Hurricanes flooded 350,000 cars this year. Now they’re heading to the used car market

[DrQ]

Hurricanes flooded 350,000 cars this year. Now they’re heading to the used car market.​

Carfax estimates that nearly 350,000 cars have been flood-damaged so far by the 2024 hurricane season, with many of them headed to used car markets across the country.

https://www.autoblog.com/news/hurricanes-flooded-350000-cars-this-year-now-theyre-heading-to-the-used-car-market?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=Autoblog/magazine/Spy+Shots

 

[emeryjre]

The article talks about the telltale physical signs of flood damaged cars

In this used car market, another thing to look at is the title of the vehicle before completing the purchase

If the insurance company gave the owner of a flood damaged vehicle a payout and took the vehicle from the owner

A new title should be issued indicating the insurance company owned the car

The title should have the term "salvage" somewhere on the title

This is an obvious sign of damage bad enough for the insurance company to payout the prior owner

Beware and ask way more questions at this point

A unscrupulous seller knows a salvage title is an obvious problem

In some states, it is possible for the unscrupulous seller to "wash" the title and eliminate the salvage from the title

 

[SmithOp]

There is a guy on FB that buys cars at auction, some he can fix, some he breaks up and sells parts. It's Interesting to watch his videos on fixing the flooded vehicles. He goes by SamCrac, and seems to prefer high end cars.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

350 K is almost the exact same # flooded by Hurricane Ian 2 yrs ago. Prob > 1/3 get torn apart, < 1/3 get fixed and re-used in the US & 1/3 get sent overseas to be fixed & re-used. There is a well-developed global network for sending HAND-ME-DOWN cars from wealthier to less-wealthy countries.

 

[emeryjre]

Some unscrupulous sellers wash the titles and sell them to unsuspecting people
I know of a group of those cars being sold in in an upper tier state
There were multiple complaints against the seller who had set up shop as a used car dealer
They took off with the cash
Never to be found or heard from again
About 2 years ago

 

[billymach4]

There is a guy on FB that buys cars at auction, some he can fix, some he breaks up and sells parts. It's Interesting to watch his videos on fixing the flooded vehicles. He goes by SamCrac, and seems to prefer high end cars.

Oh that guy... yeah he is interesting for sure