Experts Warn Ariz. Residents Against Buying ‘Flood Cars’ for Sale

Experts are warning that thousands of used cars and trucks that were under water in New Orleans are expected to hit Arizona used-car lots and street corners in coming months.

These vehicles are usually “totaled” by insurance companies, then put up for auction as unredeemable flood cars to be resold for parts.

But experts say there are unscrupulous dealers and wholesalers out there who buy those cars at scrap prices, clean them up to look like new and resell them.

Experts advise taking any used vehicle to an auto shop for a thorough checkup before buying.

When Hurricane Floyd struck Florida in 1999, an estimated 75,000 vehicles were ruined by floods and declared totaled by insurance companies, according to Carfax, a Virginia firm that does background checks on used vehicles.

But more than half of those cars and trucks were resold to buyers who were either unaware of the vehicles’ flood-car past or uninformed about the extent of the damage caused by flooding, Carfax reports.

“They were shipping cars by rail to the Southwest,” said Mike Mullan, a Phoenix auto broker and longtime automotive retailer. “They know that as long as they get the car out of the (flood) area, the (buyer) just thinks it’s a standard run-of-the-mill used car.”

Although the car might look and run fine during a test drive, every electrical, mechanical and structural component in the car is damaged and will soon break down.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Auto Flood Arizona