Buyer beware of flood-damaged cars
Car buyers are being warned to check for signs of flood damage on secondhand vehicles in the coming weeks and months.
Tony Everett from the Motor Trade Association, a lobby group for professional car dealers, said buyers should get vehicles checked by a professional. Thousands of cars and motorbikes were damaged in the flooding in Auckland and parts of the North Island. AA Insurance alone has had more than 1200 vehicle claims and by midday Wednesday had written off 300 cars.
That is expected to lead to a spike in demand for secondhand cars, and a surge in prices, as owners use their insurance payouts for replacement vehicles.
While data shows about nine in 10 car owners insure their vehicles, some opt for only thirdparty, fire and theft.
That could mean hundreds of water-damaged cars were not insured. Everett said: ‘‘While many vehicles will be written off by insurers, some won’t, and others won’t have been insured at all.’’ He said some people would be trying to offload flood-damaged cars. ‘‘Flood damage can sometimes be difficult to determine, and it may take time before problems show up in the form of electrical failures and corrosion,’’ Everett said.
Richard Wafer, chief operating officer at My Auto Shop, which is part-owned by Trade Me and does pre-purchase vehicle inspections, said key giveaways a vehicle had been flooded included a musty smell. ‘‘We can run a diagnostic scan of the vehicle’s electronic systems, which may pick up on communication issues between the car’s computers.’’
Alan Raynor, vehicles manager from VTNZ, which also does pre-purchase inspections, said professionals were much more likely to spot that a car had been flooded than buyers relying on visual inspections and test-drives. Cars that had been dried out and cleaned might be hard to identify as having been flooded, he said.
Professional motor dealers are required by law to disclose flood damage.