Car service centres cash in post flooding

As hundreds of cars were submerged underwater when heavy rains lashed the city on Tuesday, garages and service centers across Mumbai are making a killing, especially this weekend. Over the past two days, many owners have towed their cars to local mechanics and service centers to get them checked. However, service centres and garages are charging exorbitant amounts, which could be almost 100-200 per cent more than the regular cost.

Since Wednesday, when the rains abated and waterlogging receded, hundreds of vehicles across Mumbai were towed to local mechanics or service centers. The towing van agencies cashed in as they charged more than 3-4 times of the actual cost just for towing. Owners of stranded vehicles had no option but to pay the high charges.

"We had to pay Rs 2,500 to get my car towed barely a kilometre from my home. I remember getting it towed because of some trouble few months back, for which I paid Rs 600-700," said D Sharma, resident of Kandivli, who had parkd his vehicle in Borivli (E).

But the problems don't end here. Once they give their vehicle to a service center, the probable minimum waiting time to get their vehicle back, is 15 days. People employed at these workshops claim that this could go up to even 20 days, depending on the damage incurred to a vehicle submerged underwater.

"We have already got 15 vehicles submerged in waterlogged areas. We expect more to come by this weekend," said an employee from Maruti Sai Service.

Each car would take at least 48 hours if it is even slightly run on waterlogged areas. The most vital parts that could get affected are the electronic fuse and engine. If this gets exposed to water then the wait period could go longer.

In fact, if water enters petrol and oil brackets, then it will have to be changed and replaced completely. Moreover, if these are not addressed then they claim it could lead to short circuit and affect the music system, head and tail lights as well.

"If the engine gets affected, then the cost could go up to Rs 1 lakh per car," said Joginder Khosla, mechanic from Sion Koliwada, working for last 50 years now. "We have already queued 20 vehicles outside our workshop and will take at least 2 days to return them."

Another mechanic, Santosh from Thakur Village said that in the next few days all mechanic shops will have too many vehicles to repair. "The average cost that a vehicle owner will have to shell out is Rs 20,000-30,000," said Santosh.

Service centers normally carry out full repairs and maintenance of 6-7 cars in a day. "We are surely expecting the load to increase by 20-25 per cent," said an employee from Honda Solatire. Service centers do the basic job of inspecting, but they charge for changing oil, petrol, coolant, checking brakes, cleaning and washing mats inside and other jobs.

Both employees from service centers and mechanics accepted that there is a possibility of surge in prices to get vehicles inspected and repaired at least for the next two days. They claim that cars are insured and so vehicle owners do not mind paying for it. A large number of cars were found abandoned and broken down in King's Circle, Matunga, Dadar, Parel, Ghatkopar, Goregaon, Andheri, Kurla, Khar, Milan and Malad subways.