What is a Flood Car?
Serious natural weather events can damage cars, but they also present an opportunity for people who want to pick up some great bargains, especially with vehicles that have been declared total losses, or totaled, by insurance companies. As long as the seller is honest and up-front with what is being sold, and the buyer is completely aware of what is being bought, some outstanding deals can be had. Many of these vehicles are easily repairable and can be made good as new.
Often, a flood damaged vehicle that has been totaled only means that the insurance adjuster has not had the time to go out and inspect each vehicle in detail. For example, a new-car dealer may have had 400 cars flooded or damaged. The adjuster can't inspect all the cars but knows that at least 75% of the cars have serious damage and declares them all as total losses. This means that about 100 of the cars may have little or no damage, and can easily be cleaned up and resold as salvage vehicles. Since the insurance company owns the vehicles after claims have been paid, the company can auction off the vehicles, or resell them to the same, or another, dealer.
Honest sellers and dealers will offer previously damaged cars for good prices. These can often be real bargains for buyers who are willing to do some clean-up and repairs, unless you find ones that are for sale that have already been repaired.
What Should I Beware of?
Anytime a car is damaged by high level water should be carefully considered. If the water level is high enough to reach the cars computers than potential serious damages could be prevalent. Look under the dash to see if there is rust on any of the metal components up in the dash; if so the water level was more than likely quite high. Any lights that are on the dash will also indicate what computers are bad on a flood car. Typically, when water touches electrical components they usually go bad immediately, so you can usually find out what parts are bad just by seeing the lights that appear on the dash.
Fresh Water vs. Salt Water
Fresh water flood cars can usually be good cars (and good deals) as long as the water level wasn't high enough to cause major damage to electrical components. Fresh water is not nearly as corrosive as salt water, so salt water cars should be avoided as much as possible. Salt water has the ability to corrode wires and connections over time which could lead to costly repairs.