A videograb shows the bear exiting the car.

Gulf Today Report

In a terrifying moment, an American couple woke up to the news of a bear spending the night in it after being locked inside.

The bear successfully maneuvered the handle outside the door, possibly in hunt for food — but seemingly couldn't work out how to open it again from the inside.

“He was there from shortly after eleven at night until nearly seven in the morning,” Mike Pilati, the owner of the car, told a local news channel in Red Lodge, Montana.

"Every once in a while you'd hear a crunch. I thought it had some trash it was chewing on or something. But it was my car…,” Pilati said.

Pilati and his wife, Maria, called the local sheriff to report the bear raid and were told wildlife officials would be out the next day.

But Pilates needed to get things done a little faster, so the next morning he carefully opened the car door with a stick from the building security entrance.

I reached that side door over there, reached out and opened the car door, and the bear came roaring out," he said.

Footage shows the black bear jumping out of the car before escaping to find her cubs, who were nearby.

Having got rid of their unwanted guest, the Pilatis went to inspect the damage —a shattered windshield, a chewed up dashboard, a mangled passenger door and a lot of awful smell.

"Bears are smelly creatures," Pilati said.

While the Subaru car — a brand favored by outdoorsy types — is no longer in pristine condition,

Maria Pilati says the couple have still found reason to smile.

"Now we call a Su-bear-ru," she said.