To sell a car after car water damage, follow these simple steps:
1. Inspect the damage
2. Determine how much to expect for your car
3. Prepare all necessary paperwork
4. Get multiple offers
5. Check the customer reviews
6. Finalize the deal and received the payment
Was your car impacted by hurricane Ida? Reach out to our customer service immediately by giving also call at 8669244608.
⚠️ If It's Broken, Don't Fix It - Get Paid Cash for Your Vehicle ⚠️
Hurricanes and floods impact our lives in many ways. Some people might lose their lives, where others might have destructions impacting their properties. However, many people end up with a flood-damaged vehicle because of the car water damage.
Vehicle owners face many stresses and have many questions after every hurricane when it hits one of the major cities and states in the United States. Some of these questions are related to how to survive after the hurricane and how to sell a car after a car water damage?
This article walks through some details about how hurricane Ida impacted vehicles and how you can confirm that your vehicle is completely damaged by water. Then, it highlights a step-by-step procedure to help you sell your water-damaged vehicle without any headache.
Hurricane Ida and car water damage
Car water damage typically happens when a flood occurs in areas where people are not well prepared. One of the best examples of the impact of car water damage on vehicles is what happened during hurricane Ida in most of the US States, including Louisiana.
According to metrological experts, hurricane Ida is considered the second most damaging hurricane in the United States in 2021. This hurricane did not only result in many people ending up without homes; it also impacted the automobile industry in many different ways, including damaging people's vehicles.
Although Louisiana was the most impacted in the United States by hurricane Ida, many other states also got impacted, including Mississippi, Alabama, Mid-Atlantic states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and New England.
Dozens of reports were submitted regarding flooded vehicles around the mentioned states. Unfortunately, most of these vehicles resulted in a total loss, considering they were completely submerged in water for extended times.
Unfortunately, many people are still trying to collect themselves out of hurricane Ida and did not get to the point where they check what happened to their cars. The biggest question that we received from many of our readers is how to sell a car after car water damage?
Is your car flood damaged after a car water damage?
Before we discuss the details about “how to sell a car after a car water damage?” You must evaluate your vehicle closely and check whether it's considered a flood-damaged vehicle or not.
When a car is completely damaged in a flood, it gets a new title, and most insurance companies decide not to repair their vehicle. Therefore, these vehicles are most likely labeled with flood-damaged titles. However, this does not always mean that every car's water damage leads to a flood-damaged vehicle.
In other words, you must have your mechanic perform a detailed inspection to determine whether your car is completely damaged due to the flood. However, there are some instances where the flood might not get to a point causing severe damage to your car, which means that you can still repair your vehicle and drive it safely.
If you could fix a car after a car's water damage, you save yourself or a ton of time and money and prevent losing your vehicle's value.
How to sell a car after a car water damage?
Although water is considered the biggest enemy to vehicles because of the negative consequences to different vehicles components, there is still a Good Hope that a flood-damaged car is worth selling and making some money.
If you're planning to sell your car after car water damage, here's all you need to do:
1. Inspect the damage
Once you confirm that your vehicle is completely damaged after a flight, you must take a closer look at the vehicle and check for any serviceable components that you can't make some money from.
Before you do any detailed inspection, you must disconnect the battery because, in most scenarios, there is a very high chance of electric shocks or electric damages when dealing with flood-damaged cars.
Although car water damage significantly impacts your vehicle, there is a very high chance that there are some workable components that you can take advantage of from here at. Therefore, experts recommend that you take a closer look underneath your vehicle and look for components that you can disconnect and sell separately.
2. Determine how much to expect for your car
Although vehicles get significantly impacted by car water damage, it doesn't mean that these vehicles are useless. In other words, when your car is flood-damaged, perform some research and spend some time evaluating how much to expect from the potential buyer, whether it's a mechanic shop or a salvage yard.
To do so, you can visit common websites like Kelley Blue Book and input information about your vehicle's make, model, and year. Kelley Blue Book will immediately send you information about the minimum and maximum value your vehicle can make around your area. Keep in mind that whatever KBB provides you does not reflect the flood damage, so it's your job to subtract the expected repairs out of the KBB value to get an accurate idea.
If you are still unclear about using the Kelley Blue Book upside for evaluating your flood-damaged car, you can always reach out to Cash Cars Buyer online tool that takes into consideration any damages and provides you with an instant offer that you can't accept immediately to get your vehicle removed within one to three days if you're happy with the deal.
3. Prepare all necessary paperwork
The next step is to put together all paperwork before reaching out to potential buyers. Even salvage yards will not accept your car if it doesn't have a title unless you check with them if they have such options.
The last thing you want to deal with is postponing a deal just because you don't have all your paperwork gathered. Therefore, check with your state's regulations about what needs to be signed or prepared in terms of selling a car after car water damage.
In most areas, you will need the title, additional documents like the driver’s license, the insurance, etc. However, some other states might require additional documentation, including a bill of sale that you must download through their website.
4. Get multiple offers
When selling a car after a car's water damage, your options are very limited. You will most likely not find any private buyer interested in buying such a vehicle unless a mechanic would like to perform some experiments.
Although your options are limited, you are still recommended to get at least three offers from different salvagers or potential car removal companies. This way, you get an idea about the average value your vehicle can make around your area because the quote involves many different factors related to your vehicle type or brand.
Keep in mind that many scammers are out there who might tell you that there are salvage yards or a card removal company. Therefore, you must spend some time researching the company’s online existence. Most companies should have a website or probably a social media account where you can look at and get an idea about whether they are legitimate or not.
5. Check the customer reviews
With a new online world, most companies should have areas to check and read about customers feedback. For example, while your vehicles impacted by car water damage will not make much money, you must sell your car. So it's a good company willing to pay you the top dollars your vehicle can make around your area.
6. Finalize the deal and received the payment
Once you're happy with the junkyard or the car removal company, the next step is to finalize the deal & all necessary paperwork. It is also important that you get paid with the safest payment method, which is typically cash.
Experts recommend that you go for a company that is willing to pay you cash better than another company providing you with a slightly higher offer. Cash payments save you many headaches regarding checks bouncing back your bank account or lengthy phone call payments methods.
How can car water damage impact your vehicle?
If you're not still convinced about selling your car after car water damage, you might want to look at what could happen to your car after getting soaked in water:
1. Degraded engines
One of the worst consequences of a car's water damage is a completely damaged engine. Unfortunately, when water gets to the engine, it degrades its internal components and removes important fluids like engine oil. As a result, most vehicles that get soaked in water either require flushing the fluids completely or installing a new engine.
As you might already know, installing a new engine is a big deal, and most drivers end up selling their cars instead of wasting their time and effort installing a new engine.
2. Damaged fuel supply
When water gets into the fuel tank, it causes rust and corrosion to build up across the tank walls. As a result, there is a very high chance that tank walls might get weaker, which increases the potential of holes allowing fuel to leak outside the vehicle.
3. Damaged electric components
If you're driving a modern vehicle with many sensitive electric components, water can completely damage these components requiring installing new ones. When the electric components go bad, it lowers the resale value of your car and might impact your safety, especially if you're relying on these electric components for your safety.
Many modern cars rely on electric components for security purposes. If these components are not in good condition, there is a very high chance that your vehicle will not be secure, which makes it risky to park in public places.
4. Corroded interior and exterior
When water gets into metal frames in your vehicle, it increases the chance of corrosion and rust buildup. As you already know, rust can eat your vehicle completely in no time, and it can be extremely hard to get rid of this corrosion and rust and that. So no matter what care, you better sell this car instead of risking your investments taking care of something unrepairable.
Conclusion
Car water damage is one of the worst enemies that impacts any vehicle. Unfortunately, when the vehicle is soaked in water for extended times, there is a very high chance that your car will end up with a flood title.
The good news is that even if your car is labeled with a flood title, there is a very high chance you can sell it and make some money. In most scenarios, either junkyards or car removal companies will accept vehicles that are impacted by car water damage.
Cash Cars Buyer is one of the top-rated car removal companies in the nation that guarantees to pay you the top dollars and provide you with free towing despite your living location around the United States.
Our process is very straightforward and doesn't take more than a couple of days to get your car removed safely and for the most money.
All it takes you is to:
- Describe your car’s type and condition
- Receive our instant free quote
- Accept the quote
- Get your car removed and receive your cash payment on the spot!
To learn more about our process and our teen, you can reach out to us by giving us a call at 866-924-4608 or visit our home page click on the free instant online offer.