How to Determine a Flood-Damaged Vehicle as a Total Loss?
4 Answers
Properly protect the accident scene and immediately call to report the incident. If the accident is severe or there is a dispute over liability, the police should be promptly notified. Insurance company surveyors will arrive at the scene to assist in handling the matter. The vehicle owner should truthfully describe the incident and provide relevant evidence and photos. If the damage is not severe, the loss can be assessed on the spot. For vehicles with severe damage or multi-party accidents, it is necessary to go to a loss assessment center. Within 10 days of the traffic management department concluding the handling of the insurance accident, the vehicle owner should submit the accident details to the insurance company.
Last time, Old Zhang's car got flooded, and I happened to be at his place helping out. The decision to declare a total loss mainly depends on two hard criteria: water level height and repair costs. If the water level exceeds the dashboard or the engine gets submerged, it basically meets the scrapping standard. However, the most critical factor is still the repair cost—for example, if your car is worth 50,000 and the repair quote exceeds 35,000 (70% of the car's value), the insurance company will prefer to pay the full amount and take the car. Remember to take photos of the waterline and report it to the insurance company immediately, and don't start the engine. A repair shop owner once told me that cars with submerged dashboards are prone to electrical shorts even after repairs, and the final repair costs might end up being higher than the car's value.
Last time during the heavy rain, my car was practically a fish tank! The total loss claim process is actually quite transparent: First, have the insurance company send an adjuster to assess the damage, focusing on the water level and estimated repair costs. My colleague's SUV was flooded up to the seats, and the repair quote came to 80,000 yuan. The insurance company checked the car's original value was only 95,000 yuan, so they immediately processed it as a total loss. Remember to keep the towing receipt and take photos of the scene, and double-check the repair list. Nowadays, many cars have lots of electronic components—just replacing the ECU after water damage can cost over 10,000 yuan. In such cases, claiming total loss might actually be more cost-effective.
As a practitioner who has handled dozens of flood-damaged vehicle cases, I've noticed many people don't understand the core logic of total loss determination. Simply put, it's about assessing whether repair costs exceed the insurer's threshold: typically when repair expenses reach 50%-70% of the vehicle's actual value, and the salvage value is lower than repair costs, total loss is most likely declared. Special attention should be paid to NEVs - battery pack water damage inspection alone costs 4,000-5,000 yuan. When repairs become more expensive than replacement, insurers will readily pay the full claim. Last year's Tesla case I handled was declared a total loss with water barely reaching the chassis.
