Thread: Flod damaged cars?

Lots over the next few months with undisclosed flood damage? Sounds like a minefield for potential buyers. Can people claim insurance for damage when they chose to drive into a flood? Does water immersion in 'fresh' water, not to the point of stalling the motor with ingested water, cause significant damage to modern cars? your views /experience?

All the carpets, door panels, seats and electrics below the waterline.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/matt-m...DSAPZ252V6JWU/

This guys BWM for sale shortly.

I had a 30hp outboard that got submerged & sucked in salt water, the local shop said it'll forever be a problem with corrosion inside the wires and he managed to get the whole thing replaced even though the Insurance accessor told him to "just get it going and send it out the door"
If they're willing to do that with salt water immersion I'm sure they'll just clean the carpets etc for these events. That's unless they use the "careless" excuse to get out of the claim.

Australia has had a massive problem with flood damaged insurance write-offs been purchased by unscrupulous repairers and sold back into the secondhand market. Remember that Australia has been struggling with much more serious flooding problems for the last couple of years and there are literally thousands of cars affected.

I remember in W.A. a good few years ago now there was a shocker case of a bunch of high end 4WDs sold by a Queenslander as “one careful owner”. Turned out they had all been purchased as insurance write offs direct from the recovery company in the Top End that had pulled them out of ill advised river crossings and the other daft situations the owners had got themselves into. That case led to an inquiry into how easy it was to fraudulently hide a vehicle’s history due to the differing systems and laws from state to state.

Lots of resources online will tell you how to go about spotting a flood damaged car.

The other point is there is a difference between flood damaged - and wet/immersed. If a car has been driven through reasonable water depth sensibly and dried out correctly no damage. If it's left immersed for many hours/days it should be written off as you cannot be sure what sensors and electrics are going to be affected by water ingress and none of those systems are rated for immersion.

Having said that, a modern 4x4 SUV or ute with those same safety systems that aren't rated for continuous immersion are advertised with a fording depth of 700 or 800+mm - so who knows and your mileage might vary.

The main concern for me is not the repaired write off's - it's the uninsured ones where the owner hires a rug doctor, dries them out and flogs them off after a basic clean without declaring them. That's going to be an issue...

I bought a flood damaged European about 10 years ago and rebuilt it. Took quite a bit ordering bits and visiting the wreckers to get it sorted. Hardest part was finding someone to certify the repair. No one seems to like certifying for private people. Had the vehicle for 6 years with no issues then had 1 too many kids so they didn't really fit anymore. The next hardest bit is then selling a vehicle that has been written off, for some reason people are a bit cagey about it.

most flood damaged cars are only good for parts. The only one's worth saving if you can buy them cheap enough would skyline's, silvia's, wrx sti's etc. You can buy new looms and sensors for reasonable prices new.

well im gonna look for the silver lining...... hopefully some zooks will pop up cheap .....i could do with a new engine and manual gearbox........

AA insurance bloke was on TV the other night and has said insurance companies wont hesitate to write off cars and payout immediately .it streamlines whats gonna be a hell of an exercise for insurance industry and gives owners some sense of relief. apparently all this streamlining is a result of leassons learned post CHCH earthquakes.as a matter of interest one wonders how many brand spanking new vewhicles willbe written off after being bethed still on the show floor .I really feel for you auckland guys.

Saw one picture of what looked like a row of Tesla roofs. Ouch... Another pic of an EV plugged into a charger, mid window level with the cord just visible out of the pillar. Those are all instant write offs, no question so just in one photo that's 3/4million in EV's. Make a dent in the clean green image of the vehicles having to scrap them that early on in their lifespan.

Any vehicle flooded like that will be a write off. Wouldn't matter if it was electric or not.

What Flyblown said but different.
You had flood damaged cars in aussie being imported into NZ.
Nothing on the system anywhere.

Originally Posted by Chur Bay

Any vehicle flooded like that will be a write off. Wouldn't matter if it was electric or not.

Yep, but EVs are mostly only a year or two old so the insurance ticket clipping is usually considerably higher than for ICE cars...

Originally Posted by csmiffy

What Flyblown said but different.
You had flood damaged cars in aussie being imported into NZ.
Nothing on the system anywhere.

They are flagged at point of entry as damaged.
We've seen a lot come thru work.
Majority show as "statutory write off" by the aussies.
Some are very minor, but they're still documented as having been written off/damaged