"Who's the u-boat commander?"
08-02-2010, 12:45 PM
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"Who's the u-boat commander?"
Hello All,
I'm heartbroken...
I parked my car at work last Thursday in my usual area in the parking lot. We experienced a severe thunderstorm around 3pm (here in Phoenix). At around 6pm, when I thought the streets had cleared, I went out to my car to find at least 2 inches of water in my footwells. I looked underneath the driver's and passenger's seats, and the DME and all electronics were literally under water!
Apparently the parking lot couldn't handle the flash flood, and turned into a lake. Several (higher clearance) cars around me had difficulty starting as well.
I had the car towed home, hit it with the wet-dry vac, and have had fans blowing in for almost 4 days now. Today the car is being towed to the local Porsche dealership to assess the damage, and the insurance adjuster will be there tomorrow.
Do any of you have experience (I hope not) with this? Is my car a total loss?
I'm very concerned that even if all of the electronics are replaced, that I will forever have electrical gremlins, that the car wont run correctly, it will always smell, etc. Not to mention the salvage title, and associated loss...
I'm very emotionally attached to this car. And like I said, very heartbroken. The shock is now starting to wear off.
It seems to me I have 3 options:
1) Have it fixed if the damage is less than the value. And pray a lot.
2) If it's a total loss, just walk away.
3) If it's declared a total loss, buy it from the insurance company (at the salvage-value) and hope to repair it myself.
The car has 115K miles on it, purred like a kitten, and was in excellent condition. She was my baby and dream car, and I kept her like new.
I think I probably could have realistically gotten $18.5K for her all day. I'm pretty sure the insurance company is going to try to low-ball me. Any ideas what the car was worth before? Any ideas what the salvage value would be?
Thanks in advance for your input. My head is still spinning...
David
I'm heartbroken...
I parked my car at work last Thursday in my usual area in the parking lot. We experienced a severe thunderstorm around 3pm (here in Phoenix). At around 6pm, when I thought the streets had cleared, I went out to my car to find at least 2 inches of water in my footwells. I looked underneath the driver's and passenger's seats, and the DME and all electronics were literally under water!
Apparently the parking lot couldn't handle the flash flood, and turned into a lake. Several (higher clearance) cars around me had difficulty starting as well.
I had the car towed home, hit it with the wet-dry vac, and have had fans blowing in for almost 4 days now. Today the car is being towed to the local Porsche dealership to assess the damage, and the insurance adjuster will be there tomorrow.
Do any of you have experience (I hope not) with this? Is my car a total loss?
I'm very concerned that even if all of the electronics are replaced, that I will forever have electrical gremlins, that the car wont run correctly, it will always smell, etc. Not to mention the salvage title, and associated loss...
I'm very emotionally attached to this car. And like I said, very heartbroken. The shock is now starting to wear off.
It seems to me I have 3 options:
1) Have it fixed if the damage is less than the value. And pray a lot.
2) If it's a total loss, just walk away.
3) If it's declared a total loss, buy it from the insurance company (at the salvage-value) and hope to repair it myself.
The car has 115K miles on it, purred like a kitten, and was in excellent condition. She was my baby and dream car, and I kept her like new.
I think I probably could have realistically gotten $18.5K for her all day. I'm pretty sure the insurance company is going to try to low-ball me. Any ideas what the car was worth before? Any ideas what the salvage value would be?
Thanks in advance for your input. My head is still spinning...
David
08-02-2010, 01:06 PM
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08-02-2010, 01:36 PM
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08-02-2010, 01:51 PM
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I had a simliar situation when i bought my car, although it wasn't a flood. someone had left the car on their drive for 2 years with a torn roof.
The car had 2inch of water in the footwells, the seats were and carpets were soaked.
The only unit i had to replace was the central locking unit, all others were fine. I did have to replace the sound proofing as it had rotted. As I was also replacing the carpets I decided to change my seats front and rear for black instead of grey. I did dry them out and managed to sell them on ebay.
I found that the electrics were pretty durable.
Hope this helps, you may find that its not that bad.
lee
The car had 2inch of water in the footwells, the seats were and carpets were soaked.
The only unit i had to replace was the central locking unit, all others were fine. I did have to replace the sound proofing as it had rotted. As I was also replacing the carpets I decided to change my seats front and rear for black instead of grey. I did dry them out and managed to sell them on ebay.
I found that the electrics were pretty durable.
Hope this helps, you may find that its not that bad.
lee
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08-02-2010, 11:12 PM
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Not an expert here but I really don’t think that your insurance company is going to total out your car. If it was brackish or a salt water flood yes, but not for a small amount or fresh water. But if they do and they are willing to give you first dibs on her at a great price I say go for it.
08-03-2010, 03:42 AM
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David, first off i hope it wasn't in THAT parking lot, that's my office! If you had been there during the day there would have been an RSA or a carrera or two in the lot...
Sorry to hear about the flood, but chances are if you let everything dry out you may get lucky. The dme might be shot and the alarm module as well but easy to get from 20th street. Other than a stereo amp that's mostly it under the seats. The abs is in the boot, a bit higher up so it might of stayed dry. Most of these are go/no go items so you should know pretty quickly, who does your work? My racecar was a fire damaged car, the FD flooded it to put it out, the dme was shot but everything else was fine....you have to be in a lot of water to get it in the engine...at least with a factory exhaust.
Sorry to hear about the flood, but chances are if you let everything dry out you may get lucky. The dme might be shot and the alarm module as well but easy to get from 20th street. Other than a stereo amp that's mostly it under the seats. The abs is in the boot, a bit higher up so it might of stayed dry. Most of these are go/no go items so you should know pretty quickly, who does your work? My racecar was a fire damaged car, the FD flooded it to put it out, the dme was shot but everything else was fine....you have to be in a lot of water to get it in the engine...at least with a factory exhaust.
08-03-2010, 11:17 PM
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08-04-2010, 02:11 AM
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i have a spare alarm module and some other electronics (looks like a 1990 C2?)
But insurance will probably total it just for the work that would be needed ACU, DME, ABS computer, carpet, and sound deadening and labor to install / trouble shoot will easily over reach 15K, if not figure out what they are paying for since you generally can't go back and make more claims on items that are missed in the first pass with the electronics.
the 964 is not a complicated car when compaired to a moden 997, so it may fire right up if everything is dry....
But insurance will probably total it just for the work that would be needed ACU, DME, ABS computer, carpet, and sound deadening and labor to install / trouble shoot will easily over reach 15K, if not figure out what they are paying for since you generally can't go back and make more claims on items that are missed in the first pass with the electronics.
the 964 is not a complicated car when compaired to a moden 997, so it may fire right up if everything is dry....
08-04-2010, 08:01 AM
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A lot depends on how dirty the water was, and how long it stayed. Cars are fished out of lakes all the time, and many of them are fixed and sold despite the engines and other mechanical being under water.
In your case, a week or two under some gentle heat lamps on the floor boards should get things dry enough. Electronics actually tolerate water quiet well as long as the water is clean/non-conductive. Definately remove the battery ASAP, as most of the electronics modules are powered even when the key is off.
I would turn the engine through with a wrench to make sure the cylinders are clear before cranking. If water did not reach the engine, and if the electrics are dried out, you have a good chance of firing right up when the engine is cranked.
In your case, a week or two under some gentle heat lamps on the floor boards should get things dry enough. Electronics actually tolerate water quiet well as long as the water is clean/non-conductive. Definately remove the battery ASAP, as most of the electronics modules are powered even when the key is off.
I would turn the engine through with a wrench to make sure the cylinders are clear before cranking. If water did not reach the engine, and if the electrics are dried out, you have a good chance of firing right up when the engine is cranked.
