“Get in. Get out. Get going.”
When Janet Schoen brought her SUV in for an oil change at the Cibolo Grease Monkey last week, that’s what she expected to do, but instead, it turned into a hare-raising experience after a furry stowaway had everyone at the store hopping with excitement.
Schoen said about three minutes after the technician pulled her vehicle into a bay, he came inside asking for the vehicle’s owner.
“You had a rabbit under your hood,” he told her.
“Please tell me it’s not dead,” Schoen responded.
It wasn’t.
The cottontail rabbit was very much alive, but it did startle the mechanic crew half-to-death.
“You can see (on the surveillance video) he jumped and grabbed his heart,” said Grease Monkey franchise owner Tom Tobin. “Once they realized it was alive they were just amazed it was living. Then the chase was on!”
That’s when the rabbit got out and got going — quickly hopping out of the SUV and then out of the shop.
*Watch the video in player at the top of this article.*
The whole experience only lasted seconds but it’s given the employees days of laughter.
“We’re still talking about it,” Tobin said. “It’s been a daily talking point just to engage our guests and make people smile.”
Tobin said they’ve even joked about creating an advertising slogan.
“When we’re done, your car will run like a Jack Rabbit,” Tobin joked.
There was a happy ending for all involved, but that’s not always the case in these scenarios.
Cats, rabbits and rodents will often crawl up under car hoods seeking warmth on cold nights and they can sometimes be hurt or killed when a driver starts the engine. To prevent that, you can bang on your hood or honk your horn to scare them away before turning on the ignition.
Some online blogs and mechanic sites also warn that rabbits and rodents may be getting under your hood to nibble on the wiring. There are many products available to help prevent that from repellant sprays to under-hood devices that emit ultrasound waves and strobe lights.