GREENSBORO, N.C. — We are again bracing ourselves for flooded roads, which means flooded cars too. CARFAX estimates there are 454,000 flooded cars back in use nationwide. Most of them, won't be flagged as a flooded car.
"In the event of a big flooding event, there are scammers who sometimes go into neighborhoods and, but, you know, pay cash for cars. So it's never reported to insurance or anyone else. That's why it's crucial to, you know, do a thorough search and have a thorough exam of it," said Patrick Olsen, CARFAX.
The best advice anytime you're buying a used car, have it checked out by a third-party mechanic. They can spot the signs of a flooded car even if the paperwork doesn't show it. CARFAX has a free tool for consumers to use as well.
The numbers show you shouldn't take your chances. CARFAX data estimates in North Carolina, 14,300 water-damaged cars were on the roads at the end of 2023.
"So, the rankings are for the number of cars that we suspected are water-damaged as of the end of 2023. What we do is we look at areas that we know are hard hit, we look at areas that FEMA has declared disaster areas and then using all the data that we have, we can crunch the numbers on, you know, which ones are the areas that are most likely to flood and calculate how many cars are there and then do our math on that," said Olsen.
CARFAX data shows these 10 states already have the most water-damaged cars (as of the end of 2023)
- Texas 64,000
- Florida 62,700
- Kentucky 30,200
- Pennsylvania 21,800
- California 20,200
- New Jersey 15,600
- New York 15,300
- Illinois 14,500
- N. Carolina 14,300
- Mississippi 12,000