Cars, trucks and SUVs
Vehicle biohazard cleanup in Boca Raton
An injury on the way to the hospital, a crash, an assault, a death in a parked car. A car wash or a detailer is not set up for this and may turn it away. A biohazard company treats the vehicle the way it would treat a room.
Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
First, find out whether you can have the car
If police were involved, the vehicle may have been towed and held. Ring the agency with your case number and ask whether it has been released and where it is. For a car taken inside Boca Raton that is the city police. West of the city limits it is the Sheriff's Office.
Storage yards often charge by the day, so it helps to ask early. Some cleanup companies will work at a yard or a body shop, others want the car brought to a driveway or to their own premises. Ask which before you arrange a tow.
Why a car is harder than it looks
A car interior is mostly soft, layered material in a small sealed space. Seat fabric sits over thick foam. Carpet sits over a felt underlay and then bare metal with drain holes and seams. Seat belts are woven webbing that wicks fluid up into the retractor.
In South Florida a closed car also gets very hot, and heat makes odor worse quickly. Leaving it in the sun with the windows up for a week makes the job bigger.
- Seats may be unbolted and taken out so the floor underneath can be reached.
- Foam, underlay and belts that absorbed fluid are usually replaced, not cleaned.
- Vents and the cabin air filter are checked if the air conditioning was running.
Insurance and victim compensation
Whether an auto policy answers for this depends on the policy and on what happened. Your insurer or agent can tell you, and may want to see the car before any work is done. Ask them that question first.
If the fluids are the result of a violent crime, Florida's victim compensation rule counts cleanup of the victim's vehicle as well as the victim's home (Rule 2A-2.2001 calls it a conveyance). The crime must have been reported, and the program pays after other sources. The Bureau's number for victims is (800) 226-6667.
About vehicle cleanup
Is the car worth cleaning, or should it be written off?
That is a decision for you and your insurer. A cleanup company can tell you what it would take to make the interior safe and clear of odor, and you can weigh that against the value of the car.
Can a detailer do it for less?
A detailer cleans what can be seen. If fluid went into foam or underlay it will still be there, and the smell returns in the heat. Ask any business you use what it does with the material it removes.
It is a company vehicle. Does that change anything?
It can. An employer has duties under OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard toward any employee asked to clean it, so most fleets send this work out.
Boca Raton and nearby
Nobody in the family has to clean this room
Wait until the officers and the medical examiner's investigator have finished. Shut the door on the room, let the air conditioning run, and pick up the phone once you feel able to talk it through.
Ready when the home is yours again
One number reaches an independent biohazard cleanup company working in south Palm Beach County. Describe the room in your own words. Hiring them is up to you.
Call (728) 500-1824Answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Your call may be recorded. The referral disclosure and privacy policy explain why.