Adjusters Total Flood-Stricken Trucks; Owners Still Retrieve, Repair Vehicles

This story appears in the Nov. 26 print edition of Transport Topics.

Floodwaters left by Superstorm Sandy sent many commercial trucks to the junk yard, and service providers are warning that those vehicles that can be repaired probably will face recurring maintenance issues.

Though insurance companies are totaling the majority of the trucks that were partially submerged in the contaminated water, some carriers have no choice but to repair their vehicles or go out of business, according to dealers in areas hit hardest by the storm.

Joe Pezzolla, service manager and dealer principal at Frank’s Truck Center and Meadowlands Freightliner in Lyndhurst, N.J., said numerous flood-damaged trucks have come to his business, and most of them are total losses.

“The insurance companies are totaling for salvage without really even pricing a lot of stuff because they don’t want to be responsible for supplement after supplement,” he said. “The water thing is kind of touchy because you think you have it all, but then you develop corrosion issues throughout the harness and other areas. It can be an endless thing.”

Alex Ciraco, a service writer at the Jamaica, N.Y., location of Gabrielli Truck Sales, said his customers have more flood-

damaged trucks than the service shop can take.

“We definitely had a lot of stuff come in that was damaged,” he said. “A lot of them are a total loss.” Ciraco estimated that 75% of the trucks were totaled, particularly after salt water rose to the dashboard and seeped into the electrical circuits.

The National Automobile Dealers Association estimated that between 100,000 and 250,000 cars and light trucks were damaged as a result of Sandy but did not have an estimate for the number of medium- and heavy-duty trucks that were damaged by the storm.

Insurance adjusters are totaling trucks without a fuss.

“They’re not even looking at numbers. They’re lifting up floor mats, feeling the mat, and if the mat’s wet or they see a water line above the floor, it’s a done deal,” said Pezzolla, adding that Class 8 tractors that he’s been able to save “weren’t in 6 feet of water; they were in 2 feet of water.”

For example, the cost of repairs on one of the tractors he fixed was about $6,800 for a $90,000 vehicle.

“The water on that truck was about 3 feet high, so it did get in the fuel system; it did get in the rear axle; it did get in the transmission; but it did not get in the engine,” Pezzolla said. “We cleaned the harnesses out; we replaced the battery; we replaced the starter. Anything that hit the water, we replaced, but it didn’t amount to be that much. So the guys who are walking in and totaling everything are just making the job easy and filling up the scrap yards with trucks.”

About 80% of the flood-damaged heavy-duty trucks are being totaled, he estimated.

For the trucks that are repaired, the business is adding a disclosure on work orders that the vehicle was in a flood, he said.

Pezzolla said some customers are buying their trucks back and fixing them anyway, even though they have coverage, “because they’re out of business without the trucks.”

“You can’t go out and refinance a whole fleet, even though you’re getting insurance money, because your insurance money isn’t coming that quick,” he said.

The amount of repairs necessary for a vehicle damaged by floodwater depends on the level of immersion, the concentration of salt and contaminants and duration of exposure, said Juergen Steinhart, manager of service systems and documentation at Daimler Trucks North America.

For engines and transmissions, Steinhart said, it is crucial for technicians to analyze whether water or contaminants mixed with the oil. They also should check for water in the fuel system, he added.

Depending on the amount of water, systems may require a simple flush of the engine oil system, all the way to a complete disassembly, cleanup and rebuilding of the transmission, Steinhart said.

Water also poses a serious threat to trucks’ electronic components.

“Once the water rises above the floor of the cab, critical vehicle controllers as well as all major powertrain controllers will be impacted,” Steinhart said.

Mike Kalkoske, director of quality services for Kenworth Truck Co., based in Kirkland, Wash., said electronic control units that were submerged should be replaced because board-mounted components could have been damaged. Electrical connections should be disconnected, dried and inspected for corrosion, he added.