What You Need to Know About Flood Damaged Cars

Hurricanes can cause major damage to homes, but they can also damage and destroy vehicles in their path. Hurricane Harvey alone caused a total of about half a million vehicles in Texas to be totaled and scrapped. Many of these cars and trucks had water coming up to their windows with some being completely engulfed in the hurricane’s flood waters.

This means that hundreds of thousands of families ended up without a working vehicle, which will likely lead to surges in sales of new and used cars. Used car prices are expected to rise, although many of those with vehicles lost in the flooding will be covered by insurance. After storms, it’s not uncommon for flood damaged vehicles to be sold without letting the buyer know what the automobile has been through.

Many vehicles damaged will end up in salvage yards, with about half of them being cleaned up and resold. Unfortunately, some people take advantage of these types of situations, and selling repaired cars that were flooded is not illegal.

There are certain signs to look for to see if the vehicle you are interested in has been flooded, but the average consumer may not know what to look for. One simple solution is looking up the vehicle’s VIN from a free service such as CarFax’s flood damage check. Storm Smart cares about Florida residents, give us a call at 239-274-2700 for all your storm protection needs.