Utah
Get Gephardt: Cars flooded by Ian may soon be flooding Utah roads
Estimated learn time: 2-3 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — A number of the earliest and strongest photographs exhibiting the influence of Hurricane Ian confirmed flooded streets and submerged automobiles. As flood waters recede, mechanics will let you know that these automobiles ought to most likely make their approach to scrap yards.
Not all of them, warns Emilie Voss, spokeswoman for CarFax.
“A majority of those automobiles usually find yourself again on the street and again within the used automotive market,” she mentioned.
CarFax tracks broken automobiles to compile its essential product: automobile historical past reviews. Get Gephardt requested CarFax to interrupt down its information to point out what number of flooded automobiles find yourself in Utah.
It is rather a lot.
“Utah is twenty seventh within the nation in the case of the variety of flood injury automobiles,” Voss mentioned. “Salt Lake Metropolis is definitely twenty first within the nation after we take a look at all of the cities nationwide.”
At present, there are an estimated 4,600 flooded automobiles which were resold and are at present on the street in Utah, CarFax’s information exhibits.
Which will shock you since Utah is a excessive desert the place we do not expertise numerous flooding in comparison with states like Texas and Florida. Apparently, Voss mentioned it’s as a result of Utah would not get numerous floods that Utahns generally is a goal.
“We’ve got seen a pattern over the past a number of years of conmen transferring these automobiles from states the place flooding is prime of thoughts for a automotive shopper — Texas, Florida — to states the place it isn’t one thing that is perhaps prime of thoughts for a client — locations like Utah.”
Oregon and Washington State additionally are inclined to see an inflow of flooded automobiles of their used automotive markets, Voss mentioned.
Whereas flood injury can wreak havoc on a automotive’s engine and electrical components, paradoxically, the perfect place to examine for flood injury is probably not below the hood. It could be within the trunk.
Engines are simpler for a vendor to make “look” clear than different components of a automotive, Voss mentioned. Search for rust round within the spare tire effectively or on the automotive jack. Draw back among the unfastened upholstery and see if there may be sediment behind it. Additionally, search for water beads in locations the place it shouldn’t be, like inside a headlight can.
Voss mentioned it is all the time a good suggestion when shopping for used to drag a automobile historical past report and see what sort of injury has been reported. CarFax affords a free service the place shoppers can particularly examine for flood injury.
Voss mentioned it is all the time a good suggestion to have a mechanic kick the tires. They may see issues that almost all of us cannot.