Mangaluru: As the city is recovering from the shock of heavy showers, its aftermath has kept scores of car and two-wheeler service centres busy. Vehicles into whose engines water entered and got damaged, are flooding service centres across the city. An estimated 400 cars were damaged either fully or partially due to the deluge on Tuesday.

On Wednesday and Thursday, many cars could be seen being towed to service centres after they were damaged due to water entering their engines. “It is estimated that nine hours of continuous rain damaged over 400 cars, most of which are hatchbacks and sedans. So far, our service centre itself received around 105 cars, and queries are still coming in in this regard,” said a manager of a leading car brand showroom.

Another car showroom manager said since it is the first time they are facing such a problem in the city, they are collecting inputs from places which faced such a deluge in the past, like Chennai. Even insurance companies are holding emergency meetings to discuss how to assess losses and disburse compensation to damaged vehicles under legal norms.

Based on the extent of damage, some car and motorbike showrooms have categorised them into A, B and C. A top executive from a car brand explained that A category vehicles are those which got damaged due to being completely submerged, B category refers to partially submerged vehicles and C category vehicles are those which were submerged up to the level of the wheel or bottom of the door.

The executive said if a car owner tries to start a car into whose engine water has entered, and move it, they are at a high risk of damaging their vehicle due to a phenomenon known as ‘hydrostatic locking’.

This is not covered under the ‘engine protection’ clause in different car insurance policies, said sources. “Disbursal of insurance settlement for other categories of vehicles damaged will be disbursed according to the policy of the respective insurance company, and case by case settlement will be done, where the engine protection clause has been opted for. This is a first-time situation as far as the Dakshina Kannada district is concerned. So, a lot of data is being collected regarding past examples of a similar nature, to give proper and decisive settlement of claims,” the executive added.

“The brake liners, clutch plate and pads get bloated due to being immersed in water over a period of time. The electronics in present-day or new generation cars may start acting up over time, due to the contaminated water affecting the various couplers, junctions, wiring harnesses and their ports, due to slow corrosion. This may not show up immediately though. These are some of the risks that car owners need to understand. It’s a Herculean task, to repair such vehicles and a thankless job for vehicle service centres,” an executive pointed out.

As a thumb rule, vehicles which received category A damage will cost in excess of Rs 1 lakh to repair for both petrol and diesel vehicles, otherwise it will cost below Rs 20,000 to repair. This is apart from rectifying or replacing damaged electronic components. The owner may have to cough up an additional Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 to clean up the entire car and replace soaked components which cannot be completely dried.

Two-wheeler service centres too have been flooded with vehicles which have been damaged due to rain. A source working at a two-wheeler service centre said most of the complaints included that of water entering the fuel tank and carburettor. “There has also been damage reported to electrical component of two-wheelers,’’ the source added.