Wheel Deal: Flood-Damaged Used Cars

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Don't Get Soaked

By Art Garcia

Californians endure more than their share of natural disasters, but at least they don’t have to worry about hurricanes. Or do they?
     Thousands of pre-owned cars yanked from the water, mud and debris of last year’s Gulf Coast hurricanes — not to mention the prior year’s Hurricane Ivan in the Midwest — are showing up at auto auctions, on car dealers’ lots and in individual’s classified ads. This is prime season, especially in this car-heavy state, for crooks trying to pass off used vehicles as something they’re not, in clean-as-a-whistle good condition.
     As reported by Edmunds.com, some flood-damaged autos are dried out, refurbished, their title changed and sold to unaware buyers in faraway states. Automotive News figures Hurricane Katrina damaged or destroyed as many as 200 dealerships in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Carfax’s website estimates more than half a million cars may have been damaged or destroyed.
     The National Automobile Dealers Association says many of those cars have appeared at California auto auctions.

Research Not Repairs
Besides the damage done to upholstery and carpeting, floodwater “is a corrosive and abrasive mixture of water and dirt that forces its way into every seam and crevice of an automobile,” says John Nielsen, director of the AAA Automotive Repair Network.
Continued...

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