Water damage to a car will only be considered a warranty job if it entered the car through a dud rubber seal or other defect in the car’s body. If the water got in through the car being partly submerged in floodwaters or a window left open in a torrential downpour, then that would be classed as accidental damage and not a warranty issue.

So, job one is to work out how the water entered the car. Don’t forget that the Laramie is converted to right-hand-drive in Australia (and the cabin basically rebuilt from scratch in the process) so make sure that nothing was left out or overlooked in that process.

The problem in many new cars is that the computer controlling a lot of the car’s functions often sits on the floor (under the passenger’s seat) where even a small amount of water ingress can cause lots of electrical problems to the ECU, wiring and harness connectors. It’s for this reason that once a car has been water damaged, many insurance companies will write the vehicle off, knowing that it will be a problem child down the track if they don’t.