sprintlphie

Hey guys,

My c300 was a victim of this horrible weather this past Saturday in Jersey City going through a puddle of water. Trying to drive through it caused my car to stall in the middle. I know its my fault for even considering going through it. I feel like total crap for even deciding to do it, but what's done is done. The traffic was all backed and I saw other cars such as civics going through it no problem.

Well now it's towed to the lot and waiting for another tow to my local geico xpress facility for the adjuster to determine what the damage is. The tow truck driver said it's probably done.

Now, my question is it better to bring it to the dealership? or leave it at the geico facility. The claims department was telling me if its serviced at their location they assume full responsibility for any other problems in the long run. After reading some old posts and speaking to some friends, it is most likely that geico would just salvage the car instead of trying to attempted to fix it.

I did ask the claims whats the process if it was reported as loss. He told me that geico would attempt to look for another vehicle very similar to the specs / mileage that i had.

2009 c300 sport white p2 pano mm with 7.5k miles

has anyone else been through something like this where their car was reported as loss? I'm just very torn on what I should do ...if i should hope for the loss or try to fix it.

Any advice or suggestions would be great.

Thanks guys

len56

awww thats terrible, how deep was the puddle?

Spec_Davis

yea men i heard downtown jersey city was flooded like knee high. sorry to hear about you car.

scoonie089

wow man sorry to hear about your car.....just another jersey struggle am i right......how deep was the puddle ?

envyxc350

Hope everything goes well for you..but whose foolish enough to drive their benz thro knee high water? even a few inchs of water and id stay home

snarlingchicken

I wouldn't call it foolishness. For all we know, he may have had to go to his job or to the deathbed of a dying family member. Hope all goes well. :/ MBUSA needs to fix this problem. For a car that's been tested against the elements for years on end, if it loses to a mere puddle of water, that's a problem.

Niti24

I agree. I heard about this problem from a lot of my friends and that just sucks. They should be testing these cars in all situations. Very disappointed.

sprintlphie

water was about up to the side skirt ...about the bottom of the door...so it was less than a ft i guess?

but seeing a civic si make it through i thought i would be able to do the same >.<

but again it is my fault to decide to go through it...but what's done is done right? :\



I'm not sure how familiar you guys are around JC. It was off the turnpike going towards holland tunnel between 14b and 14c. There's an exit ramp for Columbus drive towards downtown Jersey City. There must of been like 8-10 cars it happened to that night. Some were able to push it out and restart it and head back on their way.

Spec_Davis

i am familiar with that area. was it that long one way street that got flooded?

sprintlphie

yea, traffic was all backed up from the ramp so cars had to single file it through or attempt to back up...and here i'm trying to think i couldve made watching others go through -_-

Niti24

Not your fault man, definitely the cars fault. Supposedly it took them four years to built the w204. You would think they would test it enough. I was in Jersey the other day and I had to back out of the highway cuz of the flood. Sucks!

ATN350

This may sound ignorant but did you try restarting the car since?

Less than a foot of water shouldn't total the car...

I had a Saab 9-3 that got shut down after I went through a tunnel filled with water. The engine only worked anew after 3-4 hours but the car lasted a couple of years till the end of my lease....

Anyways, I could be mistaken and not understand this at all, but yeah, that was my input.

sprintlphie

well at the moment its in the lot 30 miles from my house i havent been able to get to it since. Just waiting for it to get moved to the geico facility new my home.

The problem wasnt the heigh of the water at first ..but it was waves caused other cars going through

at least thats what I think. I'll keep everyone posted.

cdye12

Really sorry to hear about your car mate, it's truly an unfortunate incident. I consider myself lucky, Tampa gets a more than a couple of storms a year where the skies open up and I've driven through similar situations to what you've described. I didn't have any problems but it might just be luck. Again, sorry about your car.

nyca

What happens when you try to start it?

I've driven through water that high in my 4MATIC, no issues. You would have to get water into the intake to destroy the engine, you probably stalled because the exhaust was blocked.

Star & Laurel

Ever person trying to cross water in their car is going to encounter different scenarios. Like was mentioned you get waves from other cars, splash from other car, simple fact of how fast you are going through the water. And that is just in reference to getting water into the intake resulting in major issues.

There is also the simple fact of if any connection in that engine bay is loose it can result in a simple stall of the engine which would leave you stranded in a puddle, but yet no major engine failure.

To my knowledge these cars are not considered utility vehicles. Anyone crossing any type of deep water your taking your vehicle into your hands.

Yuille36

The problem with driving through deep water, everyone thinks the driving slow through the water helps, as it does. Basically your trying to no make a bow wake, in order to keep water from entering your air intake. But the problem is that water enters your exhaust pipes, blocking the exhaust gases from escaping, ultimately leading to a stall.
If the water doesn't enter the engine, then your clear of the engine hydrolocking. But water can enter the transmission, water can rust out your exhaust, ruin your interior carpets and seats, damage your electronic for the interior and engine, such as seat controls. Destroy wiring by rusty them out. Then theirs the mold problem, that will occur if not handled immediately.

charliele729

Very true, any car can hydrolocked. It seems as it these issues are mainly in the East coast. I never seend 1 ft" of water in the streets in my life. Still, driving through that much water is asking for trouble.

joshg1001

thats why I have my other car which allows me to go "ramming speed
into puddles :p

most unfortunate that this happened, hope it all works out for you. I have heard many stories about the C class and large floods, so in the future, C class owners need to avoid large bodies of water.

sprintlphie

so geico called me back earlier today saying its total loss. I kinda expected it. I think i rather have them tell me that than attempting to fix it and have problems later on.

Now they are offering to cut me a check for 36,900. Now I purchase this car in sept 2009. I purchased it for 41,500. I had a 1k rebate from work so I got it for 40,500. Out the door with taxes about 44k or so.

THis is for a c300 sport awd arctic white, p2, MM, Pano roof, wood trim, and ipod. What do you guys think about the value I got from geico? You think it's reasonable?

Now he sent me some comparables from auto trader with values which had models that had less options i believe. It's pretty hard to tell sometimes because dealers don't list all the options on those ads.

Now he said if I was able to kind comps that proves the value of the car I can fax it to him so he can reevaluate.

Now, I understand I'm not gonna get what paid for it because of the drive off depreciation.


What do you guys think? Thanks guys!

joshg1001

that actually sounds very very reasonable. dont take the taxes into account since that just goes to the government and doesnt go towards the value of the car. The car only lost 5 thousand or so which is not bad

JimPap

sprintlphie,

I think I would go by the lot where the car is stored and see if it'll start. If it starts and runs, that changes things. I think in 1 ft of water, its more likely that it stalled out due to flooding the exhaust. If it was higher or if you knew that water entered the intakes, then you'd have reason to believe that the engine is ruined. Might be worth popping the hood and taking the air cleaner housing off to see if its soaked or not. Unfortunately, I've stopped believing what others tell me. Seems that greed rules their actions. Someone might be trying to pick it up for a song at an auction.

If it doesn't start and there is obvious water in the intake, I'd see if I could find higher comps so that you can justify to the insurance company a higher claim.

I am Jeff

I would find more comparables with the SAME options and have him re-evaluate the value of your car. You may be able to get a 1 or 2 thousand more for your car. I wish you the best of luck with this whole Geico Situation.

P.S. I hope you learned your lesson this time that you shouldn't be driving through 1 foot of standing water.

E92-Lighting

sorry for your plight

PBenz32

Here is a '09 C300 4matic w/same equipmt (P2; MM) CPO, 5,759 miles for $39,477.00
http://www.keenan.mercedescenter.com...site/DWS67294/
Hope this helps.
Good Luck