Hello everyone, I am a 62 year old female. I said that to say this.....I don't know much about cars, however, I do know I love my 2004 S-Type Jag. Unfortunately for me I drove it through 4 feet of water in my own subdivision last weekend. a undeveloped street without lighting or drainage system. Can't even talk about that! Anyway, the insurance company is telling me they pull the engine plugs, drained and put new oil in and it runs like a new one. Bottom line they will not total it. I can't tell you how this scares me. they are saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the electrical system. I have been reading some of the threads re: flooding and it appears things can go wrong down the road because of the flooding. I love my car and it only has 70,000 miles . Still, I don't want problems. Not sure I have any recourse as to whether I have to accept the deal they are offering. What I am looking for here is advice or maybe a good argument I can take back to the insurance company. They are telling me if I have problems down the road they will accept responsibility if it is related. I'm not sure I trust that. Help if you have wisdom in this area!
Thank you so much in advance,
Annette

 

Welcome to the forum Annette,

I've copied your Intro post to S-Type forum for advice from members with the same model.

Can you confirm the depth of water? The S-Type is 59 inches height.

Graham

 

The water was at least 4 1/2 to 5 feet. All floor interior and trunk was wet. My son is 6'4" and the water was to his waist.
Thanks
2004 s type

 

If you are forced to keep the car and your insurance company is telling you that they will accept responsibility for future issues, you'd better get that in writing. Keep in mind that depending upon your local laws, they could cancel you and run away at any time for any reason....

Do you have any attorney friends? Now is the time for some conversations with them....

 

Without knowing specific details of what got wet for how long, how quickly the car was recovered and dried out, any response about future problems will just be speculation.

Keep in mind that if you are successful in having them scrap the car, the cash value is probably about $5K or less.

 

I agree.

3ft plus would have the engine ingesting water via the air cleaner intake?. NOT GOOD.

Residual damge for the future is like asking "how long is a piece of string", and then the fact you will become rather paranoid with the car as to reliability etc as time passes.

ALL the electrical modules must have been under water at that depth, and they will reek havoc as and when they decide to, no matter how much they have been removed and "dried out".

 

Many times when you puddle up, not as much water gets in the mechanicals as you think. If you can sit the car outside on a dry day with all the doors and bonnets open, it most likely will be fine. If it was salt water, it would be game over, but the insurance company may be right in this case. Sounds like an excuse, if you need one, for a road trip to check it all out. Good luck.

 

Pursue a diminished value claim?

 

That must have been a frightening experience!

There's a lot of vulnerable electronics which could have been compromised:



(click on the images to enlarge them)

You should follow the Driver's Handbook to work through all controls and systems to make sure everything works.

Good advice. Jon has a history of successfully pursuing insurance claims.

Graham

 

Heed Jons advise above!

What I want to know is where the hell 4' of water came from in S.C.? We are in a drought zone here in the Charlotte/Rock Hill area.

 

I was wondering how deep it really was and how long the car was underwater. Photos? How much water was inside? Here in Birmingham, we've had decent rain and few flash floods, but nothing like a few years back. (I live on a river, so I see it every day.)


My brother runs a body shop and he says that when water gets in, any damage will be from right now to 10 years down the road on electrical. No set pattern. He also says that you can use air to blow dry connectors and if the seals are broken, unplug, dry, apply dialectic grease, and re-plug. It just all depends.....and that won't get a claim paid. He also said it the carpets got wet, it has to come out and be cleaned and dried. Otherwise you just opened a mold factory under your feet. Lesson is....Don't drive your car into puddles.

 

The OP stated that she simply 'drove through' deep water. That's very different than getting stuck in deep water because the engine stalled.

The water apparently was deep enough to wet the carpet and trunk floor. There is no report of the engine ingesting water or the entire interior up to the dash pad which would have been the case had it truly been waist deep or worse.

 

This happened about 100 yards from my house in my own subdivision. A part of the land that has not been developed yet although the street has been put in. there is no drainage on the side where the big dip is ( apparently where they want the water to run when the drainage is in. Also, they have not installed the street lights. I could see the water on the street but didn't know it was going to drop off like that. Don't know why they did not have the street closed off because according to the neighbors it had flooded before. I live in North Myrtle Beach. We certainly have not had any lack of water this year. Several cars flooded on Ocean Blvd. last week during a downpour because of the poor drainage system they just spent millions on.
Thank you for all of your help,
Annette

2004 S-type

 

So, the reason I stated the water was 4 feet deep is because that is how deep my son said it was. He stands 6'4" and the water was to his waist ( he all legs) he pushed the car with his bare for as long as possible and then he went and got his big truck. The car was probably in the water 15 minutes. He told me when he arrived the car was actually floating. We got it over on the grass and left it over night. It never started again and was towed the next day. So no it was not a puddle. Completely saturated interior and trunk.
The insurance company drained engine and put in new oil. That is all of the responsibility they want. I'm concerned about corrosion, title validity and the electronics.
Thanks everyone for all of your help!
Annette
2004/S-Type

 

Thank you . It wasn't a puddle. It was 4 1/2 feet. Certainly, had I known it was there I would not have driven in it, but thanks for the advice!

 

Thanks for the further info Annette, it sounds like you are right to be concerned.
What happened to the interior, where the carpets seats etc soaked?

 

From this we can gather that the engine stalled part way through the water but not whether this due to ingestion of water and hydrolock or simple loss of electrics.

If the car sat in the water for 15 minutes and it only wetted the floor of the interior and trunk, then I guess the supposed four foot depth was avoided.

Without knowing how or if the trunk electronics were dried properly, there's no way of guessing what the future holds.

 

Check under the carpet. If it was under for 15 minutes, it will not dry underneath. Take it out and clean it and remove and replace any insulation that was ruined. Otherwise you car will start smelling like a leaking convertible and never goes away. The trunk is easy to strip and dry.

 

stand your ground and force the insurance company to total it. we have in the past just refused 1st and 2nd offers form the insurance company without the need for a lawyer. there is not reason to accept there 1st offer. within 6 months the car will stary to smell musty if you don't take the interior out. sure you could dry everything out and go thru all of the plugs with dilectirc grease and so on but are you really up for all that. its a shame to let the car go I agree but life is to short for those type of head aches.

 

In Europe you can insure your car for an "Agreed value". Not cheap but the insurance MUST pay all damages, whatever the cause, unless you caused an accident.