Would you buy a rebuilt flooded car?

[Elkins45]

I stumbled across a small dealer’s website here in KY that has flood damaged cars as maybe 90% of their inventory.

Used Cars for Sale Columbia KY 42728 J & S Auto Sales LLC

Used Cars for Sale Columbia KY 42728 J & S Auto Sales LLC

www.jandsautosalesky.org

I’m curious where all the cars came from; my guess is the hurricane last fall. If I had access to an unlimited CarFax account I would run some of the VINs to find out.

Would you buy a drowned car? How much of a discount would you have to get before you were willing to take the gamble? I presume older cars would be better bets as they have fewer electronic systems that are essential to basic operation.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Would you buy a drowned car?

Paging @GON

 

[fantastic]

Water has got to be one of the most number one killers. RUST! rust in the wiring, rust in all the cracks, & then has the carpet been replaced due to mold.

There are too many cars on the market that are not salvaged. Even a collision repair would be better than a flooded in my opinion. Good question though.

 

[dishdude]

A lot of risk, the odds of it being repaired correctly aren't in your favor and with a branded title it'll be tough to get rid of if it doesn't work out.

 

[RooflessVW]

Only if it was a Merc from @GON

 

[justalubetech]

Nahhh.... I know some have had decent luck with them, but even if all of the electrical connections have been taken apart and cleaned water wicking up wiring is still a thing. Seen it firsthand where water wicks up a wire and ends up severely corroding the insides of a pcm or other module.

 

[Dave Sherman]

My Traverse wasn't a flood car, but it had problems with corroding wiring harnesses and switches. That was just in things like window switches and speaker wiring, so at one point, warning chimes weren't coming through because they only came out of the left front speaker, which had failed. Window switches randomly stopped working, and my power mirror switch stopped working. I suspect the driver's door innards got wet from being left open in the rain or having a window down because that was the one that gave me the most trouble.

That was just a door.

Now if you can imagine more of the car's interior being soaked, now you've got a whole lot more wiring, switches, air bag inflators, sensors, entertainment systems, instruments, control modules, window/door lock motors, and a whole bunch of other stuff that could potentially give you problems.

On a simple car like my MG, that may just be annoying, quirkly problems, and British cars are notorious for quirky electrical glitches. On a modern car, that's not quirky, those kinds of problems could be much more difficult to fix and may make it undriveable or even dangerous.

 

[MSCH]

I stumbled across a small dealer’s website here in KY that has flood damaged cars as maybe 90% of their inventory.

Used Cars for Sale Columbia KY 42728 J & S Auto Sales LLC

Used Cars for Sale Columbia KY 42728 J & S Auto Sales LLC

www.jandsautosalesky.org

I’m curious where all the cars came from; my guess is the hurricane last fall. If I had access to an unlimited CarFax account I would run some of the VINs to find out.

Would you buy a drowned car? How much of a discount would you have to get before you were willing to take the gamble? I presume older cars would be better bets as they have fewer electronic systems that are essential to basic operation.

I wouldn't... I wouldn't doubt Hurricane Ian cars are in the mix now... only sat in salt water for a week or so... no problems will ever be had with those.

 

[marc1]

Would you buy a drowned car?

A desirable 1964 to 1972 born with powertrain muscle car, yes, but the price would need to be outrageously low. Regular everyday 70's, 80's and 90's cars, no way. Modern cars with various computing modules, CAN bus architectures, air bags etc. not a chance, not for any price.

 

[LDB]

Maybe one out of every several thousand if it was redone by someone known, reputable and trustworthy. And only at far below the price of a non-flood car, less than 50%.

 

[Chris142]

I'm very picky when car shopping. No I would not knowingly buy a flood car or any car with any rust.

 

[B6_Dolphin]

Well, you could be a YTuber like Tavarish and buy a hurricane-flooded McLaren P1 for $575,000 at a salvage action and attempt to rebuild it for your channel:





So would you buy it off Tavarish when he's done? Oh, yeah one thing... the McLaren has a Florida Certificate of Destruction-branded title, so there's that hurtle, even if he somehow successfully rebuilds it.

 

[walterjay]

I would never buy flood damaged. Not worth the risk to me.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Flood cars have expensive, repeated electrical problems that will never go away

 

[Escape08]

Not me. To each his own.

 

[SaberOne]

Nope, my restoration days are over.

 

[Fla]

A desirable 1964 to 1972 born with powertrain muscle car, yes, but the price would need to be outrageously low. Regular everyday 70's, 80's and 90's cars, no way. Modern cars with various computing modules, CAN bus architectures, air bags etc. not a chance, not for any price.

Amen! One look at the amount of wiring at the bulkhead connector of any late model car should be enough to convince anyone that it's not worth trying to troubleshot all of those potential electrical failures.

My guess is that this dealer gets the cars at auction for very nearly nothing since no one else will bid on them and he sells them to desperate buyers who can't get a car loan and who can't afford anything better.

 

[nomas]

In Louisiana , dealers are required to disclose in writing if a vehicle has been flooded . As for knowingly buying one , no way .

 

[Elkins45]

I found this site https://www.nicb.org/vincheck that lets you do VIN searches. I picked a couple to check and one was reported as a loss in July of last year, the other in early October. That one is probably Ian.

Just as an aside that VIN check site looks like it could be useful.

 

[GON]

Only if it was a Merc from @GON

Took my Bride out in my "flooded" S class for dinner tonight for her birthday. Can't believe how well this German engineered car is to drive; that I paid less than what the sales tax costs new. About to hit the bed, will review the OP's car tomorrow morning. These pictures were taken just a minute ago.

PS- every car enthusiast should own a German engineered car at least once in their life.