Flood damaged cars

[AmericanThunder]

Be aware that a lot of cars in America will get written off after being submerged in flood water following the recent hurricanes and the potential for these to go unrecorded on carfax and then exported is high.
Particularly where the car was never registered, like dealer forecourts.

So how do you recognize a flood damaged car? Especially when the fact it is a flood damaged car is deliberately concealed from you.

I'm sure there are lots of tips, but one possibility are the seat belts. Pull them all the way out and check for dirt and silt. Often they will only clean what shows.

Feel free to add.....

 

[TransAmDan]

Yes good point raising this. people may think they are buying a bargain, only to be disappointing later on. Always wise to be cautious.

 

[AmericanThunder]

Especially if you are spending huge amounts of cash on a Camaro ZL1 or Hellcat or GT500 or C7 Z06.
I guess caveat emptor, and if it seems to good to be true it probably is.

 

[TransAmDan]

If there is a water damaged Hellcat for a bargain, it may be worth the gamble, change carpet and seats. The ECU is usually conformal coated can should be fine in its sealed box. However connectors on the back of the dash may be a different matter, I guess it water only went part the way up, and stayed below the dash...

 

[AmericanThunder]

And what sort of water it's exposed too. Fresh water is different to salt or sewage water.
But agreed if the risk is declared up front and the purchase price reflects then maybe. If it's being sold as factory fresh and it actually spent some time under water and especially if the water was high enough to make entry into the engine then you could find yourself with a lemon.
Figures I have read estimate anywhere from 300000 - 1m cars will be written off along the Gulf Coast as a result of the hurricane alone. Now granted most of those will be cars that no-one would dream of exporting (who would import a LHD Civic for example?) but plenty are desirable over here and in Europe.

 

[AmericanThunder]

And as if on queue: Hurricane Harvey May Have Destroyed 500,000 Cars ? AutoGuide.com New

 

[TransAmDan]

Going to total a lot in insurance claims. I wonder how high the insurance costs a year for a car, and do they keep paying out for 'acts of god' every year?. Like you pay $500 for insurance each year and get a new $20k car each year, the insurance wouldn't have enough readies in the pot to pay out.

 

[AmericanThunder]

Well fortunately these events don't happen every year and certainly not on this scale.
Also remember that this event is fairly localized in terms of the size of the USA so the premiums paid across the rest of the country more than cover it.
I have also heard of people parking their cars in multi stores car parks to reduce the risk of flood damage. Seems sensible to me!