{"id":16965,"date":"2011-09-26T13:42:03","date_gmt":"2011-09-26T20:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spiken.wpengine.com\/news\/flood-damaged-vehicles-sold-by-unscrupulous-sellers-national-insurance-crimes-bureau\/"},"modified":"2016-10-23T01:30:30","modified_gmt":"2016-10-23T08:30:30","slug":"flood-damaged-vehicles-sold-by-unscrupulous-sellers-national-insurance-crimes-bureau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/news\/flood-damaged-vehicles-sold-by-unscrupulous-sellers-national-insurance-crimes-bureau\/","title":{"rendered":"Flood-damaged vehicles sold by unscrupulous sellers | National Insurance Crimes Bureau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><p>Floods have devastated large sections of the nation this year,  including floods from the Mississippi River in the Midwest and South,  the Missouri River in North Dakota and Iowa and Hurricane Irene along  the East Coast.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Although those places are far from the Pacific Northwest,  flood-damaged vehicles from those areas that should go to the junkyard  can end up on local car lots to be sold by unaware car dealers to  unsuspecting buyers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicb.org\/\/\" target=\"_blank\">National Insurance Crimes Bureau<\/a> (NICB), a \u201cflood vehicle\u201d is defined as a vehicle that has been  completely or partially submerged in water to the extent that its body  and mechanical component parts have been damaged.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Unscrupulous people buy the vehicles, clean them up to hide the flood  damage then ship them to states unaffected by flooding to be sold as  used cars.\u00a0 They also do not disclose the damage on the title document,  which is a crime called \u201ctitle washing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>Vehicles sold with pre-existing damage are not covered under a  standard Auto Insurance policy.\u00a0 If you buy a used vehicle and later  discover that it was damaged from being submerged in flood waters, your  Auto Insurance will not cover the cost of needed repairs.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>\u201cYou have to invest some time to find a reliable used car,\u201d said Karl  Newman, president of NW Insurance Council.\u00a0 \u201cChecking VIN numbers is a  great start, but, whenever there is wide-spread flooding, you have to  take extra precautions to avoid getting stuck with a car that falls  apart around you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>If you are planning to buy a used vehicle, it\u2019s important to know how  to look for flood damage.\u00a0 NW Insurance Council and the Insurance  Information Institute\u00a0 (I.I.I.) offer the following suggestions on how  to spot a flood car:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose a reputable car dealer.\u00a0 Check with the Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce to find several in your area.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look for mildew, debris and silt in places where it wouldn&#8217;t  normally be found, such as under the carpeting in the trunk, or around  the engine compartment. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check for rust on screws and other metal parts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Look for water stains or faded upholstery as well as discoloration of seat belts and door panels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Inspect the vehicle for dampness in the floor and carpeting and moisture on the inside of the instrument panel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Check for a moldy odor or an intense smell of Lysol or deodorizer being used to cover up an odor problem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>For more information about how to spot a flood car, visit the NICB  website for more tips. Also, the National Motor Vehicle Title  Information System offers an online tool for consumers to access  important vehicle history information.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p>For more information about insurance, contact NW Insurance Council at (800) 664-4942 or visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nicb.org\/\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.nwinsurance.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><p><em> NW Insurance Council is a nonprofit, public-education  organization funded by member insurance companies serving Washington,  Oregon and Idaho.<\/em><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Floods have devastated large sections of the nation this year, including floods from the Mississippi River in the Midwest and South, the Missouri River in North Dakota and Iowa and Hurricane Irene along the East Coast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-16965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16965"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16965\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16965"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}