I had the exact same thing happen in my mustang you should have put the original intake on and the would have fixed it right away i had a cold air and i swapped them out before claiming insurance so they would fix it and by putiing the intake on you voided your manufactures warranty because it is not original equipment so you messed up a little by not sweapping them out

 

his cai is not the reason his insurance company is denying his claim. while the intake did make it easier for the water to enter the intake and ruin his engine. their take on this claim is he drove into the puddle intentionaly, which is not an accident. wether this is due to his own admission of entering the puddle or their assumption is unclear. now if everyone re-reads his posts( sorry i dont mean to pick on you and i really dont wanna be a d*** but) his story has already changed twice...... insurace companies love when stories change, trust me they do write all this **** down everytime they talk to you. the story may be true but his spittin it out in pieces and maybe not in the correct order which also looks bad.
huge difference between " i drove into a puddle and you fell off a driveway".
now if your on a private construction site lookin at homes 4sale without a sales rep with you, technically your trespassing. another reason for the ins co. to deny your claim. vehicle used in the commision of a crime.
did u file a police report it would have made a huge difference. it would have helped your credibilty, any pics of the "accident scene".... dumb stuff like that can go a long way in gettin them to pay.
if it was an accident, not a muddin run gone bad........

 

and this is why i've always stated the insurance is a waste of money and time.unfortunately you have to have it.

 

with the insurance company were past the point of what happened. now were down to them saying that it is in my policy that they dont have to pay because of the cai. no matter what happened. i talked to another person from the insurance company, told him what was going on and he is supposed to call me back tomm. im still waiting for the proof in writing that they dont have to pay because its modified. that seems to be all that they are focusing on is the intake. yeah i should have put the original one back on before anything but i got rid of it 3 years ago. there claiming that the clause is in the policy but i cnt find it. everytime i ask someone from geico to prove it to me in writing thats the last that i hear from them. they actually had the nerve to send me a survey about it making shure i would give them exceptional reviews.

 

Insurance companies ARE NOT stupid and they spend millions employing claims negotiators (my ex wife was one for 14 years) and investigators to find faults with claims so they don't have to pay out! Now they are not all evil and they do cut you some slack if they know you are being honest with them and trust me they know through experience. Every body hates paying out insurance until someone hits you and the company fights on your behalf or you crash into someones house and get landed with a $100k bill! Now your ins. is having a beef with you regarding your story of events and or your undeclared modification. I can see their point re the mod. Take for example me with a stock air filter box; Three years ago we had major flooding here in PA, I mean the water levels here were higher then the 76 floods which were the last 500 year floods!! For two days I drove my truck around helping friends etc that were affected. There were numerous times that I was driving my truck through flooded areas ALMOST UP TO MY WINDSHIELD!!! That is the God's honest truth! I was driving my truck submerged almost up to my windshield wipers!!! What happened? Nothing! Up to this day my engine is totaly fine. Now I would not recommend anyone doing this as without a snorkle intake it is very dangerous for the engine and without knowledge of currents etc. it could be FATAL! I did spend a few years in Europe off roading and in my time only destroyed one engine going through water (didn't know there was a big hole in the puddle that buried my Land Rover up to my neck!!!!) Now insurance companies know or can contact the manufacturers regarding how much standing water a vehicle is designed to go through without complications. If you don't then they have got you and they will deny your claim. Or if they think you are lying about the events that lead up to your claim. What I am saying here is that one, you should have declared the CAI and two, been honest with them regarding what you were doing and three, if you didn't want to be honest get your damn story straight before you called them! By all means get a lawyer and try to fight them but when the lawyer calls you in for your first consult be ENTIRELY HONEST with them so he can see if you have got a case. If you lie to him or her and it comes out later in court boy you are going to get a bill that will make the price of an engine rebuild seem insignificant!

 

Why don't you just buy an aftermarket air filter and put it on the truck along with the stock intake? If you told them a brand name, just make sure the air filter doesn't have a name on it. Ohh, make sure you pour a little water on top of the air filter while it's in the box so that way there's moisture in there!

I would seriously stop talking to them and get a lawyer. it's not going to be as much as you would think. Maybe a few hundred bucks but that should be it. Ususally the lawyer can tell you whether or not with the first sitting. Most of the time it takes 1 letter in writing from the lawyers office to the Insurance company and they send the money.
Shiiiaat for all you know, the lawyer could tell you that you can sue them for not paying out on dividends or whatever they call it.
Also, the lawyers speech never changes as your can and they use it against you.

 

i noticed that you have a 3" lift on your truck and you still hydro locked it you must have been in at least a 1.5' of water to even start being hydro locked or going extremly fast through it so there must be something we are not hearing and i have been in the same exact situation so i do feel your pitty but i was also driving a ford mustang and it sits 5" of the ground and the water was probably about 8" deep

 

I have a CAI and I went through this puddle and guarantee there is more then 2 feet of water! Plus what splashed up! You can even see if coming out my grill!

So really, How deep was that water? I have a hard time believing that 2 feet would do it??

http://www.youtube.com/user/nohesitation64

 

Yes I would be interested to know as I have said in my previous post that I had mine almost up to the wipers!!!

P.S. forgot to mention my electrics did throw a fit though!

 

after a month or so of going up the food chain at geice they are going to pay to fix my truck. they kept tellingme that in my policy was the clause about having made a modification to the air intake gives them the authority to deny the claim because i didnt report the change to them. i kept on calling asking to see it in writing because i couldnt find it in my policy. that person wouldnt return my phone calls. and that happened through about 6 people i think. then finally i got to this one guy, went through the speal of what was going on with him, told me he would call me back, figured i wouldnt hear from him again but about 5 minutes later the adjuster's supervisor called me said that it is a gray area in my coverage and that they are going to extend coverage to it and honor the claim. so basically what i figured is that they were lying the whole time about the clause in my policy just so they wouldnt have to pay. but who cares my truck is gonna get fixed now.