CARFAX offers free way to check vehicles for flood damage
Houston - The number of flood-damaged cars in the U.S. continues to rise as hurricanes and storms roll in this year.
CARFAX says that 89,000 more vehicles have been reported to have flood damage since this hurricane season began. But that number does not include numbers from Hurricane Helene. And it comes on top of the 454,000 flood damaged vehicles that were already in the U.S. from previous years' storms.
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CARFAX says Texas has the most flood damaged vehicles of any state, with 64,000. Houston has 29,000.
But those are vehicles with reported damage. Many vehicles are resold after storms and the damage is not disclosed to buyers, often leaving them with costly and unexpected repairs.
"If you buy a car that’s been flooded, and it needs a new engine that can run thousands, to tens of thousands of dollars. Secondly, there’s that safety effect, like if the safety system, like automatic brakes or rear cross traffic alert, no longer work, or there’s mold in the car," said Patrick Olsen of CARFAX.
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CARFAX offers a free way to check if a vehicle has been reported as flood-damaged before you make a purchase.
Go to CARFAX.com/flood and enter the VIN and your email address. CARFAX will send you a notification about whether it is flood damaged.