There's a 1999 Grand Marquis on Co-Part coming up for auction in my town in a few days. The listing claims "flood damage" but also indicates the car does run.
Generally, my impression of flood damage is that you should run away. The fact the car is claimed to run gives me pause, however. If auxiliary systems (e.g. cruise, A/C, etc.) don't work then it would probably cost an arm and a leg to run down the problems. How cheap would the car have to be to be worth taking a look at it?
I bought a car (Toyota Matrix XRS) a few years ago. The clean Carfax made me believe it was cool. It had 65K miles. I've now got 115K, and had to replace rotors and brakes, AC compressor, condenser, etc. I found sand in the tupperware "Ground Effects" that, along with the aforementioned early failures (Cat, too), lead me believe it was a NC salt water flood car (no drain plugs in the whole car, beat up roof and bodywork).
I've been nursing the clutch, but believe it will suffer an early demise, but can't really complain since it's past 100K. Honestly, no regrets. I like the car, and it has been a good experience owning it. I feel the guys who revived it either did a great job, or were really lucky. I say it is not a dealbreaker, but I'd be prepared for some early maintenance (in your case, I'm looking at the transmission). Good Luck. YRMV
stroker said:... How cheap would the car have to be to be worth taking a look at it?
Do you have a Copart account? Are you available to go see the car during Coparts limited hours for viewing?
I'd want to lay hands on the car first to the assess my willingness to bid and then determine how high that willingness would be.
A knocking engine meets Coparts definition of "runs".
My biggest piece of advice is, be sure you understand Copart fees and are aware how much the real cash outlay will be to buy the car.
John Welsh said:stroker said:... How cheap would the car have to be to be worth taking a look at it?
Do you have a Copart account? Are you available to go see the car during Coparts limited hours for viewing?
I'd want to lay hands on the car first to the assess my willingness to bid and then determine how high that willingness would be.
A knocking engine meets Coparts definition of "runs".
My biggest piece of advice is, be sure you understand Copart fees and are aware how much the real cash outlay will be to buy the car.
I have a source to handle the transaction. This would have to be stupid cheap for me to bite on it. If anyone bids on it seriously, it won't matter.
The interior may smell like moldy dead fish.
We total cars and code them 'flood' if a sunroof gets left open. But, that's the minority.
I do everything I can to total out a car with water damage. If I fix it, I own that POS and all of it's recurring problems for the rest of the car's life.
Im not scared of all flood cars but I have to be able to check it out first, My Lexus IS300 had a water line about halfway up the seatback. It took a week or two and surprisingly few repairs to make a very reliable DD. The smell was easy to take care of, and never had any problems after the initial repairs.
Ive seen a Z06 and on here a Boxster restored from flood damage with great success, but ive also seen stuff that was left so long before anything was done the interior was showing mold everywhere.
To me it would boil down to the type of car and a thorough inspection to consider it.
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