Sandy Flood damaged cars

It's unbelievable to see how much stuff got damaged. I wonder how many of these big old sedans and wagons are going to end up in the demolition derby.

 

Here is another wagon... '89 LeSabre Estate...

http://www.copart.com/c2/homeSearch...e5s1&lotId=27683162&returnPage=SEARCH_RESULTS

There is also a '85 LeSabre Limited sedan, but it don't look flooded, its wrecked - but could be both.

 

I've completely stripped a car down and built it back up.. wiring and everything. So long as you go into it with that attitude that there's a good possibility you'll have to completely strip it down and build it back then I see no reason not to... so long as you get a screamin' deal on one.

 

I suppose it depends on how far from the Gulf these cars were when flooded. It's possible that they were not in salt water or full strength Gulf water. Possibly they were in fresh lake and rain water. A good cleaning with anti rust and salt cleaner and neutralizing it may help. It's been months since Sandy. If they start and run now I see no problem with the electrical parts.
I drove cars in water as high as the door bottoms with no apparent problems, except the brakes didn't work while still wet.
To me, the condition the vehicle is in and the price would be the deciding factors. After all, it could be a good fun cruiser or work vehicle even if it does begin to rust out later.
Since I am from Illinois I've seen and owned many cars that had large rust out areas that were mechanically fine.

 

They talked about this on the AMC Forum, it seems copart has a lot of fees.


http://theamcforum.com/forum/poor-old-thing_topic46419_page6.html

 

Gulf Coast water? I think most of these were up on the mid-Atlantic coast new NJ and NY.

 

Access Denied, spirit. Have to be a member.

 

There were 2 that caught my eye, and of course, neither is a wagon, and neither is what you would call practical. Love the Volvo P1800 convertible, and it doesn't look all that bad. Most of all, though, I really crave the 1948 MG TC(I think,may be a TD) Doesn't look like it was very deep in the water. This time later, and the chrome bumpers still look good. The worst of this one is that it is parked outside with the roof down. Still, not much interior to redo, and if you are smart, you get rid of Lucas Electrics anyway. A car this small and simple is not difficult to redo from the ground up, and everything is available to do it, including the ash framing under that bodywork. Oh, to have somewhere to work on it!

 

Sorry about that , but here's what was said

A0M190Y wrote:

I'm a member of Coparts and you have to watch out for the fees. The buyers fee is pretty steep. I think on a $2000 sale it is around $500. Then you pay to bid and pay to have them move the car from the auction row to the front gate for loading. Then shipping if you can't pick it up. Then of couse this Machine is sold PENDING approval of the seller. Which means there is essentially a reserve. I think mostly the pros use Coparts.

 

A co-worker's brother has bought a dozen or so Sandy flood cars in the last month. He's been traveling down to the area to auctions and finding some nice cars. Apparently there is a lot of cars for sale that he believes were insurance scams, no traces of real flood damage, just water on the floors and seats. He focuses on early 2000 Mercedes Benz, but I've seen the $1,100 2006 Mazda MX-5 (Miata), and the "like new" $950 1999 Jeep Cherokee (box) he bought for his brother (my co-worker), and they look great. This guy's been doing this for 20 years and really knows his stuff, maybe there are some good cars to come out of it, but like many have said you'd have to see it in person, AND know what your doin'.

Mike

 

I wonder what the total fees are on each of those cars. Do you know, Mike?

 

Sorry! I was thinking Sandy Hook, Mississippi. Have no idea why. Brain fart I guess.:confused:

 

1. there is a copart about 2 miles from my house.
2. I had a friend who's dad was into "rebuilding" cars. buying a total loss car used to be cheap then the sellers caught on. anywho, Craig bought a dodge avenger back in 2000 that was a flood car...it was fresh water though. it was flooded over the engine at an angle and caught just behind the dash and the front carpet..maybe the front seats. they changed all the fluids, flushed the block, pulled the interior and steamed it. the car never gave him a problem.
now, ...that was also fresh water!

 

Our Durango was bought at a Copart auction as a repo for about $1000, and cost the dealer that sold it to us about $300 in fees, and our high bid on eBay was $1775. For taking up space on his 3-car wedge from OKC to Norman, he made $475 inside of a week. Not bad. We also paid him $45 to get a clear OK title instead of the auction paperwork. I think his cost on that was more than $45, it had to be bonded I think?

As a private buyer you will always get nailed at Copart, even when you go through one of their sponsored buyers. The thing is, there's more than just wrecks there, it's also repos, regular cars dealers can't sell easily or don't want to, and insurance fraud salvage like 200OZ mentioned. You see a car that's perfect and maybe has a scuff on a bumper guard or something, and the owner got eight grand out of Allstate or whatever and then it sells at auction for $5000 or so and you see it on eBay the next week for $10999. Yeah, that sorta thing.

 

Seems I'm visiting the local Co-Part quite regularly these days. Most of them are Insurance Corp. Of British Columbia insured's who get caught up in an accident while travelling.

A lot of the stuff that seems to come in there is really chewed up. But I guess you have to take the good with the bad....... They had one yesterday that just came in (not my assignment) - around a 2004 Chevy Tahoe that looked have pretty minor damage............except for a 8 pillars being chopped off for an injured party extraction. Roof was just sitting on top of the severed pillars.