BlindSpot

News story this morning revealed as many as 500,000 flood damaged cars in Houston alone (not counting Florida yet).

Hard to say, how many will "leak" back into the used car market all over the country as resales. Some of that half million number will regardless of the safeguards. Parts cars are going to be plentiful!

Wait until the Fla numbers hit.

Corvette_Ed

My daughter's truck is one of those. She had it for only four months.

BlindSpot

News story showed NEW dealer car lots with ALL of their outside inventory showing roofs only! Hundreds of brand new cars...

jrose7004

You'd think that with all of those cars damaged in those storms the value of used cars over the country would be going up!

cv67

doubt it would affect cars....bottled water, gas in the area sure

2L8LUZ

This is going to be really interesting in how this all goes down....

Someone needs to create a site just for liquidating these cars....

I own "DISASTERCARS.COM"

It's a non hosted site- If anyone is interested Please Let Me Know!!

ItsSl0w

A lot of these cars are starting to show up on the internet. Been looking for a cheap Z so I can take parts off to put on my for the cheap and to take and rebuild an ls7 also for cheap. A lot end up on Copart.com also.

the kid C6

Type "floodcars.com" and see where it takes you. Someone bigger is way ahead of you.

2L8LUZ

Oh I get it.... I'm sure they won't be the only group wanting to sell these cars...

If so... kudos to them on the monopoly

Nexxussian

Not anymore.


I remember after Katrina seeing new-ish (less than 2 years old) Silverados / Sierras and Cummins powered Rams on Ebay and Craigslist with no mention of flood damage, but rusty frames, suspension and sagging headliners.

C6ToGo

Check your auto insurance policy. Had a co-worker's truck get flooded here....and insurance didn't cover it. They had an exclusion for flood damage....just like homeowner's insurance.

jmeirhofer

If you are in a flood plain you are required to have flood insurance. And that insurance does cover you vehicles on property. I have had experience with it (although admittedly it was almost 20 years now), so I do know. That was what really set me back during Katrina. All these folks were supposed to have flood insurance based on where they live. Why did that insurance not make them whole rather than the government? Rhetorical question. If you rent and don't have a renters policy, you are SOL. Or should I say we are as we pay for them to be made whole.

Anyway, anyone with any sense would look at a carfax report and at the very least realize the car was in the floods based on service date. Not that easy to just pass them off any more.

C6_Racer_X

How easy it is to launder them depends on which state they are in when they are damaged/destroyed.

Florida is pretty good about taking them out entirely. They issue "Certificates of Desctruction" that theoretically can't be turned back into repaired titles. If those vehicles get auctioned off out of state, they could possibly be resurrected/merged with another wreck (to get the VIN tags from the wreck and put them on the flood damaged "repaired" vehicle). A lot of "history" disappears through Mississippi and Alabama for those cars. You'll buy something that on CarFax looks like it was never in Florida, but was wrecked and repaired in one of those other states, but it will actually be a flood damaged car from Florida.

Texas is going to be more problematic. I think "salvage title" (rebuildable) is the worst paperwork they issue. Most of those cars will be laundered through Colorado and Oklahoma. Especially Colorado. I've seen some "Colorado special" cars. Not good. An astute buyer will probably figure it out and pass on them. Whoever gets them is in for lots of trouble and expense. Again, VINs from another "salvage car" will be grafted onto the Texas flood cars, and the Texas flood VINs won't be what you find or look up on CarFax.They'll look like repaired wrecks from Colorado and Oklahoma (and maybe even Arkansas) on the title history.

I do suspect that for the engine swappers and modders, there will be a lot of LSx engines available for swaps. I've got a 2nd Gen RX-7 here with no engine or transmission and I'm already watching the auction sites for LS1 Camaros and Trucks for a possible engine for that car. I have a friend looking for an LS engine for an old Z car he's got, too.

BlindSpot

The thing about cars with canbus computer systems...you put them under water for anything more than about 30 seconds, and they're NOT going to run again. Don't care how good the back yard mechanics are in some places. It is far more likely to see a robust parts business out there for the "somewhat" flood damaged cars.

Then there is the dealer that loses his/her entire inventory. First, I cannot imagine the inventory NOT being insured. My question is NOT who is made whole, but WHAT happens to all of that "NEW" JUNK. Think about it - a brand new car sits completely submerged in dirty contaminated salt water for 15 days....What is salvageable?

Nexxussian

For the legitimate business, cores.

Ie, rebuildable engines, transmissions and the like.

I've no idea what could be done for the electronic components as none of the "magic boxes" I've seen on OE vehicles have what I would consider a weatherproof connector, so even if you could get the guts inside the box working, unless there is an overhaul facility with a means of installing new harness connectors I don't see them being saved.

Saddest part of that is, we now know what will be scarce in the future of this model year.


Of course that didn't sound like what our OP was concerned about.

I don't know what could be done to crutch the systems for quick sale, other than a severe line of BS, as always "caveat emptor."

the kid C6

I read an article today about people who moved their wine collections (those wealthy few with valuable wine cellars). It's a shame that cars aren't as portable. Dealers probably shrugged and checked their insurance policy.

FAUEE

Soon all the craigslist people will be using the high mileage flood damaged cars as reasons that all C6s should be free.

jmeirhofer

I can see where a lot of parts would be salvageable. All of the plastic body panels should be salvageable. Glass. As someone else mentioned, cores for rebuilding. Some metal components may even be salvageable. For an enterprising person they could get whole cars for pennies on the dollar to part out. Electrical wiring components can be recycled and probably serveral hundred dollars or more per car. Aluminum frame? Possible recycle $$.

Of course some cars have a lot more salvageable than others. I am thinking mostly of the Corvettes.

hope2

Lots will be turned around by slimy people, many will be exported. Buyer beware. They should rip the VIN plates off, purposely damage the dash and A post and windshield, make it a little harder and more costly to commit fraud.

Aliquantus

A lot of them are showing up on Copart all over the country, they're obviously being trucked out pretty quickly. It's pretty tough to white wash a title these days, but I bet a ton of the high end stuff will make it's way overseas.