pinebaron

Yes, including my son's S500 AMG package plus some nearly brand new Mercedes, BMWs and host of other vehicles were covered with over 7' of water for 18 hours, following several inches of heavy rain in NJ and PA areas on Tuesday through Wednesday. Address is 2400 Chesnut Street Philadelphia and it is a beautiful residence. The basement parking was used by residents with expensive cars, because it was safer. Huh!

While my son is waiting for insurance claim, he went and picked up a cute Honda Hybrid Coupe with 225k miles; I guess he'll be saving on gas for a while.

AMGTestDriverNJ

This reminds me of what my block looked like the morning after Sandy. During the storm, at its highest the water was about 4 feet with a good current heading downtown towards Houston. Waves were crashing up on parked car windshields, not one car on the whole avenue or any garage here made it. It was pretty unbelievable to see. Some of them were literally floating down the street. I was the ONLY lucky one who somehow was allowed by the manager of the C Town supermarket across the street from my building to park my motorcycle INSIDE the store! the store was completely destroyed and flooded as well, but I parked my bike next to the hatch for the basement where they keep extra inventory so instead of the water reaching the 4ft + level which would have killed the bike, it drained downstairs! I'll never forget the sigh of relief I took after the motor turned over that time. People on the block were stunned that it made it, and even more so that I was pulling it out of the supermarket! Best of luck to your son, what do you think he'll buy with his insurance $?

vettdvr

Sorry to hear, I have lived through Katrina and our home being destroyed so I do understand flooding.

AMGAffalterbach

Really sorry to hear this Pinebaron, I bet you raised him to take excellent care of his cars too! A similar thing happened to my grandparents in the floods that afflicted Colorado last year, specifically areas of Boulder - their entire parking garage was flooded and cars were floating. I would be crushed. At least he has the option to get a temporary beater car, but hopefully insurance doesn't shaft him.

pinebaron

Not only was the car destroyed but my kid had/has a habit of leaving expensive gear in the car; like a pair of $600 headphones, over $5k worth of Model car racing gear (it's one of his hobbies, I do planes), a pair of sneakers (not the cheap type) plus God only knows what else. I'd asked him to get renters insurance but he did not, hence a total loss and I feel bad for him, besides he won't take financial help from me now, I think I brought him up good. Most of his stuff floated out of open windows. Apparently the S500 opens windows automatically when it senses the vehicle is being submerged; not sure if this is standard on all Mercedes.

pinebaron

I think he's going to stick to the Honda for a while and instead use insurance money to pay off his loans etc. a sensible thing to do. He had a bad couple of weeks. He received his first ever speeding and careless driving ticket ten days ago; I could not believe it, he normally drives like a grandma. He's engaged an attorney and also went to the DMV yesterday to obtain a copy of his 'clean' driving record, though not sure how much it will help.

LemonSqueezy

Well it definitely seems you raised your boy well and it sucks that all this has happened recently. As for the ticket, maybe next time he could invest in a dash cam with gps tracking so he'll have something to back him up in court. It's also great for when you rear end someone and you're not at fault. I have one installed, almost unnoticeable, and it gives you a slightly better sense of security.

AMGAffalterbach

Which dash came did you buy? I really need to get one along with a radar detector and maybe a laser jammer (illegal here but oh so worth it).

As for Pinebaron, wow what a stand up man you raised. Really, not taking financial help from his dad after losing all of that. Definitely a reflection of what kind of person you are. My regards are sent to him and his loss. As for the ticket, it's all revenue generation my friend. I'm sure he wasn't really doing anything wrong.

LemonSqueezy

I have a BlackVue dr500gw-hd I think. Video is pretty good during day and okay during night. It retails for around $260 ish but I found mine for $190. I know a guy who has similar stuff and I think better HD video for around $200 if you're interested. I can post pics of my blackvue cam if interested.

AMGAffalterbach

Please do! I hate to take over Pinebaron's thread like this but at least it's more conversational than a technical question or troubleshooting issue. For a radar detector I'm thinking the Valentine One or Passport Max, then maybe spring for a LaserInterceptor in the future, but just for insurance I would love to get a dash cam. Or maybe I should just get a GoPro and use it as a dual-purpose canyon run / dash cam video camera. Also, electronics wise I'm definitely getting a Galaxy Tab 3 with DashCommand on it, it's like having a full engine management system on a small tablet.

LemonSqueezy

I'll start new thread for the dash cam. As for radar detectors, I've never really bothered with them but if I were to give it a shot, I would definitely love to have one integrated with instrument cluster.