[Randolph13]

drove my 340i into a puddle today that was deeper than I thought and the engine stopped. Car has been towed out and is being taken to my local dealer. The car is 11 months old and I have gap insurance.

The water came up to about 3 cms below the door and the boot and and well were dry. The internal electrics worked, i.e. radio, windows, dash etc.

Any ideas on what damage and repairs I can expect and guess I can claim on my main insurance and if a total loss then also claim on the gap insurance.

Got no experience of this sort of problem so any advice gratefully accepted

R

[robbiep]

Might have hydro-locked the engine - which is basically a full engine rebuild or a brand new engine. No idea what other damage might have been done, obviously

[Mick.86uk]

How fast did you hit the standing water?

[JNW1]

If pistons have tried to compress water you could well be looking at an expensive engine rebuild or at worst even a replacement engine. From what I understand car insurance will cover it if the damage is deemed unavoidable but attempting to drive through flood water - or misjudging the depth of a puddle - may be considered avoidable (and hence might not be covered).

Anyway, good luck with getting it resolved satisfactorily!

[JD6]

I thought that the air intake on the F3x was at the side of the kidney grille, so you need pretty deep water, or a large wave for it to suck water into the pistons?

[330XDave]

I would imagine that any insurance you have will be doing their very best to get out of paying out for this one. Good luck!

[JNW1]

Originally Posted by JD6

I thought that the air intake on the F3x was at the side of the kidney grille, so you need pretty deep water, or a large wave for it to suck water into the pistons?

Agreed, if the water didn't get within 3cm of the bottom of the doors it shouldn't have found its way into the air intake; hopefully it will be something simple and inexpensive to resolve!

[cfm56d7b]

Sorry to hear about your experience. Other than preparing to review the results (and repair costs) of proper inspection, there isn't anything one can do.

Just patience at this point.

[Stainy]

Originally Posted by JNW1

Agreed, if the water didn't get within 3cm of the bottom of the doors it shouldn't have found its way into the air intake; hopefully it will be something simple and inexpensive to resolve!

Except if by "drove", he means "ploughed" ?


Did you try and start it again after it had cut out? and if so, did it turn over or just do nothing?

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by 330XDave

I would imagine that any insurance you have will be doing their very best to get out of paying out for this one. Good luck!

Why and how would they attempt such a thing?

[Ronstein]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Why and how would they attempt such a thing?

Fairly common, your insurance doesn't cover you for loss through your neglect. If the claimant drove through a deep puddle at speed, resulting in water being sucked in through the air intake and trashing the engine, it's not deemed to be 'accidental damage'. Putting petrol into a diesel car falls under the same thing, many people have learn't that very expensive lesson!

[OneExtra]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Why and how would they attempt such a thing?

You cant insure against stupidity

[B1ue52]

Originally Posted by Ronstein

Fairly common, your insurance doesn't cover you for loss through your neglect. If the claimant drove through a deep puddle at speed, resulting in water being sucked in through the air intake and trashing the engine, it's not deemed to be 'accidental damage'. Putting petrol into a diesel car falls under the same thing, many people have learn't that very expensive lesson!

I think he was being sarcastic

[Ronstein]

Originally Posted by B1ue52

I think he was being sarcastic

I hope so

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by OneExtra

You cant insure against stupidity

You can as most accidents are due to stupidity.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by Ronstein

Fairly common, your insurance doesn't cover you for loss through your neglect. If the claimant drove through a deep puddle at speed, resulting in water being sucked in through the air intake and trashing the engine, it's not deemed to be 'accidental damage'. Putting petrol into a diesel car falls under the same thing, many people have learn't that very expensive lesson!

I think you're stretching the definition of neglect, mistakenly driving through water that is too deep on a road isn't the same as driving your car down a slip road into the sea as an example, one is a misjudgement the other a wilful act of neglect.

Almost all accidents involve some sort of neglect on someone's part, neglecting to look properly at a junction as an example, if the insurer can prove wilful neglect then I get that but accidents and misjudgements happen every day and get paid out everyday.

And of course some people insure very cheaply and then find out the reason why it's so cheap.

[evdok]

Originally Posted by Ronstein

Fairly common, your insurance doesn't cover you for loss through your neglect. If the claimant drove through a deep puddle at speed, resulting in water being sucked in through the air intake and trashing the engine, it's not deemed to be 'accidental damage'. Putting petrol into a diesel car falls under the same thing, many people have learn't that very expensive lesson!

Mate had his X5 hydrolocked, insurance paid out

[RobUK]

Originally Posted by Wills2

You can as most accidents are due to stupidity.

Exactly, that's why the police refer to them as RTC's these days and not RTA's.

OP - good to hear someone's mate was able to claim for a hydrolocked X5 engine, hopefully that's a precedent for your case. Good luck.

[Eddamoo]

I'd say 75% its hydro-locked. The other 25% chance is electrical failure due to water, but that should have sorted itself after being stood for a short period.

My car (430d XDrive) had exactly the same with the previous owner - someone i know. It had a brand new engine at ~45k Miles, priced at around £4500. Insurance will pay out im pretty certain unless there are extenuating circumstances such as road closure etc. its exactly the kind of thing its for! The Air intake pipe is higher than the door sill, but the smallest bow-wave will cause it to injest water.

[Russbmw]

Mate did the same in his F30 320d. Engine was fucked. Sorry!

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Exactly, that's why the police refer to them as RTC's these days and not RTA's.

OP - good to hear someone's mate was able to claim for a hydrolocked X5 engine, hopefully that's a precedent for your case. Good luck.

I had a total loss claim on a 6 month old M3 which was due to my mates utter stupidity and wanton neglect/lack of talent.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by RobUK

good to hear someone's mate was able to claim for a hydrolocked X5 engine, hopefully that's a precedent for your case. Good luck.

It never even crossed my mind that driving through a deeper puddle than anticipated might not be covered, but having now googled it, I can see that it's a grey area between avoidable and unavoidable flooding, as mentioned above.

I drive through some flood water about twice a year on average as some of the roads close to us are up to a metre below the level of the surrounding fields so can act as land drains during a storm. Having always assumed that I would be covered, this might push me towards a car with a decent wading depth, such as an X3, which can cope with 50cm of water. We have always had at least one car that can wade until recently.