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from the random-and-intermittent-failures dept.
https://qz.com/1066966/how-many-cars-were-destroyed-by-hurricane-harvey/ and also at other news outlets.
For Harvey victims, it's going to be rough if they lost their car, Houston is a very car-dependent city. Like many states, Texas only requires liability insurance — only those that bought comprehensive coverage will be able to claim the loss on insurance.
Ideally most of these flooded cars will be scrapped, as it's very likely water damage to electrical systems and other parts are not cost effective to repair professionally. However, there will be "new" and used cars on the market that have been underwater (to a greater or lesser extent). Many will be sold "as is" and some of them will be cleaned up and sold fraudulently as if they were not damaged. Buyer beware, these cars will be shipped all over in search of buyers (marks?)
After Katrina, friends of mine with time on their hands bought several new-flooded Honda Civics (which they were familiar with from building "street stock" race cars). They pulled out the interior and then the full wiring harness. Bought new harness from Honda and replaced everything, and had perfectly good near-new cars for pennies on the dollar (and a few days of hard labor).
(Score: 2, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:09AM (7 children)
BEHOLD:
My eyeballs are bleeding because I created this page in just one very long day.
"Computer" Job because it includes hardware companies.
I created my first employer index for my coworkers at Live Picture when it moved from scenic, rural Scotts Valley, California to San Jose. I'm proud to say that I enabled more than a few to jump ship.
I researched it with a whole lotta googling.
In three weeks my little company is going to hire its first employee, a young, formerly homeless woman who is a web designer.
I know all manner of ways to make this easier. I'm going to have her do a lot of the simpler tasks while I build a web bot, mostly out of wget.
I've been puzzling over crowdfunding for three or four years - I used to work on this on my cheap-n-nasty Acer Aspire at Starbucks and Peet's. Both cafes let me hang out all day, even if I had no means to pay for a coffee - I just asked for a cup of water. In the process I've gotten to know every last barista in the Pacific Northwest.
Most likely I'll use IndieGogo, but before I start I'm going to build out the site a whole lot more, mainly to include other countries. My real vision for this site is to enable anyone anywhere in the world to find quality employment without having to move far from home. In the long run I'll cover many other occupations and industries - any in which the hiring is mostly done through corporate websites.
You could help a lot of people out if you were to bring any of the site's pages to the attention of those who you genuinely feel would be interested in or would benefit from them.
Nighty-Night! Don't Let The Code Bugs Byte.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @02:10PM (2 children)
Are you building another Yahoo now that the original is dead?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @07:01PM
Rrrrfffggggggfddd
(Score: 2) by SanityCheck on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:54PM
My sides... it does have a Geocities feel to it.
(Score: 2) by cnst on Sunday September 03 2017, @07:50PM (2 children)
You do realise that in the software industry, professional recruiters get paid between 10 and 30% of the salary for the first year for placing each candidate.
Why exactly are you doing this for free? And, not only for free, but at the expense of your local coffee shops?!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:24PM
When you create things for free, it's very powerful for your brand. A lot, a lot of people don't create anything at all. And a lot of those who do have to ask for money for it. Nothing says SUCCESS more loudly than creating something and giving it away. Tremendous! 🇺🇸
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:37PM
Having to pay thirty grand to hire someone other than the perfect fit strikes managers as a potential waste of a colossal amount of money.
There used to be a dozen body shops in Santa Cruz County. Now there's only one, but it's a very good one.
I actually support commissioned recruiters who really do provide value-add to hiring. But they are few and far-between.
My single most popular page is my Telecommuting and Remote Work index [soggywizards.com], which is still in its infancy. These days quite a lot of companies hire remote - some are quite enthusiastic about doing so.
As I built my Austin index, I noted companies that offer remote work with HTML comments. In the next week or so I'll add them to the remote and telecommuting page.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:11PM
A few minor niggles: may I suggest black text on a white background, instead of gray on gray? And in the column that says "Jobs" many times, change Alpha Nodus to "Jobs" for consistency. It wouldn't hurt to say that Bee Cave is in Texas. Union Metrics describes itself as "headquartered in San Francisco, California with an office in Austin, Texas. [unionmetrics.com]" Knowing that, I am unclear on why the "City" column on their entry on your page says San Francisco. Maybe that column tells us where a company's headquarters are, rather than the city of the job site? If so, why not say so explicitly? Finally, "Ausin" is a typo.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:19AM (10 children)
It's not just the hurricane victims - there are all the usual drunk drivers and gunshot victims, but many of the blood banks, donation clinics and bloodmobiles have been destroyed.
In the Pacific Northwest, Bloodworks Northwest [bloodworksnw.org] is sending its blood to Texas. The Red Cross operates blood banks throughout the country. Please go directly to a donation clinic to save them the trouble of holding a blood drive.
You can donate every eight weeks. It's going to be a good, long time before Texas has even begun to recover.
Be sure to get a good night's sleep and eat a filling, nutritious breakfast. The very first time I donated, being The Compleat Caltech Student, I stayed up all night then donated without having slept and without having eaten breakfast. I felt fine all day but passed out cold at dinner that evening, with the result that I spent that night in the hospital drinking orange juice and eating jello.
I gotta catch some ZZZs now. Ciao, Bella!
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:47AM (5 children)
"but passed out cold at dinner that evening,"
Seems a long time to suffer any effects from giving blood. Hours later? Strange.
For myself, I've given blood so many times, it's routine. Not even anything to think about, just something to do to break the routine. Except, I embarrassed myself about 1992 or so. Hot summer day, I went to work as usual, doing construction work. About ten o'clock or so, they sent word that our group was due at the blood-mobile, so a half dozen of us walked out by the front gate, where they were set up. I walked into the nice air conditioned van/truck/bus/whatever you call it. Laid on the table, chatted with the lady taking my blood, stood up - and fell out. No dizziness or anything, I just fell out. Taps, taps, lights out! When I came to, they made me lay on a sofa for awhile, drink a couple gallons of juice, then insisted that I be put on light duty for the rest of the day.
And, I really have no idea WHY I passed out that one time. I felt healthy, felt rested, but for some reason it just kicked my ass.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Immerman on Sunday September 03 2017, @02:13PM (2 children)
Perhaps they attempted to replace the lost blood with alcohol?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 03 2017, @02:22PM (1 child)
We have a member who would suffer an adverse reaction if his alcohol were to be replaced with blood. ;^)
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:13PM
I suspect one of my relative's blood type is XO positive. He's not ethanol-fueled but... ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:09PM
> WHY I passed out
Lying down in air con after heat and exercise, then abrupt into vertical after lowering blood volume - your body just had a whole shit ton of blood pressure influences all at once.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday September 04 2017, @01:17AM
So have I. Maybe it's time I moved out of Oakland.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:21PM
Some hospitals accept blood donations.
There's a lot of money [bloodbook.com] in the blood business.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @02:07AM
Available only from my dead body!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @04:31AM
I, for one, will not be, since I have gay cooties. Apparently this is a condition that exists with an HIV negative result. Texas might catch t3h g4y from me, since they're apparently unable to test for HIV. If I can prevent it, I never want to accept donor blood. I don't have or want AIDS, and their HIV screening protocol is backwards as fuck.
I'd rather die of blood loss than AIDS.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Wednesday September 06 2017, @02:19AM
Donated to Facebook? Or is that link supposed to go somewhere else?
Some of us don't permit such evil on our networks... (or is that just me? Probably just me...)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by krishnoid on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:37PM (13 children)
Seems like restoring a single car for a person/family is a specialized skill, and would be a greatly appreciated donation for people who've probably lost everything else. If the region (for better or worse) is in love with its cars, having a familiar, functional piece of their life back would probably provide a big psychological boost. I bet you could even get people to donate the parts cost via kickstarter or the like.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Sunday September 03 2017, @12:58PM (11 children)
Its a nice sentiment but you pretty much have to pull the entire interior. So a gearhead respects his favorite engine block remains, but to joe average driver an entirely new interior is basically an unfamiliar new car.
I would theorize its not economically possible in that if it were scalable it would be available to everyone as kind of an "extreme detailing service". It would be kind of cool to take the ruined interior out of an older car and swap in a new custom set of everything when buying off-lease car or similar. Previous owner was a smoker? Who cares swap it out. Also replace stuff like heater core and some other HVAC stuff that's deeply embedded while you have it torn apart. But this service not generally existing would imply its not economically viable beyond specialty custom work. Which is a pity.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:02PM (8 children)
I think you're probably right, at least in this country.
"A few days hard work"... Call it 3 to 5 8-12 hour days, depending on what else they did? , so 24-60 hours. Most of it probably relatively unskilled labor of the sort that a conscientious high-scool kid with a year of experience could do. Call it what, $20/hour to hold on to the "conscientious" sorts? So about $500-$1200 in labor. Enough to buy into the low-end of the used car market. Throw in a new replacement interior, potentially only available from the dealer since it's so rarely replaced, and you're probably pushing past $2k, at which point you're getting into quite reliable used vehicle range.
It's a damned shame though - what a horrible waste of a bunch of expensive llghtly-damaged machines that are only a bit of work away from being in good condition again. One of the many reasons I'd love to see cars get a lot more standardized - just how many variations of "alternators" or "driver's seat mounting brackets" do we really need? Even the cosmetic interior panels - there was a time when there was a lot of variation among car shapes and sizes that might justify it, but these days almost all the mainstream cars come in one of a handful of very-nearly identical sizes and shapes. Wouldn't be that much of a stretch to standardize at least the outlines and fastener positions, turning them into a bunch of life-size Lego components and creating a new market for personal car customizations. Of course that market would likely come at a high cost in new-car sales, so I won't hold my breath on it starting in a capitalist economy.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:34PM
What's more is how they change every year. Some parts are good for a span of a few model years, others are year specific.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 4, Informative) by number11 on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:51PM
I dunno. The interior, yes. I had a car that had an upholstery fire in the cab. And it wasn't a new or expensive car, it must have been 7 years old. The insurance paid for replacing all the foam and fabric (seats, headliner, etc.) and running an ozone machine in it for a week. Looked like new inside, though the shop guy warned that I'd probably be able to smell the smoke on muggy summer days. But... add onto that replacing the wiring harnesses. Mold in the sound deadener pads. Getting the crud out of the headlights, now that we don't have sealed beams any more. The radio. The computer (would you want a computer that was submerged in flood water for a couple of days?) And what do you do about water that's leaked into the block via the air intake, dipstick, etc.? And the tranny? You gonna tear those down to check? Flood water in the brake and power steering reservoirs. Now you're running in negative territory. There's no way in hell that I'd knowingly buy a flood-damaged car.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by frojack on Sunday September 03 2017, @08:03PM (2 children)
Its mostly a energy waste.
Cars recycle almost entirely, And its probably better than mining the earth for new metals.
You yank the engine and transmission, which mostly just need to be flushed, and can be sold into the repair market world wide for decades to come. (So can the windshields). Motor and transmission designs are already decades old, and will continue to be around for as long as we run ICE automobiles. Nobody is spending a lot of money these days coming up with new ICE designs.
The wheels and axles battery are the last heavy parts. Not much demand for those or the rest of the body. Spend the energy and melt them down. Seats, interior and electronics you trash. Wiring harness you send for separate recycle. The efficiency of this, done on large scale is really not that bad.
We are basically trashing upholstery here.
Recycle them all, I say. When they come back, maybe it will be as an electric car.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday September 04 2017, @02:11AM
Oh, but they do. See VW diesel, higher efficiency, more NOx, Bosch software.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday September 04 2017, @01:36PM
Huh? A lot of this is totally wrong. Carmakers are still making all-new engine designs; the "SkyActiv" engines in Mazdas are only a few years old or so, and they're supposed to be introducing a HCCI engine in a year or two. Other automakers are much the same; no one's still using shitty old engines from the 90s now.
Wheels are completely recyclable. What do you think people do when they damage an OEM wheel? There's a healthy industry for used OEM wheels, since the brand-new ones cost a fortune, and aluminum wheels do crack once in a while (like from hitting a large pothole, or being curbed too many times). Axles are also recycled; where do you think AutoZone gets those "remanufactured" axles they sell? The rubber boots on axles don't last forever, and it's generally much easier to just replace the entire axles than to take it apart to replace the boot. Most axle remanufacturing probably amounts to little more than just taking it apart, replacing the boots, checking the CV joints are still within spec, and calling it done.
With electronics, electronic modules under the hood (plus the harnesses) are usually waterproof, so unless they got electrically damaged somehow, they're probably OK, and will likely be resold on the used market.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Monday September 04 2017, @01:26AM
A general thought on the OP:
While I have genuine sympathy for people who were caught out by events that were entirely beyond their control, I just can't seem to work up much of it for those who deliberately chose to not insure their car against damage/loss. You made that decision, now you have to deal with it.
Before I get downmodded for this, I have complete sympathy for all the victims of Harvey, I just can't work up much of it for people who have made a conscious decision not to protect themselves through something as simple and basic as getting insurance on the second most valuable item they own (after their home, if they're not renting).
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday September 04 2017, @12:16PM (1 child)
Its an interesting data point that a decade or two ago according to UAW figures a $25K car had about $2500 of UAW labor embedded in it, which is probably higher than $20/hr. So its going to take as much work or more to rebuild a car than to just build another one. That would imply flood renovation is a complete and total rebuild, if done right, anyway.
If only the marketplace could be honest ... a semi-destroyed car might be OK for some weird apps. As long as the air bags and seatbelts work, sell them cheap to 16 year old male drivers who are gonna crash anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @01:33PM
> ...who are gonna crash anyway.
There is also a need for cars for demolition derby -- but somehow I don't think that all these special niches for a car that is "going to be crashed anyway" add up to more than a small fraction of the cars with water damage.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @06:05PM (1 child)
Most flood cars can be cleaned up and detailed in under a week. I have seen it done many times unfortunately. They usually last 1-2 years before pretty much everything in the car shits itself.
You do not need to swap the whole interior. Usually a good steam clean is good enough to make them usable and not smell like ass.
What you can not stop however is the rust. It will eat everything. Wires, bolts, screws, bearings, everything. You pretty much have to gut all of the electrical and swap any screws and stop any rust around existing screw holes. The interior you can usually clean out pretty good. Even with a 'smoker' car.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Sunday September 03 2017, @08:06PM
That's why you take the time (a couple extra weeks) to do it right, or not do it at all.
Drowned wiring has corrosion everywhere, as does the body. Cleaning and Detailing (with or without a new interior) doesn't even begin to address the problem.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @05:33PM
Not sure, but I think my friends (that replaced the wiring harness) passed some of the cars they worked on to friends and relatives, probably for their out-of-pocket costs. They have a barn that is set up as a little race shop, so they also had a good place to work with all the tools and other equipment needed for that Honda.
Someone else mentioned the vehicle title. I believe that by law (may vary by state) once an insurance company totals a vehicle the title has to be changed, perhaps to "salvaged" or something similar. If you are buying a used car in the next year or so, it's worth a close look to make sure you know what you are getting.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @03:01PM (1 child)
The incentive to do any work to these damaged vehicles is much reduced by the current glut:
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170512/RETAIL04/170519930/growing-u.s.-used-car-glut-is-a-consumers-dream-automakers-nightmare [autonews.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @05:26PM
Your linked article is from May, but I believe the trend continues with plenty of used vehicles in the US. Unfortunately for me, looking for a car is a little harder since the big sellers in recent years have been SUVs, which I don't want.
(Score: 4, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:21PM (4 children)
Harvey disrupted gasoline production and delivery. On Aug 31, many gas stations in the Dallas Ft. Worth area ran out of gas. Prices jumped from $2.03/gallon to $2.59 and higher. Saw one station asking $3.39. People panicked and rushed in to top up. The lines spilled into the right lanes of the streets adjacent to those gas stations that still had gas. I hear some were waiting in line for 2 to 3 hours. The stupid part is that they were running their engines the whole time and some ran out of gas while waiting.
I held off as long as I could, tried to calm the wife down. At 10pm I ventured out to fill up, carefully picking a station that was downhill from the approaching lane so I could coast with the engine off whenever the line advanced. Took me 31 minutes to reach the pump, fill up, and leave. They had a police officer at the head of the line directing people to the pumps. Seems there'd been fights breaking out over people cutting in line and such like.
The lines have pretty much disappeared now. Some stations are still out of gas. The $3.39 station has lowered its price to $2.89.
Last week I realized Harvey cars would be hitting the used car market pretty soon.
(Score: 3, Informative) by dry on Monday September 04 2017, @03:00AM
Meanwhile, here in BC, gas has gone up to $1.44 a litre, or close to $4 American for an American gallon. First they jacked the prices for the eclipse, now due to the shortage in Texas (as if we get gas from Texas) they've jacked it more. What I really love is the competition, they manage to up the price within an hour usually, which company will charge more for the gas already in their tanks the quickest is how they compete. Some time after Xmas the cheaper gas that Texans are already enjoying will work its way through the system to here.
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Monday September 04 2017, @08:53AM (2 children)
For those too lazy to do the conversion into sensible units, 1 US gallon is 3.785L, so those work out at $0.54/L, $0.68/L, and $0.90/L. At today's exchange rate, that's €0.45/L, €0.57/L, and €0.76/L. For comparison, the cheapest petrol in Europe (using figures a couple of months old, YMMV) is €0.99/L in Slovakia, the most expensive is the Netherlands at €1.61. The UK, at €1.23, is almost exactly in the middle. So, once again, we see the US suffering from creating economic incentives that favour inefficiency and avoiding paying for externalities.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday September 04 2017, @09:58AM (1 child)
Too true. I know gas is far more expensive in Europe, but most of my fellow Americans haven't a clue. US prices peaked at a bit over $4/gallon in 2008, and people were trading in their SUVs for economy cars in droves.
It's sad the simple gas saving measures that aren't being used. For instance, automobile manufacturers do not smooth the undersides of their cars. It's like driving around without the hood. Sure the car still works, but there are all these components sticking out and causing drag. When they have added wheel skirts, their moronic customers whine that the skirts are "ugly" and take them off.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Monday September 04 2017, @01:43PM
US prices peaked at a bit over $4/gallon in 2008, and people were trading in their SUVs for economy cars in droves.
Yep, but lately they've all been in a rush to trade those in on big-ass SUVs. Americans are so stupid. Gas was over $4/gallon as recently as 2012 in Connecticut, IIRC.
For instance, automobile manufacturers do not smooth the undersides of their cars.
That's wrong. When was the last time you looked under a car? My Mazda has smooth paneling covering almost the entire underside, and it's not a high-end car.
When they have added wheel skirts, their moronic customers whine that the skirts are "ugly" and take them off.
The main problem with wheel skirts is that they *are* ugly, because they're assymetrical: the skirts are only used on the rear wheels, and not the front. If they could figure out how to fix that, they'd be more accepted. I'm not an aerodynamicist, but I do wonder how much difference rear wheel skirts really make, compared to other things, like underbody paneling, mirrors, etc. Have you ever noticed that in the latest cars, the headlights are specifically designed so they're not smooth? I'm told that's done to help aerodynamics over the mirrors. But before too long, mirrors should become a thing of the past, replaced by cameras.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bziman on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:21PM (16 children)
During the flooding in Colorado a few years back, my car was caught in about three feet of water... all of the mechanical stuff and most of the electronics were completely submerged. After the water receded, I had the car towed to the dealer, who declared it a total loss, and my insurance concurred. But I loved that car, and there was no physical damage to an otherwise mint condition car, so I bought it back from the insurance company, and had it towed again to a shop that specializes in American sports cars, and after replacing one sensor and the battery under the hood, they had the car running again. Also got a new stereo, but all the speakers, wiring, and the rest of the electronics were fine. Needed to replace the carpet and lining, but the seats dried out fine. So for about three grand, I didn't have to scrap a gorgeous sports car, and three years later, it runs and looks just as good as it did before the flood.
Americans are way too interested in throwing things away rather than repairing them. Even if I'd needed new everything, it still would have cost less than a new car, because the body wasn't damaged. I'm sure a car completely submerged for days would be much rougher, but insurance companies and dealers want to scrap a car if someone sneezed on it. Resist!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @04:41PM (1 child)
From an objective viewpoint, when the cost to fix is greater than the market value, then obviously a non-sentimental party will declare a total loss. The US is a high cost of living, high cost of operation country with cheap material goods. Unless you do the work yourself, it really is too expensive to fix something comparatively cheap.
Is the title branded now? Other people may not be so enamored to buy a pretty car when they knew that "the seats dried out fine" after the car was submerged.
(Score: 2) by bziman on Sunday September 03 2017, @06:08PM
As it turns out, in Colorado, a car as old as mine does not get a "salvage" title, so I don't have to worry about that - though a CarFax report would show it. But I don't have to worry about it at all, since I never intend to sell this car. If there was another car out there that I wanted (in a reasonable price range), I probably would have just taken the money and run, but they don't make 'em like they used to.
The fact is, even before the flood, my car, that I bought used in 2003, probably wouldn't have sold for much more than $10,000. There aren't many cars made in the last twenty (or even forty) years that really interest me, and none of them can be had for anywhere close to $10,000. I'll just keep mine, thank you.
(Score: 3, Informative) by LoRdTAW on Sunday September 03 2017, @06:13PM (7 children)
Salt or fresh water damage? If it's salt damage, it's trash.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:10PM (6 children)
Yeah, right. Flood in a landlocked state (Colorado) with salt water.
Even if they'd want to, they wouldn't have the money for all that salt and logistic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:30PM (2 children)
No shit. The point is to illustrate that there are two kinds of water flooding and one is way worse than the other.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @12:54AM
Why did you limit yourself at water damage?
(Score: 2) by bziman on Monday September 04 2017, @03:30AM
Hmm, I actually hadn't thought of that. Thanks for pointing it out. (Not a lot of salt water in Colorado, after all.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:40PM (1 child)
Utah, with its Great Salt Lake, is immediately west of Colorado. If Utah floods badly enough, there will be salt water in Colorado.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday September 03 2017, @10:35PM
Those Mormons, they can multiply the water of Salt Lake like bread and fishes, everybody gets their piece of flood.
Have you looked over the terrain [google.com] to see what it means for Salt Lake to flood into Colorado?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 03 2017, @09:58PM
Ahem... Salt Lake in Utah (it's not just a name).
(Score: 2) by cnst on Sunday September 03 2017, @08:03PM (3 children)
So, how much did you end up benefitting from the ordeal? What did the insurance pay you out? How much did you have to pay the insurance to buy the car back?
Did you insure it afterwards with the same company?
(Score: 2) by bziman on Monday September 04 2017, @03:33AM
I basically got an old SUV out of the deal. And yes, I'm still insured with the same company - they are, of course, happy to continue taking my money, I just can't make a claim for that flood again. Seemed reasonable to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @05:03AM
My parents had a write-off on the road for a while (hail damage). Essentially, you get third-party liability, and that is about it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheRaven on Monday September 04 2017, @09:00AM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday September 03 2017, @08:18PM (1 child)
If all your speakers are good you know that the warer never was that deep inside, nor was it submerged for all that long.
Looks and runs good for three years is an easy test to pass. Your car is still rusting away, and chances are you will be able to Fred Flintstone that thing down the street if a few years.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by bziman on Monday September 04 2017, @03:38AM
Well, you are factually incorrect, except about the time. The speakers in that car are at the bottoms of the doors and they were in fact, completely underwater, which was up above the cup holders, but not quite to the bottom of the windows. I know, because I was IN THE CAR at the time, and had to Dukes of Hazzard out the window when the fire department showed up to "rescue" me. Fortunately, the car was only under water for an hour or so, and it got pretty well dried out in the Colorado sun. As far as anyone can tell, there's no extra rust damage. I mean, unless you have some magic way of inspecting a car from your mother's basement, frojack, that's better than my mechanics who take care of the car in person.
(Score: 2) by slap on Sunday September 03 2017, @06:28PM (1 child)
CarFax (and other similar services) might not show any information as far as flood damage. However, CarFax does show where the car has been registered and where any services have been performed. This can indicate if a car was kept near an area that had severe flooding. It still could have flood damage if the owner was visiting an area when flooding occurs.
As an example, I was looking for another car a couple of years ago. One possible candidate was at a southern Virginia dealer. But the CarFax showed that the car had spent 5 years in Michigan - high potential for rust damage. Since it would have been a bit of a road trip to check it out I passed on it.
(Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Sunday September 03 2017, @08:40PM
Being used in Northern Climates is not the same as being flooded.
CarFax does indeed know about officially flooded cars. https://www.carfax.com/press/resources/flooded-cars [carfax.com]
The problem being discussed here are flooded cars, and unscrupulous dealers hiding that fact.
Unless someone files an insurance claim on these cars or it gets towed at public expense (police) the title might not indicate flooding.
Tow companies will buy (or haul away for free in exchange for the title) a flood damaged car from uninsured motorists (who have no other prospect of any recovery), spirit it out of the flood zone, do a minimal restoration, and sell it on without the SALVAGE designation on the title.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @01:36AM (2 children)
Based on the comments so far, it seems that not all cases of flooding and insurance buy-backs are recorded in databases like Carfax. If that's true then how is the average person able to determine if a car, possibly now located in another city or state, was flood damaged?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 04 2017, @03:25AM
Might not be any way to be 100% sure. If it's a deal too good to be true, then it's probably too good to be true...
(Score: 2) by number11 on Monday September 04 2017, @07:16AM
If the owner still owed money on it, it most likely was covered by comprehensive insurance. I don't see why an insurance company wouldn't sell it as salvage (and the title would then be branded as such). I bought (from a local dealer) a Texas car that had been totaled by hail when it was 6 months old. I tracked the history. The insurance company sold it to an Illinois company (presumably somebody who wholesales such cars), and they sold it to the dealer I bought it from (in yet another state), who fixed it up. There was definitely a paper trail, and my title is branded "prior salvage" (the "prior" meaning that it's been fixed and inspected).
Now if the car had been old enough so that the previous owner didn't buy insurance on it, there would be nothing to prevent him from hosing it off, doing a bit of cleanup, and selling it without mentioning the flood. When I bought my car, "Texas" meant "no salt on the roads". Now, being registered in Texas during this time period is a warning flag.