New Carfax Research Details How Many Waterlogged Wrecks Have Washed Up in Each State www.carfax.com/press/releases/americans-driving-more-than-a-quarter-million-flood-damaged-cars
CENTREVILLE, Va. (September 12, 2016) – Hundreds of thousands of previously flooded vehicles are believed to be in driveways, on the road or up for sale around the country right now, according to new research from Carfax. The data suggests that more than 271,000 cars reported as flood damaged by a state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), insurance companies and more are back in use. It’s a nearly 30% increase from 2013.
While waterlogged wrecks have made their way to every state, these ten states have the most:
- Texas – 43,000
- Pennsylvania – 20,000
- Florida – 17,000
- Kentucky – 14,000
- Illinois – 13,000
- South Carolina – 11,000
- Michigan – 11,000
- New Jersey – 10,000
- New York – 9,000
- Louisiana – 9,000
“Flooded cars are a buyer’s worst nightmare,” said Larry Gamache, communications director at Carfax. “They’re ticking time bombs because when you least expect it, the electrical, mechanical or safety systems on these cars will fail, often without warning. Consumers everywhere need to be vigilant about checking a vehicle’s history for flood damage and getting a pre-purchase inspection to avoid buying cars that rot from the inside out.”
Increasingly powerful storms and historic flooding in major areas are creating more opportunities for professional con men to clean up and resell flooded vehicles. Demonstrations show that it takes only a few hours to restore them cosmetically, at a minimal cost to the criminals. However, buying one of these dangerous cars costs unsuspecting consumers thousands.
“A customer was requesting a loan on a used car, so we ran a Carfax Report as part of our underwriting procedures,” said Willie Macko, President of PriorityOne Bank in Mississippi. “We discovered that the car had been a total loss and the title was branded as a flood vehicle. By using Carfax, we were able to save both our bank and our customer a lot of money.”
One more big timely reason we include CARFAX with our ShopController repair service program. To learn more call us @ 480-898-0100 or email [email protected].
