HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) — We all know flooding is not uncommon when we have a major storm system blow through here, yet there are those who tempt fate and drive through high water.

Driving through high water can cause some major problems to your engine and can damage your car’s electrical system, too.

It can be a costly consequence.

“The drains flood and then the water backs up, and if it’s higher than that tire, than that’s probably a good choice not to try to get through it,” said Banister Nissan COO Michael Pulley.

Sometimes, it becomes tempting to drive through that large puddle because you think your car can make it, but you can actually do more damage to your car in the process.

“You should never try to drive through it,” Pulley said. “You should always try to avoid it, if you have to please turn around and go another way because you could flood your vehicle and even a little bit of water getting up to your engine compartment, you definitely want to avoid that.”

Water damage is something dealerships don’t take lightly either. Pulley says they work to protect as many cars as they can.

“We have a large showroom (that) you can see behind me,” Pulley said, “and we have another showroom where we actually put our vehicles inside of there and we can get about 40, 50 vehicles inside.”

And especially in low lying areas — like The Hague in Norfolk — we see a lot of cars taking in water during tidal events like these. That’s why people are encouraged to move their cars to higher ground to save themselves from a costly car repair bill.

“If your vehicle is flooded, it’s more than just that engine part that can take place,” Pulley said. “There’s also some electrical issues that could also happen, so a lot of things could be affected in that regard, but we actually have to take all the carpet out, go through the electronic aspects of it and make sure that everything is OK.”

If you do run into some trouble, the service team at Banister Nissan can help. Click here for more information.