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Is my used car flood damaged?

D

desura

Diamond Member
I bought a used car recently for below market price.

I am suspecting it might be flood damaged. I'm not sure.

Everything works great. For starters. I drove it and it is smooth and runs fine.

The guy who bought it before me drove it for at least a thousand miles as well, all A-okay.

The VIN number checks out okay.

But I have my suspicions. First, there is an odd smell to the car. It might just be the guy though, and his pets. It doesn't smell like mold, it smells like *edit* soap. But it still smells some.

It came from the Georgia area which I believe was flooded recently?

I searched around the car, looked under all the floormats I could, looked at all of the seat rails. THey look fine. I did dig my finger into a compartment below a floor area and it was very slightly moist and it smelled bad. The smell could have come from water damage? Or maybe just naturally?

most importantly, I found the owners manual in a compartment below the back passenger seat foot area. The owners manual was not wet, but it was clearly soaked through with discoloration and pages sticking and warped. Now, I don't know if it might have been snow tracked in or something, or why the owners manual was in there in the first place, but that is a bit odd.

What are the odds?
 
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pull up the carpet and see if there is any water damage to the underpad.

or if there is any wiring that looks like it has had water over it.

or if there is a computer that the paper label has been shrivled up from water.
 
What car and what's the vin? If it has a trunk look in the very bottom for wetness/stains.
 
Sounds very suspect. Probably was never reported as flood damaged by the previous owner which is why it came back with a clear title when you checked the vin. If this car was flood damaged you WILL have major problems with it eventually.

There are probably a crap load of cars like this on the used car market. You really have to do your homework when buying a used car these days.

I wouldn't take any chances personally. Get rid of it.
 
Why would someone not report a car as flood damaged? I'm seriously curious. I'm guessing if he had cheaped out on insurance.
 
Leaking water bottle on floor of car doesn't equal flooded. If you don't see a whole lot of rust anywhere and you don't find any "lines" of dirt anywhere, I doubt the car was flooded. He could possibly have done a poor job with the carpet cleaner and just didn't clean it very thoroughly.
 
desura said:
Why would someone not report a car as flood damaged? I'm seriously curious. I'm guessing if he had cheaped out on insurance.
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Really? The law has been cracking down from time to time on unscrupulous car dealers selling flood damaged cars for many, many years. They buy them dirt cheap, clean them up and then resell them for a huge profit. Often, the problems don't show up for a year or two when electrical problems start rearing their ugly heads.

http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,4534,7-164-17337_20942_21106-294095--,00.html
 
I called the dealership on the title. They told me that they had sold the car to the original owner and then serviced it subsequently over the next two years. They also said that they did a number of recall maintenance work. He traded the car in about a month ago.

Makes me more assured, since the dealer had a regular relationship with the guy. Odd that it didn't show up on the autocheck though, because most of the time when a car is maintained through a dealer it'll show every maintenance stop.

I'm leaning towards the explanation of the guy stopped to fix a flat tire and dropped the owners manual in a puddle or something.
 
If you're really concerned about it, you could find any electronics that are lower in the car (fuse panels, computer modules, etc) and inspect the inside of the connectors for corrosion.
 
Pop open a door panel and look inside for signs of water damage.

desura said:
Why would someone not report a car as flood damaged? I'm seriously curious. I'm guessing if he had cheaped out on insurance.
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Why? So he can sell it to you for much more than it's worth. :biggrin:
 
JulesMaximus said:
I've never had a car with a factory moonroof that leaked. They are pretty good these days.
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Roommate had a 2012 or 2013 CTS specced out to about $50k that had to have the moonroof serviced because it was leaking slowly into the padding. One of the reasons why I was saddened to have to get a FoST with a moonroof and why I pretty much never open it.
 
JulesMaximus said:
I've never had a car with a factory moonroof that leaked. They are pretty good these days.
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It's not that the moonroof is designed wrong, it's that the drain channels get clogged with dirt, leading to water pooling up in the floor. This is a common issue with cars with moonroofs that are parked outside under trees or in a dusty/dirty environment. Clean the drain channels and it fixes the issue.
 
Moon roofs can certainly leak, deal with it very often. Since they are actually now adjustable. new F-150s surprised me the other day, with their panoramic roof are now actually designed to allow water into an interior rain channel system. Essentially a gutter system on the inside of the vehicle. Problem is during high pressure car washes this rain channel is too shallow and allows water to actually get on the customer or on the shade if closed. Seems like a silly design, but the benefit is the drains can't get clogged as easily.
 
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tortillasoup said:
It's not that the moonroof is designed wrong, it's that the drain channels get clogged with dirt, leading to water pooling up in the floor. This is a common issue with cars with moonroofs that are parked outside under trees or in a dusty/dirty environment. Clean the drain channels and it fixes the issue.
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yup and not just the front passenger area but also the trunk. I had a drain tube come loose in my old integra and caught it after finding water in the trunk all the time. When I insured with State farm they inspected the moonroof too and asked if aftermarket because they said the aftermarket ones can leak.
 
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