Happy birthday to me...

[NIKwoaC]

So yesterday was my birthday, and it really wasn't a bad birthday, but today I woke up to a disaster.

I live in an apartment building, as does my '86, in what is normally a cozy little garage. Well sometime last night, a water line froze, cracked, and set off the sprinkler system in the "town house" apartment right above my garage. As bad as I'm sure the people above my garage have it, my poor baby got soaked- water worked its way through the floor and flooded my car. I had the windows rolled down, the hood propped open, even the hatch was open, because I was in the middle of some work on the car from the previous weekend. It couldn't have been worse without having the T-tops off. Luckily the battery was disconnected, so I don't think there is any electrical damage, even though the engine bay was soaked.

Water pooled in the floor behind the front seats, filled the map pocket, and even puddled in the center console (I have no idea how it got that far into the car with just the windows open ). Surprisingly, the drip rails did their job and no water got into the hatch area.

I spent the better part of a couple hours Shop-Vac'ing the damn thing dry.

MY question to StangNet is this: Should I take any action on the apartment complex? My girlfriend and I talked to her aunt, which is a lawyer. She looked into it and said that basically the apartment is financially responsible for any damages caused here. But other than me being pissed off and taking the time to suck-dry the car, I really don't think there are any permanent, measurable damages. My girlfriend is pretty adamant that I see if I can get the apt owner to pay for a complete interior shampoo and detail. Wouldn't be a bad deal, I just don't know if its worth the headache right now, as I'm sure the apt complex will put up a fight.

What do you think, StangNet?

I'll post pictures of the car (as I found it this morning) tomorrow...

 

[DeVus1]

Not reading. Provide cliffs.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Not reading. Provide cliffs.

Sorry.

Pipe cracked. Apartment flooded. Car got wet on inside. What should I do?

 

[DeVus1]

If you have insurance, go through them. They should repair the damage and reclaim damages from your apartment complex. Check with your insurance company first though.

 

[lang williams]

that sounds reasonable ( the shampoo). check everything out an make sure all is well with the electrical system. get a quote on a complete interior shampooing an ask the apartment manger to pay it. If you can, run a dehumidifier in the garage with the car windows open.

 

[1990_LX]

I think you'd have a leg to stand on if you said you had no other option other than getting it detailed to avoid possible mold/mildew. if your interior got soaked, what about electronics like radio/amps/subs/ speakers?

 

[bentley429]

*starts loading shells*, yep I'd tell them to detail the car...

 

[NIKwoaC]

*starts loading shells*, yep I'd tell them to detail the car...

What do you mean by that?

I looked into it today and found a local company that specializes in carpet and upholstery cleaning, and emergency water damage cleaning/drying. Obviously its more of a home/house operation, but they do cars, too. I think I'm going to pursue that.

My real worry is that after using a towel and a ShopVac, I still can't get the carpet completely dry, and it isn't going to air dry this time of year...

 

[bentley429]

Loading a shotgun, its a joke. Possibly they could buy you a new carpet instead and shampoo the seats? I would be nervous about the water not fulling drying under the carpet myself. Will smell terrible and could develop some rust, hard to say not knowing what the floors look like.

 

[glowstang93]

I would think pulling carpet up would be in order, if dampness stays under there, smell and rust could be an issue big time.

I'm sure you don't want to make too many waves, especially if you like living there, but i would think the landlords would share some responsibility for the plumbing failure.

If not do you have comprehensive on the car?

 

[Mustang5L5]

You are due new carpet at the minimum i would think.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Well, I won't get the opportunity to talk to the property manager until tomorrow, and I got to thinking about rust and freaking out so I dove in and pulled the whole interior, carpet, rear seats, everything except the dash (which wasn't wet). I have the carpet hanging on the wall for the time being to air dry.

The GOOD news is, the floorboards are COMPLETELY mint, no rust whatsoever. They actually look almost factory fresh, I was very pleased.

Speaking of the factory, I found what appears to be a manufacturer's build sheet under the carpet, and if I understand it right, my car was born March 12, 1986. Pretty sweet.

Anyway, I spoke with the water damage restoration company and they estimated that the car would be a $800 repair. I imagine that wouldn't go over smoothly with the apt complex. I'm still going to see if I can get free garage rent for a month, or maybe have them pay for just new carpet, which is like what, $150?

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Didn't read it, but happy B-Day regardless.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Didn't read it, but happy B-Day regardless.

Ha, yea sorry again about the wordy post. I was traumatized from the situation. Thanks for the happy b-day.

 

[stykthyn]

that's why insurance co's offer renters insurance. if the the complex manager was negligent and allowed the place to be in such a state of disrepair then you may be due compensation, but a freak accident is normally not covered unless you are insured for it. I would talk to your auto insurane co and see what they say, and if you dont have it already get a quote for a renter's policy. on top of taking care of your stuff, it will also cover the building if you accidentally drive the car through a wall or set the place on fire( I have seen it happen).

 

[strtrcr50]

Not reading. Provide cliffs.

Stop it. His post wasn't that long.

 

[glowstang93]

Yea, i checked with my insurance company and even though my car is in the garage, it is not covered by homeowners,,, anything that can have a separate policy purchased is not covered under homeowners/renters insurance. Renters insurance is a good thing to have, but this would be under your car insurance, unless you can prove the place did something that endangered your car on purpose. Thats my take on it.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Yea, i checked with my insurance company and even though my car is in the garage, it is not covered by homeowners,,, anything that can have a separate policy purchased is not covered under homeowners/renters insurance. Renters insurance is a good thing to have, but this would be under your car insurance, unless you can prove the place did something that endangered your car on purpose. Thats my take on it.

That is interesting, because everybody I talk to first asks, "do you have renter's insurance?" If it wouldn't have covered this anyway, then I don't see the point.

Come to find out that there were at least two other buildings in my apartment community that had some sort of a water line failure/damage after temperatures hit 10 below last week. My building alone had a separate incident (that required my dining room carpet be lifted for drying) about a month ago, so I imagine most of the buildings have had some sort of issues, but obviously weren't advertised by the property manager.

I'm just disgusted at this point, because I pay a pretty decent amount of rent to live here, so I feel like **** like this shouldn't be going on.

 

[67coupe]

First, Happy Birthday!

Sorry about the car.

Start with $800 quote you have. If the manager doesn't bite, work toward new carpet, and/or free garage rental.

 

[NIKwoaC]

Pics of the destruction:

Yay, pictures!