Drove through a puddle which was too deep for my car - advice with making an insurance claim

[Forgottenmyphone]

My car is now in a dreadful state - the engine and electrics don’t work. I’m fully comp, but the wording in my policy says they’ll only pay if it was unavoidable flood damage. Not sure if this counts. If it helps, I didn’t see any signs warning about a flood from the direction I was coming.

A puddle did that????

sorry, But I think because you chose to drive through it it wasn’t avoided ….
I think the ‘unavoidable’ is when you E.g go to bed and wake up to find external weather conditions and a half submerged vehicle

I didn’t see any signs warning about a flood from the direction I was coming.

But presumably you saw a body of water that looked more than just a large "puddle" and decided to chance it??

I do wish you luck though …. We’ve all done it … but it sounds like you’ve been the unlucky one

“Unavoidable”, you won’t be covered.

Is it a diesel car?

technically roads can have no markings and no signs to be legal roads.

flooding/puddles are a common occourance and a driver should be able to judge depth and not drive through if unsure.

call your insurance. they are unlikely to pay out.

Bloody hell. How big was the puddle?

You won't be covered.

I just rang them up and told them I went through a flood that I didn't see.

They gave me a new engine.

My dad did this and insurance paid as it was written off. About 5 years ago. Treated like an accident.

The thing to know if you do this is don't try to start it once it cuts out in water. Need pushing/pulling out.

When you say "puddle", I think you meant to write "obvious large body of water which shouldn't have been driven into".

When did you do it? I'd give it some time to dry out if you've only just done it, see if it solves itself at least partially.

I'm interested in how some people think we have a choice?
I drive down country lanes etc how am I supposed to avoid what might be too deep water when I can't turn around?. A car may crash into me if I stop?
How do we judge it?
It seems some posters think it's easy to avoid flood water, I think on a high street it might be?

I guess it was a bad error of judgment on my part. I’ve driven through that puddle many a time before as others do and were doing when it happened. I just didn’t realise that it was deeper than usual.

@Namechangedagain3.

Is that a supportive helpful post in the spirit of mn?

@Forgottenmyphone.. We are in extreme rain conditions, of course it's not easy to judge bloody how deep things are! What on earth do some posters expect..

@CattingAbout This evening on the way home from work. Yes, I’ve been advised to let it dry out first but I’m not feeling optimistic

How can a puddle be deeper than usual? Unless the raid has subsided isn't it always the same depth?

I can't picture what you mean

I don't see how a driver could be expected to judge the depth of a puddle. If you were trying to ford a river I could understand them not paying out.

A friend got caught out like that recently, the main A road was shut due to flooding so people were trying to find alternative routes and she got caught in rapidly rising water. Insurance paid out and she now has a replacement vehicle.

How are you supposed to know how deep a puddle is if you can only see the surface of the puddle? Can you tell how deep a lake is by looking at it?

I'm intrigued what's going to happen to cars who are flooded in one of the car parks in York that often floods and had signs saying "Closed due to flooding"

Will their insurers pay out?

Unlikely to be covered as you could have avoided it.