Don’t Get Soaked by Flooding
A picture appearing in newspapers across the nation recently showed 2,000 brand-new Ford Explorers parked in water up to their windows just outside the Kentucky assembly plant where they were built.
Ford plans to crush all 2,000 of the vehicles--worth more than $40 million at retail--to avoid any potential for the damaged vehicles ending up with consumers, said spokeswoman Anne Booker. But with record floods across the heartland this year, many more thousands of vehicles will be flood damaged.
What do floods in the Midwest have to do with motorists in Southern California? Consumer advocates warn that some of these flood-damaged cars will find their way here via the interstate used vehicle market.
Nobody is sure exactly how many cars are damaged in floods every year. State Farm Insurance, the nation’s largest auto insurer with about 22% of the U.S. market, said it paid out $18.4 million for 2,538 flood-damaged vehicles in 1996. These statistics include only vehicles damaged in declared natural disasters, not the many more thousands of vehicles damaged in local flooding that occurs during heavy rains.
When a car or truck is totaled in a flood, an insurance company pays off the owner and turns the car over to a salvage company. What happens after that is anybody’s guess, said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. “These damaged vehicles get shipped all over the place,” she said. “They go to centralized auctions and get distributed around the country.”
The federal and state laws covering vehicle titles are particularly weak when it comes to damaged or totaled cars. The National Assn. of Attorneys General estimates that consumers lose $4 billion every year in fraud associated with the resale of vehicles that are either lemons or totals.
A car submerged in a flood can sustain horrible damage to almost every system. In addition, flood water is often full of silt that can penetrate moving parts in the engine and drive train. Even when dried out, the vehicle may never be as good as before.
How do you avoid buying a used car recently shipped from waterlogged Grand Forks, N.D.? Steve Mazer, an engineering and safety specialist at the Automobile Club of Southern California, offers these suggestions:
Lift up the carpeting and look for silt or rust on the floorboard. Check for evidence of silt or mud caked in the lower engine compartment or underbody. Look for new carpeting or all-new electrical components under the hood.
Flood damage can cause problems for a long time. A submerged tire can sustain rust in its steel cords, for example, ultimately causing a blowout many miles later.
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Vartabedian cannot answer mail personally but will attempt to respond in this column to automotive questions of general interest. Do not telephone. Write to Your Wheels, 1875 I St. N.W. No. 1100, Washington, DC 20006, or e-mail to Ralph.Vartabedian@latimes.com.
