Flood damaged vehicles

[ken]

I was up at our dealer in Manassas Va yesterday and they said they are having a few Flood damaged vehicles coming all the way up to Virginia in for trades. Most have been detailed and show no damage. But inspection under the dashes, dirt, silt and seaweed were found. So just be careful if you buy a used rig. Their not taking them in on trades up here. Also, the FEMA trailers coming from the manufactures are equipped with standard refrigerators not RV ref. So if your looking for a used trailer, check the ref. It could be expensive to replace.

[dsprik]

Thanks for the heads up, Ken. I am looking at possibly getting a used Chevy/GMC 2500 HD D/A. I was wondering, with these hurricanes, if there was going to be a problem with this. I don't know how effective CarFax.com will be trying to track and record the tens of thousands of vehicles that were flooded (just think of all the car dealerships that couldn't get the inventory out of the way ~ surely they are all honest, aren't they???), but it might be a place to start. $30 I think... not sure.

[Montana Sky]

Here is some info I thought might be good to pass along. I have family members who work in the auto salvage auction business. Their company is branding all titles as flood damaged and also reporting all vins of flood damaged cars to carfax. They recommend if you are buying a used vehicle to request the dealership to get you a copy of the carfax report. Different states have different laws and some vehicles titles are able to be "washed" and sold as a clean car. The carfax report cannot be changed by the state or selling dealership. Might be worth the money if the dealership does not give you a copy to get one yourself. Also be cafeful if you are looking at any flood damaged vehicles as they have found many, many, many snakes and other creatures under the dashboards, behind back seats, in trunks and around the engine compartment. Double check before you put your hand anywhere you cant see into.

[richfaa]

One of the states that can "wash" a title is PA. We are told by the dealers that these cars have NOT YET shown up at the car auctions in this area and the NEW CAR dealers will not buy a car at auction that they suspect is such a car.Most NEW car dealers have stopped auction buying altogether as there are plenty of trade cars around. The independent used car lots are the ones to watch out for although the reputable ones would not Knowingly buy such a car.( from the local chamber of commerce meeting last week))

[dsprik]

I can't believe that CarFax could document all of the thousands of vehicles that flood damaged in such a short time span.

[Montana Sky]

Dave,
I have an update from my earlier post. Most of the salvage auctions that are dealing with flood damage vehicles are doing the following. They are branding titles of vehicles as "flood damage" total loss and they report every vehicle that is sold to the NICB. National Insurance Claims Bearu. This is also done by all insurance companies anytime there is a claim against a car. It does not matter how big or small or cost of a reported "incident" the damage and vin gets reported. Carfax pulls the VIN number out of the NICB data base when we the customer request a history report on a vehicle. The way most of the auctions and insurance companies are keeping up is alot of OVERTIME. Once your insurance company pays you for the loss, it reports the VIN asap, and again once the auction takes posession of the vehicle it also reports the VIN, call it a double verify if you will. Hope this sheds some light on the subject.

[dsprik]

Thanks, Dave! Sounds like they are fully aware of the situation, and that they doing everything they can to protect the consumer. Good news for people like me who is getting ready to buy a good used 2500HD D/A.