Swamped Cars Almost Total Loss, Insurers Say

Motorists returning to the scene of the grime Tuesday to reclaim their previously submerged vehicles discovered that cars costing thousands of dollars going into the inundated Sepulveda Basin are now almost worthless scrap.

Unless any of the four dozen cars trapped in Monday’s flood are vintage vehicles valued more for history than for transportation, the expense of restoration would far outweigh the price of the car itself, insurance claims adjusters and automobile experts said Tuesday.

“The labor would be exorbitant,” said Gurbux Singh, assistant service manager at David Ellis Chrysler-Plymouth in Canoga Park. “You could start replacing parts and not come to any end.”

Piecing together a car purchased for $60,000 could cost as much as $250,000, said Gary Wales, a Woodland Hills man who has restored classic automobiles.

The vehicles would have to be completely stripped. Interior items such as leather upholstery and carpeting, as well as the car’s wiring harnesses and computer components, would probably require total replacement. Even then, the car would probably never operate as well as it did, Wales said.

“You could start rusting from the inside out,” Singh said. “The outside looks clean because it’s had a good wash, but inside it has no protection.”

Brian Howllick, who works for State Farm Insurance in Mission Hills, said his company will almost certainly write the cars off. “Those are total-loss vehicles,” he said.