Mumbai: After the rain, a long wait-list for car repairs

After witnessing the fury of rains for over three days motorists are facing a bigger challenge mdash repairing their brokendown vehicles as almost all service centres are overbooked leading to a waiting period of three to 20 days Over 400 cars in a BMC parking lot in Thakur Complex Kandivli were damaged as the place got flooded during the recent heavy rain Those whose cars were completely submerged are waiting to get them checked by insurance companiesThe cars were removed by the BMC from the parking lot after water was pumped out Their owners have said that only the BMC is responsible for the damage as they were not asked to move their cars Even as they took them to the service centres they encountered a long queueKandivli resident Santosh Mirashi owns a Swift Dzire car ldquoMy car was submerged for two days This caused severe damages and my car refuses to move I was paying Rs 2200 as parking charges for the month The engine battery seats and the carrsquos body are all completely damaged I have applied for insurance and am waiting for the survey I hope my claim gets approved With the long waiting period at service centres I think it will take at least a month to get my vehicle working againrdquo Mirashi saidAlso read Mumbai Rains IMD issues Orange Alert for next two daysAlpesh Shedge bought his secondhand Swift Dzire car only two weeks agoDipesh Mahadik who owns an Ertiga said ldquoMy area was flooded during the rain so I rushed to check on my car at the BMC parking lot The place was completely flooded and my car was invisible It is a huge loss for me It will cost me Rs 2 lakh to repair it at the workshop which also has a huge waiting periodrdquoAlpesh Shedge a Kandivli resident who works in a diamond factory said ldquoI purchased a secondhand Swift Dzire car only two weeks ago and parked it at the BMCrun parking lot I paid Rs 2000 as charges Now this incident has happened I have given my car to a Dahisarbased repair centre Itrsquos going to cost me more than Rs 80000 The BMC should pay us for the damages as they failed to alert us to remove the carsrdquoBacklog at service centresService centres on the other hand are facing immense pressure and are having to work day and night to reduce the backlogModi Hyundai in Goregaon said that they are constantly fielding calls from customers enquiring about the waiting period ldquoCurrently 115 cars are waiting to get repaired each has to wait for at least four to five daysrdquo said an executive from the centreAn executive at Maruti Suzuki Service Prabhadevi said ldquoWe have more than 50 cars waiting to be serviced all damaged by floods Many motorists who are approaching us are from western Mumbairdquo An executive at Maruti Service centre in Ghatkopar said that they have a fiveday waiting periodMohan Shetty from Wasan Motors Kandivli said they too are facing a similar scenario ldquoThe waterlogging in many areas has damaged vehicles Our service centre currently has 15 cars but we are consistently getting enquiries about repairsrdquo Shetty saidNaresh Kudalkar a garage owner at Mulund said ldquoThere is certainly an increase in brokendown vehicles coming to the garage I have more than five vehicles coming for repairs dailyrdquoInsurance dilemmaMany vehicle owners are in a dilemma as insurance companies usually pay minimum claim amounts for vehicles damaged in floods Insurers said that it all depends on the extent of the damage and the kind of insurance policyPriti Shah of New India Insurance said ldquoWe can see damage to vehicles across the city due to waterlogging But it has not been reflected in terms of insurance claims yet as it is a long process We believe that they will reach us later this week Going by news reports of incidents there will be a lot of work in the near futurerdquolsquoIt was natural calamityrsquoAssistant Municipal Commissioner Sandhya Nandekar of R North ward told midday ldquoI just took charge of the ward and our engineers are working on it and they will provide information on thisrdquo The executive engineer of the ward Mahadev Shinde told midday ldquoBMC is not responsible for the damages as it is a natural calamity On that day around 200 mm rain occurred because of which water got accumulated inside the parking lot We tried to remove the water with the help of pumps but failed because the force was too much We couldnrsquot inform car owners as the rain had suddenly increased On that day rainwater came in force from the Asha Nagar nullah which overflowed and from Damu Nagar hills It was impossible to stop it It was like the 2005 deluge We have sent all files to the BMC head officerdquo