So I'm curious... Is this what flood damage looks like?

Hard to determine if it just wasn't the type of work and drive the owner did. To look for flood damage look under the seats for rusted springs, seat mount, and under the dash for rusted looking metal. I got burned once before with a flood car that had its title washed.

 

re: " . . . "title washed."
.
Stumbling upon a: " Frame up." re-build of an F-150 from various, and many, parts culled from several junk yard trucks, I asked: " How are you going to sell it without a good title ?" . . . Yep, I got that look from the three guys working on the soon-to-be-resold vehicle.

 

There should be a master database of vehicles that are written off for flood damage. How hard could it be?

Criminal elements wouldn't be able to clean flood damaged cars anymore. Such cara would probably get shipped overseas.

 

Based on the pictures alone, it is possible this is/was a flood car. A good tell tale is to look under the carpet. If you find excessive dirt/grime like what is pictured, chances are very high the car was flooded at one point or another.

Another thing that will be a good tell tale is if you find baking soda scattered underneath the carpets even if the floor boards are clean.

 

Like many things in life:

If you have to ask?
It doesn't matter.


To answer the question....Yes.
That's what flood damage looks like, but that's also what an old beater looks like.
You can poke around under the seats, inside air filters, inside the spare tire storage area etc...but in the end it's not really going to matter.
If you have to do that level of forensics research to determine if a used Prius has ever been flooded, then I would presume the worst while I was negotiating the price.

 

What year is it? How many miles on it?

 

I'm surprised the seller didn't clean it up before he tried to sell it


iPhone ?

 

Yes that sounds like a bad buy you should look at certified dealers to purchase a vehicle in your price range do auto trader search and you can't be picky about the location of the vehicle if you have to travel 100+ miles then do it


iPhone ?

 

Australia has this system (WOVR = written off vehicle register) if insurance write off a car for flood/storm/hail/mechanical/accident.. damn near any sort of damage .. its then classed as a "repairable write off" you can go through a long drawn out process to have the title lifted so that the car can be used again but the vin will be flagged as repaired write off forever.

 

Now that is a good system. I imagine the criminals are unable to sell a damaged car as a normal used car w/o altering the VIN.

I wonder why the US lacks a sensible system?

 

Guess there will always be criminals that find ways around things, hard to dodge that ball.. its difficult to get any car off the WOVR unless its been repaired properly, there's a lengthy drawn out expensive painfull systematic process including a complete "repair diary" that needs to be submitted (with receipts and photos of the repair process) in order of getting the WOVR flag lifted from the said vehicles vin before it can be re-registered in any state, vehicle will be subject to three separate inspections including a general roadworthy inspection, then a structural report from an accredited panel shop then if you pass the first two inspections the "head honcho" suit wearing transport inspectors with government issued clipboards N-all will do an identity check and final inspection on the vehicle to ensure its not stolen.

its as good system if the car is truly shonky but I think the decision to wovr a vin should be left to transport inspectors discrepancy and not just any jo blo working for the insurance company.

 

Pretty much the same system here. But you can tell it directly from the vehicles paperwork (or electric paperwork). And paperwork (electric or normal) is needed to buy/sell any vehicle so nobody can buy written off car without knowing it.