AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
FLOOD OF CARS; Insurers hope to stop submerged cars from resurfacing.(News)
Byline: ANDREW LUU
We've all heard the reports: Hurricane Katrina left an estimated half a million flood-damaged vehicles in her wake-with as many as 250,000 now drying out and headed for the used-car market.
To prevent a repeat of the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd in 1999-in which roughly half of the 75,000 flooded vehicles resurfaced on the resale market-insurance agencies and law enforcement officials are taking unprecedented steps to identify Katrina-flooded cars.
Central to the effort is a national registry of flooded cars, listed by vehicle identification number (VIN), available to police agencies, state motor vehicle departments and, for the first time, the general public via the Internet at nicb.org.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau, an organization that works with police and insurance companies to fight insurance fraud, is compiling the VIN registry.
"Never have we seen this kind of destruction,'' said the NICB's Frank Scafidi. "So we decided to collect all the data and make them available.''
Officials hope the registry will prevent shady dealers and wholesalers from "washing'' titles of flooded cars-a practice in which totaled cars are re-registered in another state to hide their watery history. Flood-damaged cars, often written off as total losses by insurers, are supposed to be sold strictly for their parts. But unscrupulous re-sellers buy flood-damaged vehicles for pennies on the dollar, dry them out and clean them, and put them back into the used-car stream.
- Carfax Concerned Flooded Cars Will Be Resold, Moves To Protect Consumers.
- Press release article from: PR Newswire August 26, 2008 700+ words
...past several months. Flooded cars from Florida, the Midwest...few months at risk. Flood damage information is...www.carfax.com/flood. (Logo: http...continue to unknowingly buy flooded cars, raising concerns over...used car is to check to flood damage reported to Carfax...
- Flooded Cars Will Trickle onto Midstate Lots, Tennessee Dealers...
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Fann, Gina May 5, 1997 700+ words
...lots nationwide after severe floods like those now receding in North...declared and sold as salvage by the flood victims' insurance companies...been completely immersed in flood waters, ruining their electrical...exactly what makes a vehicle "flood salvage," experts say, coupled...
- Flooded cars drift into Idaho.
- Newspaper article from: Times-News (Twin Falls, Idaho) March 23, 2006 700+ words
...to The Associated Press, thousands of flood-damaged cars (from the Hurricane Katrina...likely that we'll see any new cars with flood damage," Cain said. Cain said they usually...sees them," Cain said. "If we found a flood-damaged vehicle in our inventory, we...
- Residents want restitution for flooded cars.
- Newspaper article from: Stamford Advocate (Stamford, CT) April 20, 2007 700+ words
...consider management mistakes during Sunday's flood that led to nearly 200 cars being damaged...Doskow said. Residents said a wooden flood gate failed to protect the cars, and once...described the gate as two large boards that flood water rushed over and into the garage...
- Salty water was last nail in coffin of flooded cars.(Front)
- Newspaper article from: The Virginian Pilot November 28, 2009 700+ words
...insurance companies. A run-of-the-mill washout is a bit more forgiving. With a few new parts, a car drowned by a rainwater flood stands a chance of recovery. The nor'easter, however, was loaded with brine. Streets were turned into lakes by "mostly...
- Avoiding Buying Flooded Cars.
- Press release article from: Business Wire November 28, 2005 700+ words
This year, thousands of cars that were flooded by the recent hurricanes may find themselves in the garages of unknowing car buyers. This can happen when unscrupulous people fraudulently "re-title" a car so it hides the fact that it's been flooded. So how can you avoid falling for an elaborate
- The Danger of Hurricane-Flooded Cars.
- Press release article from: Business Wire October 4, 2005 700+ words
It may only be water, but to your car, it's a corrosive agent. That's why you should take immediate action should standing water in the road, or from a serious storm like Hurricane Katrina swamp your car. Radio News Feature You can reach the story directly by going to
- Sweetwater, Fla., Residents' Homeowners Policies Don't Cover Flood Damage.
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Lollis, Barbara De October 20, 1999 700+ words
...insurance bill forgo flood insurance. Of the 309...come from people with flooded cars and flooded homes. Auto insurance policies cover flooded cars as long as drivers had...comprehensive coverage. The flood program is expected to...
Source: HighBeam Research, FLOOD OF CARS; Insurers hope to stop submerged cars from...