the damage to her car that was caused by rats eating away at the insides of the vehicle.

Dee Clifford, a 60-year-old from Kildare, brought her Mercedes car into a garage in Carlow back in October after she discovered fuel leaking from the vehicle. The expensive car had only been purchased three months previously, and she was shocked to hear that rodents were behind the problems she was facing.

"I brought it to a garage in Carlow and they told me it looked like rodents had been eating the insides of the car," she told the Irish Daily Mirror.

"A week later I turned the car on and diesel started flooding from the engine, there was fumes of fuel everywhere.

"You could see the pipes were all eaten. I had to get a tow truck to come and the guy was afraid because there was diesel everywhere."

The first set of repairs cost Ms Clifford €150, while the second outing to the garage set her back €400. Mercedes have said that their warranty doesn't cover damage to vehicles caused by wildlife.