Lots of vehicles now have flood damage in Florida due to the recent hurricane. Is every one of those now junk, or do some vehicle types fare better than others with flood damage? For example, due all electric cars fare worse than hybrids, and hybrids fare worse than internal combustion cars?
Well of course the hybrid and electric cars fair the worst and floods. But that's salt water and it will destroy any car over time.
Whenever a big storm hits many of the flooded cars will be cosmetically cleaned up and put on the used car market, and will cause no end of problems for their new owners. Caveat emptor!
Agree with @ChuckTobias but had to look up the phrase "caveat emptor". It is Latin for 'Let the Buyer Beware', the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.
And beware that cars swamped in flood waters often return to market far away from the flood zone where consumers may be less aware of the warning signs to look for. Water can ruin electronics, mechanical systems and lubricants(for example, getting into the transmission through the vent opening), sometimes taking months or years to do so and will plague buyers for the life of the car. And amazingly, some flood damaged cars can reappear with a clean title.
You can check with the 'National Motor Vehicle Title Information System' or the 'National Insurance Crime Bureau' which offers a free VIN check though it may not be as complete as a paid service like 'Bumper' because if the owner of the car did not have comprehensive insurance at the time of the flood then the insurance company would not be involved to make a report.
So buyers must be vigilant to carefully inspect a vehicle for observable signs of flooding but also must have the vehicle inspected buy a certified mechanic with careful consideration of possible flood damage.
Caveat emptor.
In most states "flood" is a whole separate category of junked vehicles on the salvage title. Most insurance companies will declare a flooded vehicle as totaled regardless of it's apparent condition. There is a reason for all this. Flooded cars whether salt or fresh water will fail due to the corrosive effects of water. As soon as the electronics in energized all the plating on all the wet connectors will start to de-plate and salts will form around the connectors shorting every thing together. Water contaminates all the bearings and all the moving parts that were submerged. The lubricants will turn to sludge. If water gets into the crank case or transmission you can never completely clean it out. There are all these very precise passageways that will be clogged and your drive train is history.
Salt water does the same thing but a lot faster since salt is a catalyst but basically it's the same process. Anything metallic starts to decay.
All these horrors could happen right away or slowly with time. The car may seem normal after you vacuum out the carpeting and get rid of the smell but eventually stuff will start irreversibly failing.
Run Away from flooded vehicles.
