Hurricane Ian means car buyers again need to watch out for flood-damaged vehicles

In the weeks and months ahead, consumers should watch out for vehicles for sale that were damaged by flooding from Hurricane Ian.

Last year, after Hurricane Ida, CarFax estimated that 212,000 cars were damaged by flood waters. That storm last year caused flooding from Louisiana all the way up to New York. How many of these vehicles ended up for sale without the flood damage being disclosed? No one knows. But even one is too many. The same will surely happen in the aftermath of the latest hurricane.

We’ve compiled a list of tips to help consumers avoid buying a headache and wasting their money on a vehicle that could soon just stop running and likely will cost way too much to fix.