Beware of Buying a Flood Car

A great deal, perhaps. A good long term purchase, absolutely not!  A car that has been exposed to high water has too many potential problems. Even if everything is working properly, it is only a matter of time before gremlins will start to appear.  Remember, your car contains a complex computer network, with many electrical connections the are subject to corrosion.  Even if mildew has been dealt with, carpets removed, seats cleaned, etc., those remedies are not enough.  I would only think of purchasing one of these cars for parts, and then at a ridiculously low price and with the notion that I will go through the parts one by one with lubricants and cleaning agents.

One way to detect a flood car is to remove the interior door panel and look for a water line. then run from the vehicle, no matter what the price!

Inspect the carpets to see if they show signs of having been waterlogged, such as smelling musty or having caked-on mud. Likewise, brand-new carpets in an older vehicle may be another red flag.

Check the seat-mounting screws to see if there is any evidence that they have been removed. To dry the carpets effectively, the seats must be removed and possibly even replaced.

Inspect the lights. Headlights and taillights are expensive to replace, and a visible water line may still show on the lens or the reflector

Inspect the difficult-to-clean places, such as gaps between panels in the trunk and under the hood. Waterborne mud and debris may still appear in these places.

Look for mud or debris on the bottom edges of brackets or panels, where it wouldn’t settle naturally.

Search around the engine compartment. Water lines and debris can appear in hard-to-clean places, such as behind the engine.

Look at the heads of any unpainted, exposed screws under the dashboard. Unpainted metal in flood cars will show signs of rust.

Check if the rubber drain plugs under the car and on the bottom of doors look as if they have been removed recently. It may have been done to drain floodwater.