Driving into water - Are you covered by insurance for damage. Rufford 29 August 2022 at 11:41AM in Motoring 44 replies 4.3K views

user1977

Aretnap said:

NBLondon said:

There's a ford at Bourton on the Water which is clearly marked as not suitable for motor vehicles.
Bourton-on-the-Water Ford: English Fords   So would that give the insurers a getout?

Probably to about the same extent as disregarding or failing to see a no entry sign, a red traffic light or a speed limit sign gives insurers a get out, ie not at all really.

Exactly - the whole point of insurance is that it covers you for doing stuff which you shouldn't have done...

sevenhills

Nobbie1967 said:

My dad wrecked his engine driving through standing water on a flooded road. Insurance paid out no problem.

I have never had insurance on an engine, perhaps when you buy the car from a main dealer?

forgotmyname

Ebe_Scrooge said:

I've heard this as well.  On the one hand it does sound perfectly logical - hot exhaust pipe, suddenly cools, creates a vacuum and sucks water back up into the engine.

But, to my mind, if you're driving through water that's deep enough to cover the exhaust pipe, surely the pipe is going to be pretty cold?  Yes, I know exhaust gasses are very hot, but if the pipe is submerged in water then it's going to be, at most, "a little bit warm".  Not hot enough to cause a sudden and very large vacuum if the engine stalls?

Bit of a delayed response...

Not just the exhaust but all the gas in the exhaust/manifold and engine. Yes the lower section will cool rapidly but the engine/manifold
will take a little longer to cool.  Just think of all those catalytic converters and DPF's going from hundreds of degrees celcius to tepid water
temperatures or lower in an instant.   Used CAT / DPF only thermal shocked x times...

mgfvvc

sevenhills said:

Nobbie1967 said:

My dad wrecked his engine driving through standing water on a flooded road. Insurance paid out no problem.

I have never had insurance on an engine, perhaps when you buy the car from a main dealer?

I've never had insurance (specifically) on a door, but my car insurance still paid out when my car door was caved in, in a station car park.