Warning Against "Detailing" (AKA, Cleaning/Restoring) Flood Damaged Vehicles

This particular topic comes as no surprise to this forum in light of the current major hurricanes in Texas and Florida and the Southeast USA coastal states and flood damage inflicted on vehicles located and titled in those areas. I know that somewhere Autopian detailers, whether professional or hobbyist, will be asked if they can "detail" (AKA, clean-up and/or restore) a flood-damaged vehicle from those areas. While it may be (very) lucrative (profitable) to do so, I would be wary of doing so. That is not to say it should NOT be done because there are, indeed , individuals who do not have any vehicle insurance or only partial insurance to cover such damage and need to have someone with the necessary knowledge/experience, equipment, and chemicals to do so, BUT you are at risk in doing so and here are my reasons:
1) Heath risks to yourself IF you do not have the proper safety gear, like HAZMAT suits, gloves, or respiratory masks to protect you from mold-and-mildew-induced diseases and infections.
2) Liability to yourself or business IF something goes wrong with the vehicle in the future, even IF they sign a legal liability waver form/contract,. Your personal and /or business reputation is not worth that risk, nor are the legal costs.
3) Perpetuating the flood-damaged vehicle resale racket onto some unsuspecting future vehicle owner.

Granted, there are some of you who will be approached by or even contracted with by insurance companies to do this service on "minor" flood-damaged vehicles for the policy owners and maybe you can, indeed, take on that task because you are properly equipped and have the necessary expertise and chemicals to do so. This thread is addressed more toward the hobbyist detailer with no business insurance who wants to make some side-money doing so. It is such a huge monetary liability (risk versus reward) as mentioned above to those individuals who choose to do so.

I am surprised that some individual has not posed that question already within this forum as "How Do You Detail and Clean a "Minor" Flood-damaged Vehicle?" My answer is "You don`t!" , but that`s my opinion/response as a hobbyist.
The real question, though, is "What if it is your own vehicle and you want to do it yourself? What if I need to find someone who can do it for me?" I do not have a good answer to those of you who may be perusing this forum as a guest and are looking for such information and suggestions or need a "detailer" service. Perhaps some of our resident Autopians can help with this dilemma.
I would be interested in knowing your thoughts and concerns on this topic.

I agree, I had a flood damaged vehicle. My DD Infiniti. After the water subsided, I got I out of the Carage and managed to start it. I drove it for a few days and then called the insurance company to let them know I got it started but wanted them to know it was flooded in case anything happened. They said park the car and don`t move it, we will pick it up, its totaled. Once the carpets are wet, the wires are shot and will short out and cause a hazard ous situation.

Don`t mess with it, liability is first concern, next is personal injury, airbags failing or going off for no reason, fire and on and on. Not worth it

Yep. Not touching a flood vehicle (speaking as a detailer and especially as a claims adjuster).

Anyone see those pics from the makeshift drag strip salvage yard outside of Houston? So many vehicles out there.

512detail:
Since you work in the insurance industry as a "claims adjuster", what DO insurance companies do with totaled flood-damaged vehicles?
Are they "re-sold/auctioned" to the highest bidder as salvage-only vehicles? Are they sold as scrap metal only (IE, non-salvageable)?
I would also think that original vehicle titles from the state department of motor vehicles (or DMV, as they are called in Wisconsin) may be lost in floods. While duplicate titles can be re-issued by the DMV for the original owner, what do insurance companies do when they become "the owner" after totaling out a vehicle with no title (IE, title lost in a flood)?

I ask this because a newspaper article stated that these flood-damaged vehicles end up in the used-car market several months down the road when they are taken to another state for a new title within that state that may not have the best vehicle-background checking system and the vehicle is never identified as "flood-damaged" or "salvaged" on the new title OR unscrupulous "re-sellers" will use the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) from another very similar vehicle (IE, same year, manufacturer, and model), but the "donor" vehicle may be in bad shape and/or have very high miles on it, making the flood-damaged "clone" worth a lot more in market value than it should be. Granted, car background check services, like CARFAX, can greatly reduce this possibility, not to mention making it possible for a buyer to do this from the palm of their hand with a Smartphone. Makes anyone in the market for a used car to admonish the adage "buyer beware" now more than ever.

I cannot imagine what this will do to the market value of lease-return vehicles from owners who evacuated the flood areas in the mentioned states above who may have their lease end coming up and have perfectly good vehicles that will become used-car fodder. I also cannot imagine what economic impact this situation will cause on the new car market, not to mention the used car market, to replace those flood-damaged vehicles. it`s kind of a double-whammy for vehicles owners of flood damaged vehicles who need a new or used vehicle to replace their totaled flood damaged vehicle: vehicle availability will probably cause increases in market prices and if they buy a used vehicle from within that area (or that state, because it`s available NOW), how do they know if it`s not some previous flood-damaged vehicle.

Lonnie- I`m not sure what happens after we salvage them, they`re sold with junk titles, my employer isn`t in the vehicle buying industry so I can only imagine what happens afterwards.

We can`t control for what the baddies do out there afterwards with fake titles, etc.

I sure do hope people don`t get duped on one of these vehicles though.

I heard that`s a really stinky line of cars! Some people throw up from the mold smell alone- and that`s without even opening the vehicles up. Not the job I`d want.

We usually see them at the auctions up here about a month after. There are ways to clean a title. I think the insurance companies sell them to auctions to re coup the losses? No offense to them but I think since this is a major problem why can`t they be forced to crush and recycle?

Most of the newer/nicer cars have full coverage (flood insurance), and would be given salvage titles. You need to carry comprehensive if the car has a loan attached. The owners would receive a check and the flood damaged vehicles would be acquired by the insurance company.

However, I`m guessing a decent number of cars are old enough, or their owners are frugal enough, to where there isn`t comprehensive coverage on the cars. In these cases, there are no salvage titles nor warnings. It`s simply buyer beware.

With the recent Hurricane Ira in Florida, I had to bump this thread since it seemed relevant to cleaning flood-damaged vehicles.
The information above is as true now as it was then.


I ask if any Autopia member, professional or hobbyist, has recently been asked to clean-up flood-damaged vehicles. Given the current used-car prices and availability, I can understand why a flood-damaged vehicle-owner would want to "salvage" their vehicle and make it usable/drive-able again.

My other concern is that these flood-damaged vehicles will eventually (and unscrupulously) start to make their way into the used-car market, again given the price and availability of used cars. Also cannot help but wonder how this new demand for replacement vehicles by Florida residents will drive up new and used car prices. Any thoughts???

Good point Lonnie, I`m sure there will be quite a few that hit the market. What`s funny is that really covering up flood damage is very hard to do, there are always signs. The biggest problem IMO is that car shoppers are like ostriches, they just want to bury their head in the sand and think they are getting a sweet deal on an awesome ride. Pre-purchase inspections are pretty much a thing of the past. The carfox has done a great job of convincing people that a piece of paper is better than a good mechanic/body guy`s eyes....

I just read a post where a guy bought a flood vehicle and had $10,000 in repairing it and it still wasn`t running right. Not worth the hassle. If it`s your own vehicle and it`s fresh water flooded but not up to the computer you can pull the carpet and seats and replace. I personally would take the insurance payout.

If someone were to ask how would you check/look/inspect for a flood-damaged vehicle, here`s two thing I would look for:
1) it`s vehicle title and where by state and county it was registered in. I am not sure if this is available on vehicle repair reporting data applications, like CARFAX, but at least you know. That is not to say that vehicles in recently flooded locations did, indeed, become flood-damaged OR that some unscrupulous owner or subsequent buyer-reseller did not forge or alter a "different" (AKA "replacement") title.
2) Remove the spare tire if it has one in the trunk and look in the spare tire wheel well. Why there??? Because MOST owners never think to look and clean in that area. I only say that because I have thoroughly cleaned vehicles in the past , including the trunk, and have been "surprised" to find fine silt in this trunk wheel wheel, indicating the vehicle may have been in dirty water of some sort. Based on the line where it formed, it is not dust that accumulated from driving on dirt back-roads, either, or had gotten through rusted lower body panels (come on! I live in Wisconsin, where winter-salt rusts out such lower panels in ANY older vehicle driven year-round and yes, dirt/gravel back-road dusts does get in)

I`d say if you can look under the dash. That`s literally the last place someone will clean after a flood. On modern cars it`ll require removing the lower panel but it`s usually held in with clips. While you are there look behind the kick panel.

Flooded cars/truck from this past Hurricane = Staying away from them period!