QOTD: Can We Interest You in Noah's Spark?
Ignore what some of the congenital liars in the autojourno game are saying: Most of the cars that were flooded out during recent weather events will not be “immediately crushed.” That would be utterly ridiculous. Some flood vehicles will wind up being comprehensively parted out to end users who might never need to know about the watery provenance of their secondhand parts. Does it really matter if the OEM aluminum wheels you buy off eBay were ever in a flood? What about that side marker light? You get the idea.
On the other hand, some cars will be processed, primped, and placed back in a sales channel with or without the mark of Cain on their titles. Which leads us to a question:
Are there certain cars you’d never buy if you knew they had water damage? What kind of guarantees would you need? I can personally think of several situations in which I’d buy a car with a branded title. Hell, I just did exactly that last week — but that’s a story for another time. What about you? Are you interested in Noah’s Spark? What if this Gilgamesh-esque flood leads to… an epic deal?
[Image: © Timothy Cain/The Truth About Cars]
More by Jack Baruth
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I just lost my 2017 Pacifica to the Harvey flood waters. I wonder where it will end up? Here is a link to a vid I made, at the tow facility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riQ4rvYinuE
Sorry you had to abandon you Pacifica, but it is good that you got out.
*Knowingly* buy a flood car? Nice cold glass of NOPE. I'm turning away from "used is value" towards new in part because of the increased incidence of flooding.
I bought a near-new 1983 Honda Accord hatchback with flood damage in '84, for $7000. It was a river flood, no salt, and the dealer replaced the carpet, underlayment, and seats, replaced the brakes, and flushed the crankcase and auto transmission. It ran great for 4 years, then was hit while parked and totaled by the insurance company. I loved the fuel economy after driving a '72 Monaco/360-2bb, but was fed up with 75 HP very quickly. The Accord was even slower 0-60 than the malaise Monaco. As others pointed out, that era had little in the way of electronics, so it was a safer bet than a drowned car today.