FILE -In this Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, file photo, cars are submerged at the entrance to a parking garage in New York's Financial District in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy. Alarming claims that hundreds of thousands of flood-damaged cars from Superstorm Sandy will inundate the used car market aren’t backed up by insurance company claim data, The Associated Press has found. The dire predictions come mostly from companies that track vehicle title and repair histories and sell those reports.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
The attorney general's office and the Governor's Office of Consumer Protection warned that many previously flooded vehicles get sold at auction and then may be sold at used car lots or through online classified ads.
Insurance companies in other states may write off flooded cars as "salvage" or "totaled," but that may not appear on the titles. Electrical problems are very likely, and the brakes, airbag's and computer system may also be seriously compromised.
Car shoppers should ask to see the title before signing anything and should run the vehicle identification number into the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, a national database used by insurers.
Post a Comment