My Honda Accord was caught in a flash flood. In a few minutes, water rose above the level of the seats. The mechanic it was towed to told me that the computer is under the driver's seat and was probably destroyed. The part alone ~$900. Also said that even if that was replaced I would likely always have electrical problems from water getting into other components and connections. With over 150k miles on it, my insurance company totaled it. When I went back to retrieve my stuff, almost every surface (definitely all of the leather) was covered with a forest of mold. I hope they didn't sell it at auction. Should be easy to spot all the symptoms these guys pointed out, but maybe not in winter in Alaska. Do your due diligence and avoid flooded cars!
I don't care how thorough a seller is in describing a car's problems. I'm looking over it myself. I'd expect the same if someone buys a car from me. Relying on Carfax will get you hosed. Now as a mechanic and someone who knows what salvage titles actually mean, I don't mind buying cars with them (I just got one a few weeks ago as a project), but you definitely have to do your due diligence if you choose to do so. I bought a salvage Honda Ridgeline from a Copart yard in Pennsylvania last year, and it only had minor front end damage. Fixed it up and made a bit of money on it.
Check inside the doors. There’s a place that near me that sells flood cars and claim to fix everything, but my mechanic has told me he’s seen cars from there that still have water in the doors
As former dealer, here is how the Carfax will help. Among other information on the report you can see where the vehicle was registered and you can see what state is was driven in by the maintenance records that might be available. If the vehicle was from the north most of its life, it needs a detailed inspection for rust. It's the same way for vehicles from the south for potential flooding. Never rely on a Carfax, understand its limitations and how you can use the information available to alert you to potential problems needing further investigation. Other issue are multiple owners in a short amount of time or records showing that the dealer took possession of the vehicle Etc.. Put on your thinking cap and as mentioned in the video, know when/where to get help.
Another tell tale sign is to check under the dashboard for rust in the bracing . the metal inner structure of the dashboard .that's a sign that the vehicle been in water over the roof . if that's the case don't walk away from that car..Run !
Great video!!! Question for you guys; when these "flood cars" owners report thier car was flooded to their insurance company (presuming they are insured for this of course), is it not the responsibility of the insurance company or dealerships to report the VIN number?
Look out when purchasing used parts as well. Many parts that are hard to find such as airbags and electrical parts may be cleaned up, but will start corroding and eventually not function properly. Just got back from Ft. Myers and the tidal surge of salt water went up to I-75 in some areas.
Im still currently looking for a Small SUV.. 2005 Toyota Rav 4 possibly... been 4 years looking, shouldn't take me this long ..I am a senior and very afraid of getting a lemon ..Ive had my current car for 19 years and need an upgrade, its too small for me..I always thought that cars that were in a flood would not work anymore. engine gets saturated and won't start i'm guessing..I did recently check a car on the floor and sure enough, it looked like it was in a flood, we had some bad weather ( major flood in Omaha, NE. in 2019 , i was so scared to get one of those cars from that flood. I love you guys. learning so much, great job in the detailing you go into..Im not getting any younger, I need a larger car now..
I had an insurance adjuster look at a car that I had that got flooded. He walked up to the car and looked under the dash at the pedals, stood up and said totaled. Let me go write you a check and I'll arrange pickup. You'll need to get your stuff out.
My '18 VW GTI was totaled last Sept 1 when hurricane Ida hit NJ. (another "I" hurricane). Water came up to the windows and everything electronic shorted out. I'd forgotten all about my SiriusXM subscription since I always renewed it for a whole year up front and didn't transfer it to a different vehicle. When I finally got around to canceling it this summer, the Sirius rep I spoke with on the phone told me that the radio ID # was registered to someone else. Unless they parted out individual components that could be salvaged, I assume what you describe is exactly what happened - the entire car was resold.
The Tampa Bay Area was spared any serious damage of any kind (other than power failures all over the place)! A couple of hours south of us in the Ft. Myers area was a VERY different story, unfortunately. Meaning, if the seller lives or works in our Tampa Bay Area it’s rather unlikely to have any flood damage. Lucky you, right?
@@TrinityWilderness1 lucky indeed. I saw that Ft Myers was hit hard so I wasn’t sure about other places on the west coast. Thanks for letting me know I don’t have to worry as much.
Mine is still running after being flooded in Sandy but it ain’t pretty, I was new to living in a flood zone now I know, Put a bike in your trunk drive the car to Highground and ride the bike back home and it will solve a lot of problems unless you want to get rid of the car anyway
Valuable info here and not specific to USA ... Here in Australia we have seen several floods over the last few years and even now it looks like it could occur again in the next few weeks or days. I would be fairly confident that title washing also goes on here with vehicles moved to other states so we need to be vigilant
look in the trunk or in low storage area of suv. (often neglected in cleaning) look for rust on seat frame at floor level. look for rust in uncommon to rust areas under hood. look for rust/mud in fender wells and brake components. The folks doing this will always miss something.
Look for a dead fish under the seat. Look for seaweed in the glove box. If there is a moss covered buoy on the back seat, it's a good chance it went through a flood.Just saying.
Definitely cant rely on Carfax. Years ago, i bought a used vehicle with a clean carfax. 2 years later, an accident was reported on the carfax. It just so happens that the car was from Florida.
Here in Manitoba Canada, we have strictly govt. insurance, If it's local car, they will freely give you the complete history of all claims since day one. Our insurance reasonably priced and is NO FAULT insurance. That means no matter who's at fault, your car will be fixed. However, the responsible party has to pay the deductable. If it's not your fault, you pay nothing. With only having One insurance company, there is no fighting with other insurance companies. The down side is... local cars might be rusted. We use salt on winter roads.
New cars that were flooded at a dealership will usually be covered by insurance of the manufacture. Usually they will take them back to be destroyed to keep them from being sold again, even parts from them.
🙂Thank u so much. I been thinking about purchasing for a while, and this hurricane made me want to hold off a bit longer. You providing tips and stuff to look out for helps out a lot. God bless❤
Since Ida was only about a week ago, I would think there's not enough time for any flood-damaged car to have already been salvaged and made ready for resale. Heck, the insurance companies probably haven't had enough time to fully process claims yet. Now, if you were shopping for a car in another 4-6+ months, the risk of coming across a victim of Ida might be greater. Always do your due diligence anyway, to ensure a car on any lot wasn't salvaged from a previous flood.
If the water is dirty check the radiator, trunk, oil, oh and that smell. I had a car that was flooded, it still drove but it smell really bad. Also, if I close the window on a hot day, there would be the whole water cycle going on.
Believe it or not, Omaha is sometimes flood country. The Platt gets a little buckwild sometimes, and the Missouri has endangered downtown O in the past 10 years. We know it when it happens, locally, so timing is crucial to the overall context. Maybe always check, the crux of it is that it's concealed information.
Thank you for putting out that information guys like you and Scotty Kilmer help buyers like myself and others .we work hard we don't make a lot of money and we try to save To buy a new car not a brand new car Only to be cheated really can hurt a family thank you again for the information.
I heard that dealer ships ,the insurance companies just pay for their cars on the lot that may not have flooded..they can’t go through every car in the area so they write a check for all the Carson the lot
Massachusetts does not use a totaled or otherwise identifiable title so Massachusetts becomes a target for such vehicles. My Son In Law bought a small SUV that had obvious fresh holes drilled in the doors and door jams which was about 6 months after the big coastal flood in New Jersey. It had perpetual electrical problems and rusted quickly. Not only do you have to beware of flooded cars but also the used parts that were removed being given a coat of lipstick and sold on auction and other web sites.
This is not just a used car problem. Lots of new cars will be shuffled around after being in a flood to unsuspecting buyers. If a new car was delivered to a dealer in Florida and winds up for sale in NY as a new car it most likely was flooded. Dealers will bend over backwards to convince you they simply bought excess new car stock at a good price, and lucky you can get a decent price cut.
As a dealer many good bargains are flood cars. Problem is once , being honest, a buyer finds out it has been flooded they do not ,100 percent, don't want it. But for myself or a family member it is a good way to get a nice car bargain. How? I just checked water lines on disc brakes. If the rust line was below axel height then I would consider it.
Here in Mass, I've heard many people suggest buying a Florida car, and I think, "No way." (Maybe after Ian, they'll agree, but people forget...) As for CarFax, my '99 Saab bought in '02 as a CPO from the dealer in SoCal shows four owners/titles between the banks, previous lessee, and me, though it's really just the two of us. So even though it's a 23-y.o., two-owner, Calif. car that's only ever been serviced/repaired at the dealer and a couple of specialists or private garages with all the paperwork to prove it, CarFax shows almost nothing in the last several years. (Speaking of which, anyone know if I can enter these records myself?) Point being: You can't rely on a CarFax report alone.
With regards to the smell......if that car goes north you won't notice that smell until a very hot number of days in a row. One can easily "mask" that smell.....but after some time and after a number of "hot" days in the sun with the windows up......it probably will surface. Rust is another.....well.....poor way of indication. Anyone living where they use salt to melt snow and ice during the winter will start getting rust 3 years out. I can take the seats out along with the carpet........power wash the carpet.....let them dry.....and reinstall within one day. So the carpet is easy but not the seats. The foam doesn't lend themselves to be cleaned very well. Water lines within the door cavities, quarter panels, engine compartment "boxes" such as intake tube, electrical boxes, inside bumper reinforcements, under the dash, etc. Water in headlights is also not a good indicator. Any crack in those lights can allow for water or moisture from rain or condensation. Doesn't have to be submerged to get that. Basically a team that takes a day to go through a car can make it rather difficult to detect. Even for pros.
Rust within 3 years of driving in snow/ice with salt treatment? That’s news to me! I’ve lived in Minneapolis, MN almost my whole life and my cars have taken many years to rust with a LOT of salt use here. My old Honda was 10 yrs old before any showed up. My current 2019 Rogue is 3 years and basically brand new with no rust. 🤔 What is your experience and where?
@@taraberg Experience: 30 plus years as a mechanical and collision technician. You don't get much snow in that area. 45-50 inches maybe as an average. Check the internet. That isn't that much snow. You're experience is only Minneapolis. I can can speak of the entire northern part of the U.S. (for the most part). You presume that rust starts on the outside and works it's way in. It doesn't. It's the opposite. By the time you see rust on your car it's eaten up metal in every crack in the body. I'll take my son's 20 year old BMW over any of your 3 year old cars with at least 45K in a comparison for rust. Take all the underside shields off both and you'd be dumbfounded by the difference. The Texas BMW will win. Don't believe me ........consult a collision shop.
Is this where it would be even more advantageous to get a vehicle that had been on a dealers lot for a sufficient amount of time that it would not have been able to of been in at least a recent hurricane? Also, why is it that totaled doesn’t mean totaled? It seems pretty absolute kind of word.
AS FAR AS SMELLS GO, I noticed when I get a rental car, when I shut off the A/C, you could smell cigarette smoke. When the A/C was running, I couldn't. Just another thing to CONSIDER!
Its so stupid of car dealerships not to move cars away from flood areas. Houses don't have wheels and and engine. States need to pass laws forcing car dealerships to either move the cars away from flood areas or take a total loss and be forced to take the vehicles apart for salvage.
I assume you don't live on the east coast and have no idea how big hurricanes are. The coast takes the brunt of the storm, but flooding inland is generally not covered by TWC. I have been through at least 9 hurricanes in the past 20 yrs and there is no way to explain the devastation. The solution for a bright future is education and for clueless people to quit pontificating online. CIAO!
TY,,,,,,WOW 1st class incredible very interesting super kool ,1st class great info.,, AAAAAAAAAAA++++++++++++ again great video I liked it a lot ,keep up the great work
You talk about title washing yet you say nothing about the Title Washing of the Canadian Vehicles brought in by Dealership's, Wholesalers, ect. These are Gray Market Vehicles that they are making Hugh 💲💲💲s on. Your Followers need to know this and look for it.
Just asking. If you do a CarFax it should at least state the origin of the location of the state the car was originally titled. Is that not correct? If that is the case you have more probability to know that what you may be purchasing is a flood damaged vehicle. Am I correct?
