Flooded Cars - What Happens to Them

[pdub]

I'm sure this has everything to do with Harvey flooding Houston. I don't think I learned anything from this story, but that's just me.

And there's also much other stuff I know for in fact that I don't know, and I'm not very proud at all. You confront me with something I don't know, I won't make up an answer like some folks do. I'll say, "I don't have a fricking clue." I'm not proud that way.

Flooded cars. I would have thought that a car that has been underwater for any amount of time should be deemed worthless. That's what I thought. That's what I don't know, and I'm saying I don't know. See if you can read this and see what you make of it. Explain this to me, please.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Copart auctions. Then we buy those sweet, sweet salvage vehicles and put their motors and transmissions in old cars.

or

Russians buy them, title wash them, then sell them to idiots...err... unsuspecting children.

[Barry Donovan]

the danger is the elements the different charges gain..
this means even after repair, you have altered the signature of everything.

my subaru put up quite a battle just wetting the floors. the car was primitive enough to just cave in its own ign coil.

todays stuff, like my 96 gmc..
I'd walk away for a long time.

just changing the front shocks changes the ecm alternator controller.

You could theoretically gut everything, sterilize, dust free.. that should work.

[Monster]

They dry them out, ship them to another location and then sell them to unsuspecting buyers.

[malc]

Exclusive: An army of tow trucks tackles Houston's flood-damaged cars


"Still, the non-profit National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) has warned that cars flooded by Harvey may be fraudulently re-registered to avoid declaring damage."

[malc]

Royal Purple Raceway Suspends Racing To Help With Hurricane Relief

"Utilizing its gigantic footprint in the Houston suburb of Baytown, Royal Purple Raceway will become a temporary storage facility for cars, trucks, boats and construction equipment destroyed by the largest recorded storm in U.S. history."

[tardis454]

They go to a salvage pool to be auctioned. There are only a handful of (big corporate) insurance salvage dealers, Copart being one of them.
Depending on the state they came from, and the state they end up in the titles can be (easily) washed. Most will end up in junkyards though.
There are plenty of shitbag car lots here in Ohio that sell flood cars. I know a few people who unknowingly got suckered into buying them too.

[DanStokes]

That just SUCKS to put someone into a flood car - might be OK, probably won't be. I think the answer to Peewee's initial question is, "they're supposed to be scrapped but not all are." Recycling the right front fender or the rear clip or something is no big deal but trying to use the engine, trans, or anything else that can be harmed by being soaked in H2O is another issue. And we haven't even mentioned anything that's subject to electrons.

Dan

[tardis454]

...trying to use the engine, trans, or anything else that can be harmed by being soaked in H2O is another issue.

Motors and trannys can be repaired or replaced, the electrical stuff is the biggest ass-ache..
A guy I know bought a Caddy flood car. The car was mint with about 30k miles, but was an electrical nightmare.
He ended up getting rid of the car after months of replacing electrical parts and removing the dash several times.
Then there's the ones that stink. No matter how much you clean them they stink like rotting ocean creatures...

[SuperBuickGuy]

They dry them out, ship them to another location and then sell them to unsuspecting buyers.

I hear Floridians snap them up

[>>>>head]

Russians buy them, title wash them, then sell them to idiots...err... unsuspecting children.

Comrade, wouldn't your really rather have a Buick?

[68scott385]

Even though they aren't flood cars, several recalled VWs were stolen in Michigan and recovered in Kentucky where the titles were flagged when the new "owners" tried to register them. When a vehicle is brought into KY from anywhere else it has to go through a sheriff's inspection where the title VIN is matched to the vehicle VIN along with various checks of working safety equipment. Someone mentioned title washing, seems like an easy and ruthless thing to do as long as the car isn't reported stolen.

[68scott385]

http://www.wdrb.com/clip/13685900/di...-investigation

Local news story about several VWs, tried to retitle, stolen from Michigan, abandoned at at local "garage".

http://www.wdrb.com/story/36339272/update-32-recalled-volkswagens-and-audis-stolen-from-michigan-tied-to-clarksville-auction

[PHWOARchild]

Our flood cars from Sandy in 2012 all went out east to an old Grumman facility. There were thousands lined up on the runways waiting to go wherever flood cars go. One insurance underwriter told me that once the ABS and airbag wiring is submerged, the car is scrap.

[68scott385]

http://www.wdrb.com/story/36362149/kytc-warns-drivers-about-flooded-hurricane-vehicles-being-resold-in-kentucky