Law and Rights
A tip from an industry source warns us that as many as 10,000 damaged vehicles may come out of the recent Texas floods and insurance companies may be letting wholesalers buy these vehicles so they can end up at your neighbor dealer's car lot.
Automotive News and Bloomberg News are both reporting that about 2,500 flooded cars, trucks, Rv's and motorcycles have already been towed to a Copart yard in Houston, where they likely will be auctioned off for salvage value to the highest bidder. Copart works with insurance companies to sell vehicles wholesale that have been totaled in accidents and floods.
While these totaled out flood cars are normally reduced to salvageable parts, some are bought by dealers who intend to resell them after cleaning them up, often moving them to another state, and then off to the local auction yard they go - where their flooded or wrecked history can often be made difficult to trace back.
So if you are in the market to buy a used vehicle in the next six months, watch out. Inspect carefully, have a local mechanic or body shop check out the vehicle before you buy it. Check under seats and in trunks for any sign of water damage, such as sand or dirt or waterline markings.Look for signs of premature rust. Smell for musty odors and look for mold.
And, most important of all, ask the selling dealer to guarantee that the vehicle you are looking at was NOT in a flood anywhere.
And don't just take their word for it. When they say "no flood - no way" be sure to tell them that you want them to write that on the sales contract too. And if they won't do it, then watch out! Don't buy! Go somewhere else.
Don't waste your money on flooded or wrecked cars!
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Law and Rights
Are Flood Cars Headed to Your Dealer?
A tip from an industry source warns us that as many as 10,000 damaged vehicles may come out of the recent Texas floods and insurance companies may be letting wholesalers buy these vehicles so they can end up at your neighbor dealer's car lot.
 |
| Texas floods send thousands of vehicles to auction |
While these totaled out flood cars are normally reduced to salvageable parts, some are bought by dealers who intend to resell them after cleaning them up, often moving them to another state, and then off to the local auction yard they go - where their flooded or wrecked history can often be made difficult to trace back.
So if you are in the market to buy a used vehicle in the next six months, watch out. Inspect carefully, have a local mechanic or body shop check out the vehicle before you buy it. Check under seats and in trunks for any sign of water damage, such as sand or dirt or waterline markings.Look for signs of premature rust. Smell for musty odors and look for mold.
And, most important of all, ask the selling dealer to guarantee that the vehicle you are looking at was NOT in a flood anywhere.
And don't just take their word for it. When they say "no flood - no way" be sure to tell them that you want them to write that on the sales contract too. And if they won't do it, then watch out! Don't buy! Go somewhere else.
Don't waste your money on flooded or wrecked cars!
Burdge Law Office
www.BurdgeLaw.com
Helping consumers get rid of lemons, every day.
It's what we do.
Subscribe in a reader- Who's Best? Carfax Or Autocheck Or Nmvtis And Vehicle History Reports
CarFax and AutoCheck and the NMVTIS are three different sources for vehicle history reports that can be obtained online so you can find out the history of a used car you may be thinking of buying - so you can avoid a lemon. So, which is best and does...
- Title Fraud Remains Easy To Do - Burdge Quoted In Newspaper
Attorney Ron Burdge was quoted in the Sunday edition of The Gazette in a news story dealing with motor vehicle title fraud, "Washing the title remains relatively easy for anyone with thievery in their heart." Motor vehicle "title washing" is the term...
- Wrecked Car Records Go Public, Finally
After years of wrangling and and lawsuits to force federal bureaucrats to do what Congress told them to do long ago, there is now an online database where consumers can go to get wrecked car records filed by insurance companies, junk yards, salvage yards...
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So you think when you win a brand new car on a tv game show, you'd actually get a brand new car, huh? Well not according to Donna Tillman. What she says she actually got was a wrecked and repaired car. Court papers filed in L.A. claim that she thought...
- State Farm - Not A Good Neighbor?
Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there ... right in the middle of trouble! At least 8 lawsuits have been filed around Ohio against State Farm, salvage yards and wrecked car rebuilders, and car dealers who sold rebuilt cars without disclosing the truth...