[ananthleads]

Dear members,

Need your suggestion here.

My brother in law in chennai purchased a Volvo XC60 in August 2015.

On November 16 2015, he was driving the car and approached a water logged road. A Maruti Zen was in front of him and went through . However when he attempted , the engine in his car switched off. My brother in law did not attempt to restart the car and called the Volvo road side assistance immediately and the car was towed to their service center in chennai ( near ekkaduthangal).

The damage was assessed as hydrostatic lock due to flooding and Volvo recommended to change the engine. Insurance company was informed and insurance agreed to pay for the engine change. An advance amount was paid by the insurance company to Volvo service center and the car was waiting for spare parts. All this while the car was at their service center in ekkaduthangal .
On the night of 1st December, heavy rains lashed chennai and ekkaduthangal was one of the badly affected places and was under water. All the cars in the service center were marooned under water.

In the second week of December 2015 Volvo representatives met my brother in law and informed him about the damage and it was agreed to go ahead with insurance claim. Insurance agreed for total loss.
In the first week of Jan 2016, Volvo came up with a proposal to replace the car with a brand new one. Little did we know that we had to cough up the insurance and registration charges for the new car (approx 13 Lakhs). This was a surprise and completely shocked us. We gave them the car to fix an issue and we expected the car back. Why do we have to pay the price for the damage that happened at their premises. We agree this is a natural calamity and force majeure , however isn't the Volvo service center supposed to have an insurance covering its service center? After all the damage happened when the car was at their garage.

My brother in law has escalated this to Volvo india in Delhi and they have promised to look at the issue and get back. However we are now in the middle of February and still following up.
Can you guys recommend how to proceed in this case? Has anyone faced a similar issue?

Any help in this regard will be highly appreciated

@Mods - Did not find a similiar thread. Please merge if need be.

[Mad Max]

Kindly get a lawyer, preferably an experienced one, immediately. While all these things are going on, you need to also start planning for worst case scenario. You're right that the service centre should have insurance coverage but Force Majeure events are an after thought in many cases.

Also, their insurance won't possibly cover any cars' registration costs and insurance because of the variations in insurance clauses and the registration costs. For them, the value of the vehicle they would have put In their insurance documentation would be the ex-showroom price and nothing else.

If you need a quicker resolution, you may want to bite the bullet and negotiate the 13L down, again in the presence of your lawyer, and go with whatever you end up with.

[GrammarNazi]

Did you have 0% depreciation bumper-bumper insurance coverage ?

Since it's your insurance that was claimed for total loss, the scrap value of the old car could be sought.

Maybe the difference between your claim amount & ex-Showroom price of new car is being covered by the service centers' insurance.

IIRC part of registration costs of the scrapped car are supposed to be refunded to you by the govt.

These 2 are the only recoverable costs that I can think of. Rest, sadly, I guess is a loss.

Maybe you can buy your scrapped car at an extremely low price from the insurance (since you said your brother didn't crank it under water) & get it restored at your cost (at a FNG or maybe you could find someone from the t-bhp directory). That could be sold & maybe eventually a small profit can be made to offset this loss.

Insurance cost for the new car : TBH, I doubt if either the service center or Volvo, would be liable to pay.

Our legal system isn't (as we all know) in the best shape, so if you go legal & theres an arbitration round, I'd suggest you try to get a good deal there.

All the best.

[bharatbs]

I cannot comment on Volvo dealers liability here.

If you haven't already, please review the terms of the insurance you have taken.

Example BMW secure offers complete car replacement if the event happened within one year of purchasing the vehicle, including insurance and registration:

"BMW Secure offers you protection in case of total damage within one year of the purchase of your vehicle, or upon renewal. In the event of total loss, not only will your car be replaced with a new car of the same type*, BMW India will also cover all costs of registration, tax and insurance thereby incurred. This top-end product continues to cover the new replacement vehicle, as well."

http://www.bmw-navnitmotors.in/in/na...es/secure.html

I have heard of BMW owners who have availed this in Chennai, due to the floods.

[stanjohn123]

Originally Posted by ananthleads

In the second week of December 2015 Volvo representatives met my brother in law and informed him about the damage and it was agreed to go ahead with insurance claim. Insurance agreed for total loss.

Insurance agreed for total loss. So it means you will get the full IDV money.

Just get it and buy the new car. Like other's have mentioned, just check out what else is covered by your insurance regarding registration and insurance costs. Better not to waste time and try to make dealership pay for it, they'll just keep dragging it.

[Guna]

This incident makes me wonder about the point of having an SUV/crossovers if they can't pull through these occasional situations where even normal cars manage without issues.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Guna

This incident makes me wonder about the point of having an SUV/crossovers if they can't pull through these occasional situations where even normal cars manage without issues.

That Maruti Zen would have also been damaged by the water just that the driver wouldn't have let it switch off. Once the engine goes off, that's it. The trick is to keep it in 1st gear so that the exhaust is able to function due to the pressure. I have pushed my WagonR through water so high that the divider and pavement could not be seen and one had to judge the road by looking where the trees were popping out from even my headlights were submerged, all while grinning ear to ear at what looked like a very miffed politician in his stalled Fortuner Once water rises beyond a certain level there is nothing that can be done to prevent water damage the decision must simply be made whether to reach home or be stranded there itself. Water damage can actually be fixed in my experience. 10k kms later, currently at 155k kms, my Wagon R drives smooth as ever and no one would ever know that it took my friend and I through so much water that tragic night. Apart from the fact that my ICE is gone because my amp shot Obviously the modern Volvo must be far more complicated to fix but isn't that what the Authorized Service Center is there for?

[Aceman82]

Sorry to hear about the same but I read a similar post some time ago on FB HVK group someone time ago. A Skoda Octavia was given for service in a Skoda service service center in Guindy and the whole service center got submerged in rains including this gentleman's car.

The service center had washed its hands and had asked the owner to remove the car and claim the car insurance since only the service center (the place and the equipment's) is insured and not the customer vehicles.

I guess there was no legal recourse possible since it looks like service center's are not responsible for any damages (legally). I don't remember the FB thread completely but the above was a gist of what I recollect. Hence it would be better to just claim insurance and be done with it.

[Yeldo]

I am not aware of the technicalities of the insurance that Volvo sells along with its cars. Even for Mercedes, I do not think the Star Protect Platinum for vehicle replacement cover includes road tax. Since the road tax on a total loss vehicle shall be refunded by the Government, the insurance company normally does not cover it.

IMHO, you may go with the dealer's offer and get a new car as he suggested.

But as other members kindly suggested, I would advise you taking a close look at the insurance policy along with a lawyer with experience in motor insurance.

[zombiedriver]

BMW secure covers in the first year everything including road tax and insurance. From the second year onwards if you choose secure ultimate then it gives the same benefit again. One needs to only pay the difference in ex showroom price. I thought the other premium segment cars would have something similar especially when it comes to problems due to hydrostatic lock

[GTO]

That's just bad luck. Sorry to hear about the twin flood damage.

Having a small set of customers and a keenness to grow, Volvo will bend over backward to please you. I'll be surprised if they haven't already called your relative after this thread went up.

Bargain and close it. He is, after all, getting a new car even after he'd damaged it by driving through floods.

If money isn't a problem, you might want to consider paying the difference and getting the new XC90. It offers so much more than the XC60. Plus, it's much newer too. The XC60 is now 8 years old!

Originally Posted by Guna

This incident makes me wonder about the point of having an SUV/crossovers if they can't pull through these occasional situations where even normal cars manage without issues.

Definitely raises eyebrows as this is the second XC60 to end up dead in recent time (link to the other thread). Can any XC60 comment if the air intake point is actually very low?

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The trick is to keep it in 1st gear so that the exhaust is able to function due to the pressure.

Few would remember to move to manual / L mode in an automatic. But whatever the case, premium cars + floods are a definitely no-no. If you see water, do NOT drive through.

[VW2010]

Agree with GTO here. In reality the flood waiver is purely based on the insurance. And the company is not obligated to pay any thing out of pocket for a flood loss unless there is specific claim in Warranty document or in insurance document.

If difference is not a big amount to pay, go for the upgrade as well. Peace of mind, newer car and newer warranty for fairly lower price that what you would have paid selling and buying after a year or so.

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Once water rises beyond a certain level there is nothing that can be done to prevent water damage the decision must simply be made whether to reach home or be stranded there itself. Water damage can actually be fixed in my experience.

I find it hard to believe that water can seep in via the exhaust pipe.
Usually the engine (valves) are at some elevation compared to the exhaust.

This means that water will have to have at least the same amount as the head (in other words the water levels should be at least the same height as the exhaust valve) for water to enter via the exhaust pipe. And this would be possible only in between the exhaust pulses when the pressure in the pipe is atmospheric.

In my view, most of the water ingress happens via intake route where natural air flow aids (instead of resisting) water flow.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by GrammarNazi

IIRC part of registration costs of the scrapped car are supposed to be refunded to you by the govt.

Posting the link regarding Total loss tax refund discussion
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ities-etc.html

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by alpha1

I find it hard to believe that water can seep in via the exhaust pipe.
Usually the engine (valves) are at some elevation compared to the exhaust.

This means that water will have to have at least the same amount as the head (in other words the water levels should be at least the same height as the exhaust valve) for water to enter via the exhaust pipe. And this would be possible only in between the exhaust pulses when the pressure in the pipe is atmospheric.

In my view, most of the water ingress happens via intake route where natural air flow aids (instead of resisting) water flow.

Obviously water goes in through the intake if it is submerged. However, when you shift gears to a higher gear thereby lowering the engine speed, that causes a low pressure zone in the manifold and as you know, water will go from high to low pressure and once that happens, the car WILL stall. Once it does, you've lost hope. As long as you keep the exhaust clear, you can drive in emergency situations by sticking to 1st and slipping the clutch to keep the engine speed high if necessary.