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I store my baby in a garage of an old building. The last 2-3 days we've had continuous rain. When checking for her yesterday evening I found this :
Reaction was this:
Water dripped from inside (!) the building into my car. Target was between shifter and ashtray. Now who's insurance is gonna pay (mine or the garage owner's) if there's any permanent damage is not of concern right now. What I need to know from you guys is this:
1) The water was running through cracks in concrete and therefore is likely to be acidified. What do I do as immediate steps to protect the leather ?
2) There's water in the middle console and the switches. I was able to lift the cover from the rear end but got stuck at the brake (didn't want to apply more force). How do I remove it without damaging anything ?
Thanks for the help !
This sucks so much !! damn... fortunately the headunit was protected by the lid..
my advice - take more pictures - which I'm sure you have. claim it w/your own insurance company, and hopefully they will go after the building for negligence on the leaking in their part. but other wise... it would be covered under your own insurance.
as for the seats, carpet, etc. - the mats are ok. the carpet, well if you want to swap to a black carpet, this might be your chance. the leather *should* be ok. but the cushions are ruined. so, you might want to pull apart the seats, or wait and have a shop do that so they can replace the innards. as far as the concrete and possible acidic wear on the car's interior... no idea.
You have quite a mess...I guess this is just another reason that when my S goes to bed at night the top comes up....It will be interesting to see if the insurance will cover it or if they will say the top should have been up...kind of like being outside with top down and have it rain.
I doubt if there is any lasting serious damage. If it were mine I'd take a few more photos (just in case) and report it to my insurance company. I'd explain to them what I intended to do. Then I'd grab a towel and start drying. Put it in neutral and push it outside in the sunshine (w/o starting) and let it dry out naturally for at least 8 hours or so. Since I have an air compressor, I'd give it a gental blowout also. . . but if you don't have one, start it up and take it for a ride after letting it sit outside to dry.
This exact scenario happened to me two months ago. There's a thread about it on this site somewhere. In the end:
1. The garage's adjuster offered $125 clean up. Unacceptable. I refused their offer.
2. It took me two weeks to get the garage's offer. In the meantime, GEICO sent their adjuster. They quoted $1000 damage. They wrote me a check for $500 (the amount minus my $500 deductible).
3. I took the car in to a body shop. They pulled out all of the interior and replaced the foam underneath the carpet. They put the car into their paint bay and "cooked" it for a day, and then left it out in the garage on a hot, dry sunny day, with the top down and doors open. They also reupholstered the driver's seat and cleaned and dried it. I have not noticed a single bad smell or anything since.
4. My garage was very apologetic. They waived my monthly fee for the time during which I didn't have my car. This, unfortunately, is about the same as my deductible amount. (My garage is $375/month).
5. Although the garage got away without really having to pay for the damage, there are a few advantages to the outcome. First of all, they were implementing an across the board price increase to $425/month at the time this happened. I have been locked into the old price for life. Also, they are so freaking careful with my car, and so nice to me now, that I am sure this is the best place to keep my car now. I am finally getting the treatment I deserved on day 1. Too bad it cost me a lot of money to get there.
6. The body shop told me that the only real risk of water damage would be due to long-term exposure. A few weeks of water on the floorpan is not going to cause rust. It would take months. Especially since there is foam that will soak most of it up. Get that foam replaced. Replace any other interior elements that are warped or damaged, and you'll be good to go.
Sorry, I couldn't wait for answers here and took her to the dealer an hour later...
Of course I dried as much as possible right after I took the pictures (and before creating this thread - actually I ran down to the garage - camera in one hand, towel in the other).
While driving to the garage I had a/c on, fan @ max, heat @ max. (and me sweating and swearing @ max )
Once there, they removed the plastic cover on the middle console (6-8 clips, pushed in a soft plastic stick and pulled gently) and - what a relief - it was nearly dry below. Only some water on a plastic ring of the shifter.
It appears like the seats and carpets didn't suck up that much water.
Regarding the switches the dealer stated, I needn't worry that much, they certainly designed them with the fact in mind that they could get wet from time to time.
So, with help of A/C, wind and sun, I dry the carpets.
On my way home I bought a plastic canvas 6x5m which hovers 2m over my baby now - looks silly but hey something's at stake here !
Sunchild: Yes, I've found your thread in the meantime - unfortunately it was one of the last ones when searching for "water". I'm very sorry about what happened to you! My baby fortunately wasn't a real aquarium yet (only the shifter) and the damage wasn't that bad as to replace any part (yet). To be honest, I paniked at first but after seening things at the dealer, I'm much more relaxed now. After cleaning things I think I could nearly forget.
Nevertheless, I think in your case, it's increddible that the garage got away with it ! With $325/mth I'd expect a driver with white gloves and of course a perfectly clean and protected garage...
Jason B: Thanks a lot for the hint ! I will try to get hold of this product here in Switzerland. In the meantime I've found out that Rick's newly offers a leather care set . Might be an alternative.
Thanks a lot to all of you for your support and suggestions !
PS: Seeing the pictures now, somehow I can't believe that this is my baby ...
URGENT: Water inside car (need help)
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