Car Water Damage

Detecting car water damage can be a very difficult proposition. Unless the car was completely submerged you may not be able to easily tell if a car has any water damage at all. There are several ways suggested by car experts to indicate the presence of water damage in the car you are looking at. Your first and foremost step should be to look at the title of the vehicle. Most states require any vehicle that has been totaled and rebuilt to be tagged as either “Salvaged” or “Rebuilt”. While this is not necessarily an indication that the cart has water damage, if the title mentions “submerged” anywhere then you know it has water damage of some sort.

While there are many sources that rebuild vehicles that were sold as salvage from junk yards and insurers themselves, you should always get the vehicle checked out thoroughly by a trusted mechanic before making a decision to buy such a vehicle. Federal law requires that all vehicles that have been through a hurricane be marked as such on all sales materials and the title as well to insure that the buyer is aware of the background of the vehicle.

Another way to check for car water damage is to use your sense of smell. An overly musty odour in more than one place in a vehicle is a sure sign of car water damage. Older vehicles will usually have some sort of musty smell, but you can usually discount that if the musty odour is relatively confined to a particular area and is mild. If the vehicle’s interior smells like a cosmetic counter at the department store be aware that the air fresheners may be masking a moldy smell.

If you are concerned, check for moisture or dampness in carpeted areas [carpet water damage] under seats or in corners of the trunk. These areas require the removal of seats and entire sections of carpet to get them dry completely. Also be aware of lines on the carpeting which could display either darker than the existing fabric or white irregular lines.

These lines indicate that the water level before the car was dried out. Rust in areas that are not exposed is another indication that the vehicle was under water in some way. If the metal flooring under the carpeting is rusted then it would primarily indicate that there was water in the cabin area of the vehicle.

Other ways to avoid buying a car with water damage is to shop at a reputable dealer. It does not have to be a major brand dealer like Ford or Chevrolet, but you need to know that the dealer is known for the quality of the vehicles he sells. Most reputable dealers of any size will offer a CARFAX report on any used car that will show you any issues from its past including whether it had been totaled, rebuilt, salvaged, or under water.

You can obtain a free CARFAX report online at www.carfax.com and all you need is the seventeen digit vehicle identification number found on the dash of all vehicles. Enter that number and your free report will come up showing you if any problems had been fixed with the vehicle in question.

CARFAX reports show any title problems including whether the car was returned via the lemon law or faced flooded situation or dealt a severe accident or whether there were odometer problems. In addition, CARFAX will show the ownership history of the vehicle including facts about the owners and queries like was it a rental, was it a fleet car, and how many owners had used it previously.

Finally a CARFAX report will also show the occurrence of accidents and service report including whether it had been listed as a total loss in an accident, whether the airbags had been deployed, if there was frame damage, and any available service records about the vehicle.

Other ways to check for water damage are to carry out inspection about the various fluids in the brake, oil, transmission and radiator. If your transmission fluid or brake fluid appears more brown than red you may have water in those systems, if the oil appears either gray or milky you definitely have an issue with water damage.

The only problem is that a head gasket leak will cause a milky appearance to the engine oil as well. In either way you should avoid any vehicle that has milky or beige appearing fluids. Got any questions about car water damage? Feel free to leave a comment!

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