Saskatchewan Government Insurance has put out a call for exterminators to help the insurer tackle claims of rodent infestations in vehicles.
While the idea of rats infesting a car seems farfetched, SGI confirms it is a real problem.
“Sometimes if a vehicle is left, especially in a wooded or grassy area, Mickey and his friends move in,” SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy told CBC News in an interview.
SGI said that in 2018 it dealt with about 900 rodent claims.
The province of Saskatchewan is in the process of creating a list of on-call vendors that SGI’s adjusters can contact when they have a rodent claim.
“These services are to deal with infestations and remove the infestation by-products — and you can imagine what that can be — from light vehicles, passenger vehicles, trailers, motorhomes and commercial vehicles,” McMurchy explained.
Although rodent claims are not as costly as other, more critical vehicle damage claims, they can still be expensive to cover.
“It’s not a huge area for SGI, but it’s not insignificant either,” McMurchy remarked. “The average amount of one of these claims is $12,000.”
Expensive trailers and motorhomes, in particular, often sustain extensive damage from a rodent infestation.
“In some cases, you have rodents get into a motorhome and really make it their home, and those motorhomes can get written off as a result,” the SGI spokesperson explained.
SGI has already set a pricing schedule of what it would pay exterminators for cleaning vehicle infestations, which can be viewed through the online application for vendors. For instance, SGI will pay $160 to exterminate and disinfect light cars and trucks – up to $250 for trailers less than 17 feet and up to $700 for 44-foot trailers.
