motorwiz

my car got sprayed by a broken hydraulic fluid line on a garbage truck 2 weeks ago at my shop, about a gallon was sprayed on the car wetting the interior the worst. waste management sent a couple of flunky's out with a bag of rags and scrub brushes and soap. and tried but the interior still is wet with oil, and all dried out in places, as they had no dressing.
any ideas. my insurance company progressive doesn't know the difference between leather and vinyl Help it's sucking the life out of my interior. 95 conv vette.

skyhawk50

I would not have let the flunkys with rags near the car. A professional detail shop at the very least. Sound like WM owes you a complete new interior. ( seats, carpets, door panels, etc)

drsfmd

Lawsuit time. Figure out what proper repairs would cost, then determine if it's time for small claims court or a lawyer...

mike100

That happened to a friend in the early 90's. $4000 paint job (which was pretty top-of-the-line back then).

c4cruiser

The hydraulic oil will soak into the interior leather. Then it will soak into the seat foam. The garbage company tools more than likely made it worse by trying to scrub the material.

A good upholstery shop may have been able to get the leather cleaned up, but once the oil got into the seat foam, I don't think there would be any good way of getting it out. In any event, they would have had to pull the leather off the foam and clean the individual components.

Get a good shop to give you an estimate on replacing the damaged pieces. Then tell Progressive to pay up. You can show the Progressive claims guy the RPO sticker and point out the code for leather seats. After they pay up, dump them.

motorwiz

I know right,I'm going to the local body shops to get ma a estimate. local mobile detailers seem to have no idea ? and say oh about 200 bucks, but I say the oil has soaked into the stitching of the seats and the carpet . It's a mess! thanks for the help skyhawk50

motorwiz

who did he take it to for the estimate ?

MyOtherCar

hope you get your car cleaned up and repaired as needed. Tough break.

but, hope you also realize Progressive might not be the insurance company for you

volkswagens-for-life

Dude your interior is f*ed... I promise. That hydraulic oil is going to crush your paint and its going to eat everything in the interior. Not to mention, you will NOT get that oil out of your interior pieces. I really hope you called the cops and got a police report and got insurance involved.

motorwiz

progressive, not the sharpest tools in the shed, and yes they will no longer be my insurer. the one kid rolled his eyes like it was no big deal.
this sux, sux bad and I'm constantly running into dead ends.

1993C4LT1

Damn, I'm sorry that happened. Hope you get it solved.

auggy

Progressive insurance company isn't for anyone.

HlhnEast

Ya know, tough sh*t for Waste Management. Its why they have insurance. Luckily you werent in the car and got sprayed with the hot oil. Dont back off til you get EVERYTHING replaced. You are talking close to $2K or more to do it. Unfortunately, the oil in the foam will continue to stain back thru the leather so make sure thats replaced as well.

Dont be scared to get a lawyer even if you have to pay him. It will still save you in the long run. He will tack his fees on the settlement in the end. Usually one letter from a lawyer is enough to tell WM your serious about your claim. They cannot deny their culpability.

Good luck!

1stvetteguy

Wow I am really sorry this happened to you. As someone who grew up with a Dad who works with hydraulics I can tell you the stuff is messy and under normal circumstances easy to clean off your body and clothing with Dawn, but in the case of it being sprayed into your interior it has soaked into everything fabric and it's not worth the hassel of trying to clean up because it will keep leaching out over time and nothing will get rid of it all. I agree with everyone here that your best course of action is to show your serious to WM and have them front the bill for a interior replacement. On the bright side if your interior was in need of some TLC this could be a blessing in disguise, although the circumstances are less than favorable at the moment. Good Luck with everything, I know its going to suck for a while, but I am hopeful it will work out for you!