How to avoid buying a flood-damaged car

However, experts are concerned that desperate owners who cannot afford to scrap their car (or even owners of comprehensively insured cars who cannot afford to lose their no-claims bonus) may be tempted to dry it out and sell it on to an unsuspecting buyer. Admittedly, 
the nature of modern vehicles, with their complex electrical systems, means that only the least flood-damaged cars could pass undetected, but it’s a risk nonetheless.

Earlier this month Neil Hodson, deputy managing director of vehicle information company Cap HPI, warned car buyers to be on the lookout for rising numbers of 
flood-damaged cars entering the 
car market in the coming months.

“There’s a danger that some car owners may try to sell on their flood-damaged vehicle, once its interior has dried out and it has been cleaned,” he said. “Omitting its history will leave the new owner in the dark about its real condition.”

James Carswell, of Scotia Vehicle Inspections in Glasgow, has inspected hundreds of flood-damaged cars in recent weeks and fears that many third-party-insured cars will be sold on in a dangerous and contaminated state.

“I expect hundreds of flooded third-party vehicles will come onto the market,” he says. “I went to Otley in Yorkshire to inspect a flood-damaged Ford Transit mini-bus recently. It should have been scrapped, but the owner said he couldn’t afford to and that instead he’d fix it up and sell it on.”

December’s floods are not the 
first to have struck UK towns and cities. Michael Ward, a used car inspector based in Bradford, recalls examining a Suzuki Vitara for a customer when the car was advertised for sale shortly after 
the city was flooded in 2007. 
The car had no write-off history, 
but Ward suspected that it had been the victim of flooding.

“The metal frames under the seats and dashboard were badly corroded,” he says. “I advised 
my customer not to buy it.”

Ward agrees with Carswell that previously flooded, third-party-insured cars are those most likely to be sold on, but he says they won’t necessarily be the older cars usually associated with this level of cover.

“Many fleet cars are only third-party insured and I expect some of the least damaged will be offered for sale without their history being disclosed, rather than being scrapped,” he says.

Carswell says it’s not only mainstream but also classic cars 
that are destined to be repaired and sold on. “I have inspected over two dozen classics in recent weeks, all of them flooded mid-refurbishment,” he says. “Their owners had each accepted an average £15,000 insurance settlement, which some planned to spend on repairing the car before selling it.”