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| The Basics | Steer clear of flood cars
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Since some states, such as North Dakota, use the more general term "salvage," a flood-damaged car thats retitled in North Dakota would be harder to spot.
Some hide the title. The last ploy is remarkably easy: Some devious dealers distract would-be car buyers and never show the vehicles actual, existing title (which may tell them of the cars status) until its too late, says Jon Sheldon, a staff attorney for the National Consumer Law Center and co-author of "Automobile Fraud: Odometer Tampering, Lemon Laundering, and Concealment of Salvage or Other Adverse History."
Your best defense
If you suspect that youre dealing with a flood car, experts advise that you:
Get a hired gun. Take an expert mechanic to look over the car. Your Uncle Earle doesnt count. Be very afraid of buying something as expensive as a car over an online auction site like eBay in which you and your mechanic cant get a chance to see the car in person, or actually drive it.| Where high tide cant hide | Inspect these places for clues to flood damage:
Seat-belt retractors. Pull them out: Moisture, rust and mildew hides deep inside.
Door speakers. They often wont be operational because of water damage.
Spare-tire nooks. Often overlooked by cleaners.
New components in an older car.
Rust in springs under seats.
Mud or grit in alternator crevices, behind wiring harnesses and around the small recesses of starter motors, power steering pumps and relays.
Excessive rust and flaking metal on the undercarriage that would not normally be associated with newer cars.
Upholstery. Musty or mildewed smell thats hard to entirely remove, even with repeated cleaning.
Source: National Automobile Dealers Association, National Consumer Law Center, American Automobile Association
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Crawl all over the car. Good detailers can hide a lot of sins with a scrub brush, a few cans of shampoo and a pine tree-shaped air freshener dangling from the rear-view mirror, but they cant get all the grime. Look everywhere. (See where to look to the right.)
Be an electronic snoop. Find out as much as you can about the car before buying. There are a few ways to do this:
- Carfax and similar services collect databases of automobile records from the states. Carfax is offering a free "flood search" option, to check whether a car has had flood damage on its title. Other services cost up to $20.
- Ask your insurance agent to run the Vehicle Identification Number through the National Insurance Crime Bureau database.
- Some states, such as Texas and Florida, keep track of flood-damaged cars.
A caution: "The state databases are only as good as the information thats been reported to them," says Kiser. In other words, Carfax wont capture car damage that an owner intentionally hasnt reported.
Eyeball the title. Insist on seeing the vehicles existing title. If it says that the previous owner is an insurance company, "that would be a pretty good indication" that theres an issue with the car, says attorney Sheldon. Also, check where the car was recently registered. The Big Easy? Biloxi? That should raise an eyebrow. And if the owner or dealer wont show you the title, walk away. And always ask about "damage disclosures" at dealerships.
Should you ever consider a flood-damaged car?
Is a flood car ever a smart buy? Almost never.
"Total restoration of a flood-damaged car can be as extensive and expensive as restoring a classic car," cautions John Nielsen, director of AAAs Approved Auto Repair Network. "Compare the value of the vehicle to be restored to the cost of restoration" before jumping in, he warns.
Mechanic Rosenblum is more specific about what to look for: "You have to watch for a water line in the vehicle," he says. A high-water mark thats higher than the cars major electronics, and especially up by the dash, is evidence that the electronics have been fried -- and "I would not buy it," he says. "Youre looking at a ton of problems down the road."
He recalls an Oldsmobile brought into the dealership where he worked in the early 1990s that should have been declared totaled, but the insurance company didnt write off the car. Over the next few years, repairs ran $7,000 to $8,000, he recalls.
However, for cars with less significant damage, others see possibility.| Dealers help their own | To donate to the National Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation (NADCF), which is raising money for emergency relief for the estimated 7,000 auto-dealership employees in Louisiana and Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, go to www.nada.org.
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"Lets say a car had water in the floor. The most common things that are going to be affected are the wire connections to the rear lights and some other wire connections," says the former federal investigator. And, of course, the carpeting. "Ive got a grandson whos 17 years old. Would I mind buying a $3,000 car to send him to college with, if it had minimal flood damage?"
If the car is otherwise safe, a car that might last for two or three years might be worth it, he says. "Its always about disclosure," he concludes. "An honest dealer will always tell you whats been done to the car."
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