Auto Flood Damage and Totaling

[Tiger8]

Hi,
I am so happy to finally find a forum where hopefully people can shed light on my situation.

My 6 month old car was recently involved in a flooding incident; basically left it in a paid parking lot near PHL airport and the airport got flooded due to Irene. Water went at least to mid tire, and got into the car (the floorboards were stinking wet). When I got back from my trip two days later, the car ran fine. Nothing seems wrong except for the water.

Having full comprehensive insurance, I made a claim. I took it yesterday to one of Geico's express service centers. I did not get a call back as promised, instead I got the estimate of the damage, and looks like they are about to start fixing it. Their fix? Clean and detail.

I am really concerned because:
a. There are plenty of computers down there, and even an air ventilation where water has gone in. I am very worried that while the car is now showing any trouble now, one day on the turnpike it will stall on me or the transmission will fail. It really scares me. They claim they guarantee repairs for life, but how will I prove that transmission or engine failure later down the line would not be related to flood? I heard it may take up to 3 months before the effects of the flood start showing up.

b. Even if indeed the car is fine, I think it will be branded as water damaged, instantly dropping its value by 50% - 75%. So yes, Geico would give me a running car, but they have just cost me close to $10K in lost value.

Anyone has any advice on how I can proceed with this? I heard there is something called diminished value, but it seems to be geared towards crashes not flood incidents. Can I take it to the dealer and have them inspect it after Geico are done with it? Please help!

 

[Guest]

Thats what you get with Geico,

Take the car to 3 repair places and get your own estimates, this is probally just an initial estimate and they really cant determinie anything until they start tearing apart the car.

Now Imagine how many claims they have had filed due to the storm.......so they will offer small quick settlements. You will more than likely have a battle on your hands.....

But it will all depend on how high and where the water as gone, remember, water will soak up into things.....

 

[Tiger8]

Thanks. I heard of things such as Engine damage, Transmission damage, and fuel intake damage that could result from flood damage.

I am more than ready to take the battle. I am going to give them a call first thing Tuesday morning. Even if they clean it, I am going to take it to the dealer to get an estimate, but my worries is that even the dealer mechanic might not see something out of the ordinary in the car, since it seems that flood damage is very hard to determine :-(.

Do I have a diminished value case? I am insured in NJ.

One would think their property is reasonably safe with insurance...

 

[x475aws]

If the car is running fine, without your having to dry anything out, or wait for things to dry, then maybe it isn't so bad. IMO this isn't the same as buying a flood-damaged used car, where you don't know what it's been through. I would definitely check all the fluids for contamination.

Who's going to brand your car as water damaged? They aren't totaling it and giving it a salvage title.

 

[FullAuto]

Pull back a piece of your carpet around the kick panel. Flood damage leaves a very obvious water line. It most likely just got an inch or two into the floor. The repair estimate shouldn't just be a simple detail job. It should be pulling the interior and cleaning behind the carpet. Often you'll see them replace the sound deadening or jute under the carpet. But that's it.

Your car wasn't driven into flood waters. It was just sitting in water. They will have pulled dipsticks and checked the engine and tranny. Water will show on the dipsticks. It's extremely rare is makes it into either when you're only talking about flood that just barely make it over the rockers.

Whoever told you it takes up to 3 months for flood damage to show up is a retard. Stop talking to them.

The car will not be branded with a flood title. It's not a total loss. You have no diminished value claim.

You can take it to 100 body shops and get estimates. Geico won't care. You can take it to a dealer. They'll write you an estimate for everything they can without totaling it. You get an oil change, transmission flush, differential flush, coolant flush, fuel system flush, diagnose electrical system, replace all the o-rings in the a/c system, new belts, replace carpet, seats, maybe even seat belts if it touched them (safety item), etc. It doesn't mean your car needs it. They just want the money. The general public thinks insurance adjusters are shady. A dealership service writer is like an insurance adjuster without a conscience.

If you car was just sitting in water, typically most estimates will be $300-500. That's not a simple detail, but a thorough cleaning.

While I'm not going to say that Geico isn't one of the most hated carriers when it comes to repairs from a shop's point of view, I will say they aren't doing anything any other carrier wouldn't do in this particular case. Good luck with "battling" them. You do realize your entire arguement is you want them to do additional repairs to something that isn't damaged, right? You said yourself it drives fine. But you want them to do something now since something may happen in th future. Maybe bring in a priest to bless it?

That being said, if water entered the dashboard, instant total loss to my company.

If you really want a qualified, unbias opinion from someone that has access to view your car in person, ask the shop's writer if the repair would be different if another insurance company was writing the estimate. That's the way you should phrase the question too. Don't ask them what they'd do. Ask them what State Farm, Allstate & Farmers would do. Those Geico offices are generally in bodyshops. Trust me, the shop's writer(s) will not have loyalty to Geico. If they think your car needs more, they'll tell you. They have no problem throwing the Geico adjuster under the bus.

 

[Tiger8]

The car will not be branded with a flood title. It's not a total loss. You have no diminished value claim.

This is all I needed to hear, cause to me, this means that this is a smaller deal than I think it is. So Thanks for that. You seem to be an expert, will this be reported on the carfax? If so, how will it appear?

 

[Sales71]

Ur not a %100 percent sure what geico will do. So give them a chance to fix it. And if it bad later 3 month or a year they will fix it again. That's why u have insurance they are boy in the biz of giving u a new car. They just need to bring it back like it was pre flood. relax it's going to be okay.

 

[Guest]

I agree with Full auto, I just dont get into detail like he does...LOL

 

[FullAuto]

This is all I needed to hear, cause to me, this means that this is a smaller deal than I think it is. So Thanks for that. You seem to be an expert, will this be reported on the carfax? If so, how will it appear?

I don't pay much attention to carfax as it's not a concern from my point of view. I will say it's not nearly as accurate as most people think. It will likely show a claim was made, but to what degree, I'm not sure.

If it were my car, I'd just complain until the point I knew they were going to pull all the carpet and clean underneath it (and they may be already). Your most likely potential issues will be mold related. You may be able to get them to replace all the padding underneath the carpet. That is often reasonable.

I don't claim to be an expert, but where as most of these guys are agents, I work in auto property damage claims. My views and experiences are a little different.

 

[djs]

I agree wholeheartedly with FullAuto. He said it much better than I would have.

Think about it for a second though. Cars drive through water all the time. When its raining and you drive, water is sprayed all over the bottom of the car. It's designed for this.

Yes, you sat for a bit, but chances of a mechanical problem from it really isn't that high if your car is in otherwise decent shape. Of course, if you had a torn CV boot, with no grease in the joint, you might have a problem, but then, you had a problem to start out with and the flood may have accelerated this type of problem, but didn't cause it.

Same thing with any other damage you might run into. From what you described, there probably isn't any mechanical problem from the flooding, unless you had an existing problem that normal driving in rain would have eventually caused anyway.

Dan