myG35zx

iTrader: (2)

I have found a few damaged 350z's for under $10,000. Even though the damage was light, I would rather find a flood victim. Any idea where to look. N.O. would be a great source, but none have popped up yet.

bamyi

iTrader: (2)

Check the New Orleans, Mississippi area.

XtaZee

iTrader: (1)

Here is a web site to check a VIN for a flood damage.-

davidv

iTrader: (2)

That will be difficult. Buyers move the salvage or food title from one state to another to scrub it. So the new title shows no hint that the car was ever flooded.

XtaZee

iTrader: (1)

Doing this would not remove the VIN from the flood damage insurance database.

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

The major insurance companies got together and agreed on a plan to deal with the cars from the N.O. area. Cars are being collected, the VIN plate and license plate removed and that information is entered into a computer for the purpose of handling claims. The cars themselves are trucked/towed to a location north of the lake where they are crushed. They are going out of the way to prevent water damaged cars from making it into the used car market.

Matas

just because flood damaged cars look nice and shiny doesn't that they are in good condition. I would take a car that was rear ended over flood damage any day.

Bubble

iTrader: (50)

what is the down side of buying a flood damage vehicle? water get in the engine?

thezedsled

iTrader: (1)

I would buy one if it came cheap enough. There would still be a ton of good parts on! You could part it out and sell the parts on ebay or something...

Matas

Yes the engine will sometimes have water sucked up in it plus all the electronis are gone...Flood damage especially if salt water is twice worse then collision damage.

Matas

To answer your question you can find flood damaged vehicles at iaai.com or copart.com. You need and account though.

rolling

iTrader: (2)

hell yea they cant waist all thse good parts in a crusher!!!
all parts that are non-drivetrain or electronic should be perfectly fine!!
ohh i hate this kind of waist

prettymuch everything but the engine/ electronics/ carpet materials should be fine!!

Armitage

iTrader: (15)

Water in the engine, the interior, in the cloth/leather. Rusted metal parts. Moss/mold growing everywhere.

myG35zx

iTrader: (2)

My intention is to build a track car. I would rather buy a fixer upper for the cheap than buy a perfectly good one and rip it to pieces. I can do mechanicals, body is out of my realm. A new motor can be found easily. The tranny and all of the other driveline and suspension should be fine from flood damage or easily cleaned.

Any sources for the flood damage cars much appreciated.

thezedsled

iTrader: (1)

Even the engine would be good if it were properly rebuilt and you got all of the water out. I would say that 95% of the car would still be useable in this fashion.

PoWeRtRiP

flood damage cars are the worst. the electronics/wiring will be shot. you also have to deal with mold and rust on their body and interior.

look for a fire-damage vehicle. much easier to fix as its usually isolated to the front end.

NismoNitsuj

iTrader: (1)

You would have to pay ME to get one. There's a reason why these cars are deemed total losses.

thezedsled

iTrader: (1)

I think that this is something that should be taken on a case by case basis. It all depends on how long the car was submerged whether or not the engine was running when it got submerged and so forth. To say that the electronics would be ruined is also not true. As long as they are properly dried out and cleaned they should work fine also with the exception of stuff that has moving parts like the head unit. The speakers would most likely be ruined but for a track car who cares about that? The engine would have little or no water in it unless it was running when it got submerged and the majority of the drive train is also sealed so unless it was submerged for a very long time most of it would just need to be cleaned up.

I had an uncle that had a little mishap with his truck last year when he was launching his boat. It got submerged completely while it was running and it took less than 3k to repair the damage. But then again his truck was only submerged for about 3 hours. So I would say is completely depends on the circumstances and exactly how long the car was submerged...

CNOTE

It's obvious that none of you have a flood/storm damaged 350Z... I do and so far so good! It is a 2003 PPW performance that had 3,500 miles on it. I bought it in Greenville, NH at City Line Auto Sales clascars.com they deal with stolen, damaged, salvage title vehicles. They were honest and up front about what was wrong with it... needed a new altenator and there was also something wrong with the clutch and they just said to drive it til it goes. That's what I did and now I have a JWT flywheel and an ACT race clutch. "look for a fire-damage vehicle" are you on crack?
Everything else has been fine with it and I have had it for 2 years.
Water shouldn't get into the engine unless it goes up over the intake, and in that case the entire car would be junk...
As soon as you sit in a car that has mold, you can smell it and see the water damage, you obviously would not buy a car that had that much damage. If there is water/moisture in the head or taillights, it's not worth your time and money...
"That will be difficult. Buyers move the salvage or food title from one state to another to scrub it. So the new title shows no hint that the car was ever flooded." don't know where you're getting this information? it gets scrubbed?
To be inspected in NH it first needs to be done at the DMV by a trooper.. anymore info needed let me know.

CNOTE

They have a redline 2003 with 8,000 miles for $13,500. clascars.com