Beware of flooded cars, they are showing up everywhere and here's what you need to know

By David Maillie
 

If you are in the market for a used car, beware of previously flooded cars.  They could be from Hurricane Katrina or numerous other floods from Florida to Texas and Oklahoma.  Many of these cars have been deemed a total loss by the respective insurance companies, but many more never get reported.  These cars then get cleaned up, professionally detailed, and then end up for sale on a car dealers lot, Ebay or some curbstoners favorite spot on the side of a busy road or highway.  The problem with a flooded car is that they can be a hazard waiting to happen and should be avoided.  This article will provide you with some great tips on what to watch out for so you don’t end up with a flood vehicle from an automotive expert with over 25 years experience in the automotive business.

It has been said by the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Association) that as many as half of all the Hurricane Katrina cars are back on the streets and many are for sale.  Being that over 600,000 cars were destroyed during the hurricane and its aftermath with the flooding of most of New Orleans that means over 300,000 of these flooded cars are back on the streets.  This does not include other storm and flood damaged cars from other hurricanes (there were 4 major hurricanes in 2005 alone all resulting in flood damaged cars) and flooding in the Midwest.  That’s a lot of dangerous cars out there on the road.

Why are these cars dangerous?  A flood whether fresh or salt water can damage many things from gaskets to wiring, seals, etc…  Much of this damage doesn’t appear until much later.  Even the most thorough reconditioning and rebuilding short of replacing every possible part will leave an air of uncertainty in respect to the cars safety for both occupants and other drivers.  What if you were stopped at a red light, minding your own business, when you all of a sudden get rear ended hard by a vehicle with brakes that failed because they gave out from corrosion due too water damage from a flood?  Most serious problems due to water damage will leave you stranded on the side of the road, but some like faulty wiring could result in a deadly car accident. 

This is why most states now have laws regarding the sale and titling of flood cars.  If a car is flooded, the insurance company writes it off as a total loss and it is entered into the states motor vehicle title records.  In theory this should stop cars with a flood history from being resold and placed back on the road, but this is where there are a lot of problems.  Many states do not communicate title designations like flood, rebuilt, salvage, etc… well with other states.  What one state considers a totally ruined vehicle another may think it is not sufficient for a title branded warning or they may give it a more generic label like salvage which makes it harder to reveal the true history of the vehicle.

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