Vehicle submerged?

We all know that we should not try to start a submerged vehicle (rule of thumb - water above head lamp level) or vehicle stalled in water.

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.

Now you shift the vehicle but you should not dismantle any part until the 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 owners have not enhanced the values accordingly. In that case you are at the mercy of Insurer not to impose an undervalue 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 your vehicle.

2. In most cases the replacement cost may become higher than the sum insured, this 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. If its the case you may need not to spend a fortune on repair shops, if you have some tooling and a dry weekend it will be a great DIY project (Do It Yourself) and the insurance will happily pay you your repair cost as well