Water damage in car -- dealing with insurance

[USNret]

Hi. I'm in the States and just heard from my sister-in-law that her car was flooded last night (probably along with many others). Regrettably she bought the car just 30 days ago, a new Nissan. She had the car towed to a shop & an insurance rep met her; they are assessing the damage. On my advice, they immediately pulled out all the carpeting to release trapped moisture & avoid further rust & mildew.

They have not yet determined if the car is a total loss or not. If it is, they will pay her 70% of the value of the car which will be just enough to pay off the loan. In short, she would lose her down payment & now have no car and no cash. If the car can be repaired, there is probably some deductible but at least she will have a car. My concern is hidden damage (rust or electrical) that might not be noticed until sometime in the future.

What can or should we expect from her Thai insurance company? I'm pleased that they seem to be taking it seriously & at least they are not saying that water damage is excluded or any such nonsense. I have never owned a car in Thailand & have never had to deal with Thai insurance of any sort. Are they generally reputable? Any pitfalls we should watch for? Will they use genuine Nissan parts in the repair, or cheap 3rd party parts? As near as I can tell, it's in everyone's best interest to not declare the car a total loss but rather to repair it if possible. Hopefully, this will play out fairly quickly. Thank you for any guidance or advice on how to move forward.

[Rimmer]

Suspect this will be better in the Motoring Forum so will move it

[stevenl]

Cars hardly ever are deemed a total loss here, I would not fear that.

Parts used depends on the policy.

Edited June 8, 2015 by stevenl

[wow64]

Just fill the car with rice for a day it will get all the moisture.. Did it to my phone last week after dropping it in water.

Sent from my c64

Edited June 8, 2015 by wow64

[inzman]

I second the thought, they don't usually total cars here. Most likely clean it up and all is good. Good luck to her.

[USNret]

Thanks for the tips. If they do the repairs and then more damage comes to light down the road is there any hope of getting that hidden damage repairs in the future?

[DavisH]

Is there any damage to the engine or just water inside the car? If it's just the carpet, it should be dried properly ( can take a week). My honda got flooded inside a few years back. Took it to a cleaning shop and left the carper there for cleaning and ozone treatment. Drove the car for a week with no carpet. I had insurance, but never bothered with it. never thought of it at the time. If the car is left open in the sun it should dry out in most places. My car had been fine ever since. A damaged engine will be more costly, but they will use genuine parts. Not sure how much insurance covers flood damage though.

[kkerry]

Our Fiesta was caught up in the 2011 Bangkok floods. I saw other cars in far worse condition under repair at our Ford dealer so I don't think they write off damaged cars easily here. The total cost of repairs on our car was probably 150k including a new transmission. all paid for by insurance. The insurance company were quite good to deal with, Ford less so but after five long months we were back on the road again. One thing I learnt was to really, really look at what was being done to the car and to never just accept they had done the job properly. They must be used to Thais not getting down and looking in and under the vehicle as anything out of sight was out of mind it seemed. I know if i was the owner of the dealership involved I would have been firing a couple of service managers for their absolute lack of attention to detail.

Insurance originally wanted the car to go an outside repair shop but as the car was near new we wanted it sent to Ford as we were also concerned about non-genuine parts being used. The dealer was inundated with flooded cars which contributed to the lengthy delay. I still don't know if we made the right call, maybe a dedicated repair shop would have been the better choice as first suggested by the insurance company. More than three years later and no obvious defects, car runs great and still looks as new. Every service, we have the dealer (a different one now) to do a more thorough than usual inspection due to the cars history, pull up the carpet etc. but so far, so good.

Edited June 8, 2015 by kkerry

[DGS1244]

When the work on repair has been completed do not sign the acceptance form if it say 'full and final payment' request that the claim remain open, normally up to 2 years, to cover any future damage that may become apparent caused by the water. You then will still be covered, if you do sign then there is no future cover for water damage from the original claim.

[yankee99]

My recent experience with Ayutthaya is its their way or the highway. Had a accident with door, front fender and wheel damaged. Got a estimate at isuzu 52,000. Went to their contract shop and the estimate was 8,000. Nissan all new parts contract shop bangf out the old ones,

[cracker1]

Don't think I would be happy with and insurance payout of 70% on a new vehicle (30 Days old)

I would be looking for 90%-95% for a vehicle like this but perhaps the claim payout was mentioned in the policy wording ?

[shaurene]

To start with you need to make sure the insurance company can get hold of a Dehumidifier and put it in the car for few days to get what moisture out they can especially out of the electrics. If it was fresh water there should be little problems on rust after the dehumidifier does it's job.

[rapom]

To start with you need to make sure the insurance company can get hold of a Dehumidifier and put it in the car for few days to get what moisture out they can especially out of the electrics. If it was fresh water there should be little problems on rust after the dehumidifier does it's job.

After taking out the carpets and seats for cleaning, parked the vehicle where it will be exposed to the sun and air movement, disconnect the battery (so it won't discharge), leave the doors, trunk and hood open. Thailand sun and air is the best dehumidifier and odor eliminator.

[USNret]

Her insurance company is called Wiriya or Viriya. Anyone ever deal with them? I don't yet know about deductibles, original parts, etc. but I'm working to find out. I appreciate all the tips you're giving me. My wife is passing it to her sister as quick as possible & I think we're on the right track. Thank you all!

[Pdavies99]

When the work on repair has been completed do not sign the acceptance form if it say 'full and final payment' request that the claim remain open, normally up to 2 years, to cover any future damage that may become apparent caused by the water. You then will still be covered, if you do sign then there is no future cover for water damage from the original claim.

Ha Ha!! Very funny! This is Thailand, you would not get the car out of the garage without that signature!

Of course you could threaten them with legal action, that will bother them! Ha Ha!

Edited June 9, 2015 by Pdavies99

[USNret]

My SIL was told she will get her car back next week, only about 10 days after the flooding. We are very pleased. She will pay about 3000 baht out of pocket which is far better than I had feared. All that remains to be done is to finish drying & cleaning the seats and replacing the carpet. A big factor is that the engine was never submerged. If it was, damage would have been much greater. Also, if you ever find your engine submerged then they urge you to not start the car -- you could increase the damage.

All in all, we are pleased with how the insurance company & repair shop handled this. Now to find high ground to park on next time. :-)

[konying]

Don't think I would be happy with and insurance payout of 70% on a new vehicle (30 Days old)

I would be looking for 90%-95% for a vehicle like this but perhaps the claim payout was mentioned in the policy wording ?

I do not think its 70%, from memory insurance on new cars is around 80% of the price paid.

If car came with insurance from dealer , I also believe there is no deductible .

Water damage would never be a right off.

Electrical should be ok as cars are made to travel in the rain and wet roads.

Worst case, can do anti rust spray every year and change the wires after yearly inspections.

The biggest problem would be the smell inside the car from dirty water. This may never go away.

Was the case with mine during the big floods, mine though was fully submerged, as in like a submarine , because was parked in underground garage.

[USNret]

To close the books on this, my SIL got her car back today just 11 days after the flooding We're very pleased with the repairs. There is no evident damage & the car smells good. We'll keep watching for rust & mildew. All she had to pay was to refill the gas tank, a very small price indeed. The work was done at a Nissan dealer on Sukhumvit near Suk 64. This turned out far better than I ever expected.

[DavisH]

To close the books on this, my SIL got her car back today just 11 days after the flooding We're very pleased with the repairs. There is no evident damage & the car smells good. We'll keep watching for rust & mildew. All she had to pay was to refill the gas tank, a very small price indeed. The work was done at a Nissan dealer on Sukhumvit near Suk 64. This turned out far better than I ever expected.

Good news, I had mine done at Molycare and they use ozone treatment. I drove the car for a week with no carpets:) Was about 2000 baht. Good that insurance covered it anyway. I never thought about insurance covering it at the time.