We get some rough estimates on the cost to fix a flooded car.
Yes, the recent flash floods were terrible and the effects are still lingering in many areas and the rain is back this week to scare some affected residents in areas where they are just about to recover from flood damage.
Meanwhile, we have seen how many car owners who do not have flood damage insurance are unable to decide whether to repair their cars or just scrap them.
As you probably know by now, cars in Malaysia are expensive to buy when new due to our high import duties and the idea of scrapping a car has never been thought about as old cars just get ‘pushed’ into small towns for the lower income group to buy and own.
For urban car users, the need for a reliable car is very necessary to get to work, move the family around and for the day to day running.
With a flooded car the situation for many is new and without any insurance coverage, what can they do. We did some research and here is our simple advice for you to consider.
If you are the owner of a basic simple car, like a first generation Toyota Wish, Proton Wira, Perodua Kenari or Nissan Sunny, then you are looking at about RM4,000 to RM6,000 to get your car back in good running condition. Please note that this only applies to cars that were NOT driven in the flash floods. Just cars that were parked in rising waters.
Now, with more modern technology filled cars, which are cars with added safety features and ‘talking’ infotainment system like Hi Proton! This will be a very expensive fix as the costs could run between RM9,000 to RM14,000 as the electronic control unit, infotainment system, gearbox controller and also automatic climate control systems will need to be replaced (cannot be fixed).
Plus, you might not get the cars back in even 90 percent condition as the wiring loom and its connectors sitting inside the dashboard might need replacing and this can only be confirmed after the car is returned to the owner and driven for a few days. The long term effects will be bad and this is why in the past, most flood damaged modern cars were fixed fast and then sold.
We know of a first generation Mercedes CLS, BMW F10, BMW X1, Nissan Murano, Toyota Alphard and Honda Accord (Perdana) flood damaged cars from the past few years that were sent for repair and even after repeat trips to the workshop to get small issues looked at, the cars were never even 90 percent fixed.
Most of the owners ended up selling their cars to used car dealers for a hefty loss and after a proper calculation of the repair costs and extended loss in the sale to a used car dealer, it was not worth it at all. It would have been better to just scrap the car from Day 1 and accept the fact.
For example, a used first generation perfect condition CLS today is worth about RM30,000 at best. The flood repair cost was close to RM14,000. The used car dealer offered just RM18,000. So with just RM4,000 back it was not worth the effort.
A 2014-2015 Honda Accord (Perdana) is worth about RM40,000 in the used market. A flood repair bill of about RM12,000 might still be worth the effort, but this is a car with little appeal for an owner to keep.
With flooded cars that have had serious body damage, like the Honda City pictured above, then the repair costs will be high and it will be better to do an insurance write-off and wait for your claim.
