Flood Damaged Cars - What To Look Out For?

[sonic_11uk]

I'm going to look at a second hand 2011 Honda Civic which is offered for 780,000 Baht.

Price looks fine but I'm suspicious that it might be flood damaged but will go and check it out.

Apart from any possible watermarks in the interior, are there any other clues which I should be looking out for?

Cheers!!!

[sezze]

Smell is something difficult to get rid of . They can try to hide it with a lot of deo's , but a nearly new car should still smell pretty new .

Small corrosion marks on screws . Most screws should still look like new when the car is only 1 or 2 years old .

Something i've seen before . They can put a simili leather on the seats to hide watermarks on them . You can check inside the trunk under the carpet for marks which they forgot to clean up .

[plopmeister]

Pretty difficult to spot even for dealers. I was happy to part exchange my Vios that was immersed upto 6 inches above the door seal for my new Vigo. Sorry if I have pissed on your bonfire...

[culicine]

I doubt smell will be a good indicator, especially for a professional clean which will use ozone (worked a treat in my house!) There might be some evidence in hard to reach places but you would need to go over it with a fine tooth comb. Do you need a car quickly? I'd hold out for a new one, just for the piece of mind. A friend got his flooded car rebuilt under insurance, 690K to fix it. Looks good as new, but who knows a few years from now?

[pauljones]

If the carpets look new, I would take a very close look.