I have just had my Mercedes E280 CDI (Nov 06) written off by my insurance company. Due to the financing balance I have to pay £8k and end up with no car. There’s not a scratch on it and all the electronics work fine. It was a beautiful car.

 The same could happen to you because there is a widespread lack of information and awareness around the issue I uncovered to my cost. Read on to see how you can avoid a load of aggravation, frustration, lost money and lost car. Simple lesson number 1: If you are driving and the road ahead is flooded, even by just a couple of inches, turn back or it is highly likely that you will lose your car.  Driving home one night a few weeks ago I continued on the road with other traffic in what was a fairly shallow (2 – 3”) flood but a 4x4 came the other way at speed and the bow wave went right up my air intake, caused hydraulic compression aqua-lock that bent a couple of rods and ruined the engine. All in about 5 secs.  But the insurance company would have replaced the engine; they wrote the car off for another reason…… Simple lesson number 2: The more expensive your car is, the more susceptible you are to having it written off when wet. Why? Because the more expensive cars are increasingly controlled by computers. In their infinite wisdom designers like Mercedes and others put all the control boxes, PCBs and wiring UNDERNEATH THE CAR. The minute they get wet the insurance company considers that the risk of intermittent faults later on is so great that they just won’t underwrite the car and choose to write it off. I even offered to pay to replace the control boxes but they still wouldn’t accept it. Simple lesson number 3: If you must drive into a flooded road then make sure you have “gap” insurance so that you get the full value of replacing your car. I didn’t and had to pay the difference between the Finance balance and the current value = £8k. And I have no car.  Simple Rage: During my investigation I found out that this is a much more common situation than you might think. About 11 instances in two garages in the last 6 months. The trade and the insurance companies all seem to know about it, but why don’t we? And why on earth do the car designers put air intakes so low and the electronics underneath the car?  It’s like putting your computer next to the sink, kettle and coffee-making area in the office or at home. Final Rage: I contacted Mercedes on this and they were completely unhelpful. They told me that it was “up to your insurance company” and that was that.  Insurance payouts are masking the real issue; drivers that aren’t aware of how serious a simple flooded road can be and car designers that don’t seem to care about this issue at all. So, basically the insurance companies (this really means you and me) are paying for poor design in (high-end) cars. I’m really interested in your views.

GAP insurance is very useful if you have financed your car as it offsets the depreciation - especially on high end cars where there is likely to be a big differential. A lot of insurers will also replace new for old in the first year as well without having the GAP cover - of which there are different types as well.

I would have thought by now that most manufacturers would have learned to place the air intake (especially in diesels where this problem is more common and serious) much higher.  I am lucky - my last car (Volvo V40) had the intake in the top of the front wing and my Subaru's is at the top of the radiator.

Most manufacturers also put the ECU's and things inside the car behind the dash and high up in the engine bay (for easy access) so this is quite poor really from Mercedes.  Unfortunately to take on Mercedes would be very costly and difficult and so I think you are stuck with the insurer's decision.

The twunt in the 4WD coming the other way should have a serious slap for his inconsiderate driving as well.

Advice number 2:

Unless you know where the electronics and air intake are don't just keep going like a twonk...

 Mines up at the top of the bonnet so provided I can still breath I can still go.
 

Sorry to hear about you write off, its amazing how what seems to be such a minor incident can write a car off. 

On the subject of GAP insurance I have had various conversations with GAP insurers when looking for cover.  Some companies insure overseas which means no protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the other thing I found major differences with was are you covered in the event of theft when your keys are stolen. 

I eventually narrowed it down to www.gap-insurance-online and www.ala.co.uk

I went with www.ala.co.uk who also gave me a discount code PRM1068 which gave me an extra discount.

Hope this helps.

can you not buy back the car from the insurers, using your settlement and have it repaired yourself?

 then at least you have the car  to show for the money your paying off?

Papabear:

In their infinite wisdom designers like Mercedes and others put all the control boxes, PCBs and wiring UNDERNEATH THE CAR

Not entirely true. Some sensors of the E-Class can be found under the boot, in the engine bay, in the door sills, near the gearlever etc.; of course, some are quite low in the car but they are placed in such a way that it's difficult for water to reach them; that would probably be the result of a blocked channel.