So i ran into some water with my truck. 30000 miles on it. still under warranty. Hydrolocked the engine. broke #1 and #8 rod. oh and blew a hole in the #1 cylinder. Dealer wont touch it. Hydrolocked engine not covered under warranty. Ok turn it into my insurance. Now after a month long special investigation they wont touch it because i have an aftermarket cold air intake. so now im stuck with i truck that im still paying for that wont run becaue the motor is blown and i cant afford to put a new one in. Does anyone have any thoughts or angles i could use on this to try to get something done. I pay for a new truck so i have a warranty, i pay for insurance and its all useless. what good does it do me. first time i need any of it i get shafted.

 

Get a lawyer. Insurance has to pay. It should have nothing to do with any aftermarket intake! I can see if that's the reason the dealer won't touch it, but insurance has to pay plain and simple! Pal up with the law!

 

There are several ways you can seek satisfaction.

• 1. Talk to your agent or the claims manager at your insurance company. Explain your side of the matter. Provide copies of supporting documents. Also, send a letter and documents to the claims executive at the insurance company's headquarters whose address is usually found on the first page of the policy.
• 2. Call the National Insurance Consumer Helpline. If after hearing from your insurance company's claims executive, you still feel your claim hasn't been handled properly, call 800-942-4242. It is a toll-free consumer information telephone service sponsored by the insurance industry. Trained personnel and licensed agents are available to assist consumers who have complaints. The Helpline operates Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. ET.
• 3. Contact your state insurance department. Explain the reasons for the disagreement to a consumer services representative at the department. He or she will discuss the matter with your insurer and help to resolve any difference so the claim can be settled.
• 4. Consult an attorney. The American Bar Association notes that many situations involving legal matters can be handled by consumers on their own, without a lawyer. If you do hire an attorney, provide them with a copy of your insurance policy and all other relevant documents. If the insurance company has made a settlement offer, tell your attorney about it and ask if he or she believes that a lawsuit will help you get a larger settlement, net of the attorney's fees. Attorneys usually work on an hourly rate, but with cases involving injuries, they generally work on a contingency basis. Get your attorney's fee structure in writing before you decide to pursue the case. If you hire an attorney, you will no longer talk directly with the insurance company. You can remain current on the progress of your claim by insisting that you receive copies from your attorney of all correspondence involving your case. Your attorney must have your agreement before committing to any settlement.

 

Your insurance company cannot drop your coverage if you deal with an attorney. They cannot drop insurance unless they provide proof of multiple situations. If they do drop you, it won't be until AFTER they correct the situation. By then who cares, there's lots of insurance companies. It's far better than pulling money out of your pocket other than ofcourse your deductible which by the way is Comprehensive not collision deductible. Most of the time this is lower than your collision deductible. You would have to look at your policy for reference.
Also, Dang Hammer, you must have a Sh*tload of favorite web pages and articles on your desktop! Your just full of info lately...lol

 

Who is your insurance company? If you have some small mom and pop local insurance company, I can see this happening as they have alot of fine print about this stuff. Now if you have State Farm, Geico or someone big and national, it would be kinda weird that they are giving you this problem.

But yeah, I would do everything that hammer mentioned

 

how much is some water???? come on now. it wasnt a little puddle was it. 3" lift and about 33's. they're gonna take one look at your truck and leave you hangin. the cai was your downfall, worked like a funnel. your not gonna wanna hear this but, i dont think the insurace is goin to pony up any money, they will say it was due to your operation of the vehicle in a situation that could cause this exact failure. I've spent years wheelin and seen a lot of failures that people tried to pass off to their insurance companies and it almost never works. the exceptions were items like glass and minor dents, stuff that could be blamed on highway traffic and parking lots.
"I pay for a new truck so i have a warranty, " reread your warranty, they cover manufacturing defects not water logged engines. you can try to push the ins. company but i think your on your own. now for the part thats goin to **** you off. its your fault, you did something the truck wasnt built for and it broke. so face reality buy the parts and fix it.

 

Insurance is insurance! IMO they should have to pay a claim no matter how you are using your vehicle, as long as you were operating it in a legal manner. They shouldn't be able to "pick & choose" to cover where they wish.
I put in a claim for damage to the first bass boat I ever had back in about 1994. Hit an underwater stump on a section of lake that my depthfinder showed to be about 12' deep. The motor hit hard and cracked the hell out of the transom and I got estimates at around $2500 to basically rebuild & re-glass the entire transom. State Farm tried to tell me they were not going to honor the claim because I was operating the boat in an unsafe manner due to the possibility of underwater obstructions.
It took one letter from my lawyer and about nine days and I had the check in my mailbox.
Moral is - maybe you just need to go find you a lawyer who will send a nasty letter for you...

 

I agree with Hammer. It doesn't matter how it happened. It happened. I mean, what would you expect them to do if you accidentally drove into a flooded section of the road? You would expect them to fix your vehicle or replace it because that's wht you pay insurance for.

Also, sounds like someone was going mud boggening and had a little too much fun and then something completely spoiled the fun. That sucks, but I would def pal up and get your truck a nice brandy new engine.
You still have the choice where to bring your truck to get fixed! Don't let them pass you off to a Joe Shmo garage. You have the right to go to the dealership and get the work performed there. If you go to a little garage, the insurance company I guarantee you is going to tell them to find a low mileage or comparable mileage engine of what you had and slap it in there! They have started using "guaranteed used" parts in the past few years. My wife ended up getting a used taillamp on her 3day old car when someone rearended her. WTF. So much for Progressives policy. Your lawyer will be able to tell you everything. I would assume it will cost roughly $500 for a lawyer all said and done and you may even be able to get that money back through small claims.

 

i have to agree somewhat with you guys and somewhat with galvatron. i can't stand people that do things that easily will do harm to a vehicle and hate when it trys to be pawned off on the dealership or something else. but then again insurance is insurance. you buy it to help you when accidents happen.

 

You did not run into "some" water to do that. You ran into HEAVY water, the kind you should turn around type kind of water. I can also see where the CAI may have contributed. Water comes crashing in through the grill and right into the CAI, vs into the bottom of the airbox. That is just a thought.

I understand why the insurance company would deny based on that reason, not really an accident that occured during everyday driving, I am guessing you knew going in you should not do it. We had some flooding rain here a couple years back. I drove my Jeep GC through a foot, but when I came up to the 1+ foot areas I turned around.

With that said you probably can get the insurance comany to pay, but it will take money for lawyers, ect, plus time. Because of that cost I would re-finance your truck (assuming you have some equity) and get the money to put in the new engine (3-4K). I know, not what you want to hear, but again, given you already have been denied it will take a lot of persuasion to get them to pay. Outside of that read all the fine print in your policy for anything that states no coverage if x occurs. If you do not see it outlined in your policy then you can try the calm approach with a management level person at the insurance co.