A Tata Sumo (above) and an Ambassador cut through the water. Telegraph pictures

Anil Singh owns a Chevrolet Tavera but hired a Tata Sumo on Wednesday to take him to his BBD Bag office and his son, a first-year B.Com student, to college in Minto Park.

“My car broke down on a waterlogged street once. Since then, I have stopped taking a chance,” Singh said. “The roads near my home in Howrah are not waterlogged this time but the scene is different in Calcutta. I wouldn’t put my car through this if I can help it.”

Fear of a breakdown prompted many to keep their cars at home and avail of rental services on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bigger cars, like Sumo and Scorpio, were most in demand.

“The customers want cars with good ground clearance. While it is becoming tough to meet their demand, it is a fact that cars like Indica and Zen will not be able to negotiate the heavily waterlogged streets,” said Shubhashis Basu Mullick of Embassy, a car rental agency in Andul.

Thanks to the rain over the past two days, the flooded streets of Ultadanga, Kasba and Behala proved too much even for cars with good ground clearance. “The smaller cars were useless on Tuesday. Another 24 hours of rain worsened the situation to such an extent that one of our Sumos broke down,” said Kakali Patra, of Mitali Travels, in Salt Lake.

The time-tested Ambassador, too, was stretched. The petrol version failed to negotiate in one attempt water levels that did not stall the smaller Maruti models, according to mechanics. But the Ambassador engines generally re-started after a few attempts.

Most of the rental agencies own diesel Ambassadors, which don’t break down easily. But once water enters the distribution panel of the car, it becomes impossible to start the engine for some time.

“Apart from Sumo, Bolero and Safari, Qualis and Innova have done well on waterlogged stretches,” said Patra.

The rental agencies were hit as many of their cars broke down over the past two days. At Mitali Travels, none of the drivers turned up on Wednesday. Many BPO employees had to go to work on their own on Wednesday as the Indicas and Ambassadors that pick them up did not arrive.