April 7, 2017

Car Dealer Eliminates Bird Damage with Laser

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Van Mossel Automotive Group has 70 locations in the Netherlands, some of which are dealerships for a broad range of brands. The dealership located in Apeldoorn sells new Land Rover, Jaguar, and Kia cars. The company incurred high costs each year to remove bird droppings from brand new cars. In a few cases, the damage was so extensive, they even had to repaint roofs and hoods. Thanks to the installation of an Agrilaser Autonomic, within the first year Van Mossel Automotive achieved a full return on investment and reported no damage to inventory since November 2016.

Location:Van Mossel Automotive Group, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
Application context:Car dealer (Industry & Utility buildings)
Problem definition:Gull droppings on brand new cars
Pest bird species:Common gull (Laridae)
Time of year with bird problem:Entire year
Time of the day with bird problems:From sunrise to sunset
Number of systems:1 x Agrilaser Autonomic 100
Laser projection area:1500 m2 or 0.15 ha
In use since:November 2016
Bird numbers before Agrilaser Autonomic installation:100s
Bird numbers after Agrilaser Autonomic installation:0
Reduction in bird numbers:100%
Yearly damage
– cleaning of cars and facilities:
– repainting of cars:
Before Autonomic
EUR 2,000
EUR 6,000
After Autonomic
EUR 0
EUR 0
Total damage per year caused by bird presence:EUR 8,000EUR 0

Situation before
The headquarters of Van Mossel Automotive Group suffered from a lot of gull nuisance. Because of the droppings on cars high costs were made to clean and spray paint cars.
In 2016 the damages were as high as 8,000 euro.

Situation after
After the installation of the Autonomic there has not been any report of damages caused by birds, making the laser an instant success.

Van Mossel Automotive: full return on investment within the first year of operation of the Autonomic

Van Mossel Automotive Group has 70 locations in the Netherlands, some of which are dealerships for a broad range of brands. The dealership located in Apeldoorn sells new Land Rover, Jaguar, and Kia cars. The company incurred high costs each year to remove bird droppings from brand new cars. In a few cases, the damage was so extensive, they even had to repaint roofs and hoods. Thanks to the installation of an Agrilaser Autonomic, within the first year Van Mossel Automotive achieved a full return on investment and reported no damage to inventory since November 2016.

Gull activity around the 1500 square meter terrain gave Wouter Pals, Purchase & Facility Coordinator at Van Mossel Automotive Group, headaches: “Brand new shiny cars were covered in bird feces, as were the pavement and office building.” Van Mossel was forced to invest a great deal of time and energy in cleaning the mess and, if its employees were not able to clean the cars within a short time span, the droppings would corrode the car paint. “In three cases, we had to redo the paint of the entire car. You are talking about thousands of euros that are not covered by the insurance company.”

Plug & play
Van Mossel worked closely with Bird Control Group to perform a risk assessment and determine the optimal location for the Autonomic. Per Mr. Pals, “The laser is placed in the corner of our roof.

The system is not visible for visitors and can still cover the entire terrain. After installation, we did not have to think about the machine anymore.That is our main reason for choosing the Autonomic. It is worry-free.”

Instant effect
Mr. Pals reports that the dealership in Apeldoorn has not experienced any bird nuisance since the Autonomic was installed last November. “The birds are still in the area, but no longer in the laser projection zone. The Autonomic is an innovative, animal-friendly and smart solution without maintenance. Looking at the costs we made the last few years we will reach the point of return on investment within the first year of operation.”

Second laser
The Autonomic is such a success for the automotive group that Mr. Pals advises they intend to buy a second laser for their dealership in Veghel. “We have similar problems there. It makes sense to buy another laser when the investment pays back that quickly.”


Bird Control Group’s automated laser bird repellent provides 24/7 protection from wild birds by shining a green laser light in the area affected by the problem. Get in touch via the form below if you are interested in learning more.

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