Skip to content

Vehicle submerged?

We are aware that we should not try to start a submerged vehicle (rule of thumb – above head lamp level) or suspected water in the engine.

There are many things to do but the very first should be informing the insurance company immediately. Once done the insurance company will usually advise you to move the vehicle to dry land / garage for their inspection. Even if they don’t you can tell them that you will be moving the vehicle to avoid further damage / submergence.

Now you shift the vehicle but you should not dismantle any part until he assessor arrives. Once the initial inspection is done by insurer you will be able to do the preliminaries like manual cranking by removing the plugs, injectors etc. and check the oils and filters prior trying to start.

However the job is not over yet, our opinion is no point repairing a newer vehicle with serious electronics and especially the hybrid and electrics.

It’s best to claim it as a total loss if your insurance cover has the provision. But there are few catches.

1.      There are recent value hikes for most vehicles but many have not enhanced the values accordingly. In that case you are at the mercy of Insurer not to impose a under value penalty on you. You can counter argue but chances are limited in proving your value is justifiable. Remember, in a dispute insurer has the right to offer you total sum insured and claim the vehicle.

2.      The replacement cost is anyway higher than the sum insured, this too happens with the recent market conditions but it’s not a vise idea to repair if you are a privileged owner of a sophisticated vehicle. However only one insurance company pays the replacement cost of a similar regardless the sum insured for vehicles within 2 years of YOM.

3.      If you tend to lose a lot you may opt to a cash in lieu option subject to the conditions of insurer. In this case the insurer will pay you a negotiated fee in settling the case and you will not need to provide invoices for settlement. But this will not save you money in the long term as recurring repairs are inevitable on new vehicles once submerged.

However you will be with better luck if your vehicle doesn’t belong to a sophisticated class. You need not to spend a lot on this, if you have some tooling and a dry weekend it will be a good DIY project (Do It Yourself) and the insurance will happily pay you your repair cost.

A step by step guideline for those who wish to restore the vehicles by yourself is available at https://www.facebook.com/beeglefleetmanagement/

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *