Beware of buying cars from flooded areas.

[Sisente]

I have posted before on here regarding this topic. There are tons of dishonest people in this world. With the recent floods in Houston, and surrounding, be weary of any vehicles you purchase from Craigslit or the like, from these areas. They will often "polish" them up, despite having been underwater. On the bright side, you may be able to find some deals, if you are handy with tools and can correct the damage from the flooding.

 

[A.Wilson013]

A couple years back a friend of mine bought a hurricane sandy car at auction. It was an 09 TL (it may be a tsx... whichever has the ugly grill) with unknown miles (dash wouldn't turn on) for dirt cheap. I think it was $6200? He actually had his unlce buy it, then he flew from Washington to Pennsylvania to collect his prize.

He took it home to his uncles, put in a new battery, and not only did it reveal that it had less than 30k miles, it also started right up, and ran just fine.

He's a mechanically savvy dude so he completely stripped the interior and cleaned the hell out of it (it was a flood car, so it had water damage up to about the seats). With the interior out, he redid any wiring that was under the "water line" and after that everything worked perfectly.

He hopped in the car, and drove it back to Seattle. I think his whole trip was about 9 days, including the drive home. He's a freak. (Yes, he's also Russian.)

 

[Blue Seat Lyfe]

You really have to get your nose in there deep to smell it in the interior but there is no hiding it. dealer will try to mask it but the smell lingers.

Look on the ownership history to see where it was when the floods went down (like in the Carolinas last year and Houston this year)

That being said you can get a nice discount

 

[Hapkijo]

I think its worse than that. Sandy cars have been moved all over this country. You really need to looks cars over. Most of these crooked dealers will move a car cross country to make a sale. I don't trust anything before 2012.

 

[lakerman]

Even in canada

We had some flooding a couple of years ago 300 kms from where I live and I was poking around a Mazda dealership, and parked in the back were a bunch of vehicles that were filled with mud.

 

[CookieRoe]

He hopped in the car, and drove it back to Seattle. I think his whole trip was about 9 days, including the drive home. He's a freak. (Yes, he's also Russian.)

Wow, good for him! This is the exception, not the rule.

 

[A.Wilson013]

Wow, good for him! This is the exception, not the rule.

Oh, I know! I was not trying to persuade anyone into taking the gamble. Just telling a story =p

It's a nice car. He did the same with a 2004 Tacoma (bought at auction in PA, and drove back to Seattle) but it's a little more rough.

 

[05Rrunner]

This Topic is good advice , always be on guard . if it seems too good to be true it probably is.