Don’t buy a car that ought to be scrapped

When the floodwaters finally recede on the Gulf Coast, no doubt thousands of water-damaged cars will start flooding the used-car market.

If you don’t want to end up unknowingly buying one of these waterlogged vehicles, you had better do some homework, advises Jeff Fortson, an Atlanta-based auto consultant and editor of www.jeffcars.com, a car-buying educational Web site targeted to women and minorities.

Fortson said many of the victims of Hurricane Katrina may be victimized a second time as they search for used cars to replace the ones they lost, or who need a car to get around unfamiliar cities where they’ve been relocated.

“Many of the people displaced did not own a vehicle,” Fortson said.

“Now, many of these individuals are in locations that will require them to have transportation.”

Unfortunately, these inexperienced and low-income car shoppers are ripe for conning by unscrupulous sellers.

In fact, it is common for flood-damaged vehicles to end up on the used-car market, according to Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research. On average, about a million flood-damaged vehicles are sold each year.

But these cars and trucks should not be sold as vehicles intended for transportation use, Spinella said.

“Flood vehicles can be sold for their parts,” Spinella said. “There isn’t a single vehicle that came out of Katrina that should be sold. They should all be scrapped.”

There isn’t anything illegal about selling a car that has been damaged by a flood, but that fact should be disclosed to a buyer, said Chris Basso, media relations manager for Carfax, which sells vehicle history reports.

Basso said up to 500,000 cars may have been damaged by Katrina.

“From previous storms, our experience has been that close to half of flood-damaged vehicles will return to the road, and some of those cars are cleaned up by unscrupulous sellers and sold to unknowing consumers, which is a shame,” Basso said.

“They’re buying cars that they think are fine, but are rotting from the inside out.”

One way to determine if a car, truck or SUV was damaged by a flood is to check its history. This history report is available from many dealers for free, or you can buy the reports from either Carfax.com or AutoCheck.com for about $20.

Carfax announced recently that GE Fleet Services will be helping the company identify vehicles destroyed by the floodwaters. GE Fleet Services will provide a specific list of vehicle identification numbers (VINs) for GE-managed fleet vehicles damaged in storm-ravaged areas of the Gulf states.

Prior to Hurricane Katrina, used car inventories were high due to the unprecedented new-car employee-pricing promotions, Fortson said. This meant that used car prices were good. According to CNW Marketing Research, the average used car sold by franchised new-car dealers dropped to $10,339 last month, the third straight month of declining prices.

Before you purchase a pre-owned vehicle, especially within the next few months, take these precautions:

* Be sure and check the history of the vehicle. If you have to pay for a report, do it. With that history in hand you’ll find out such things as whether the car was in a flood or sustained major damage in an accident.

* As a second line of defense, have a trained, certified mechanic inspect the vehicle. And your cousin Bud, who likes to fool around with cars on the weekend, doesn’t count unless he’s a certified mechanic.

“Bud may not know what he’s looking for,” Fortson said.

The average cost to have a vehicle inspected is about $100.

* Take the car for a test drive. Drive it on the highway so you can see how it reacts at high speeds. Drive it in stop-and-go traffic.

* Check for water damage yourself. For example, if a car has a sunroof, look for a water ring around the opening. Pay particular attention if the carpet has been shampooed. If you notice an abnormal odor, this may be a sign of flood damage. If you smell mold, hit the road and don’t look back. Look for rusty bolts and screws.

When it comes to a used car, don’t be penny-wise and pound-foolish.

Spend the money to have the vehicles checked out.

Washington Post Writers Group