Used car shoppers need to watch for unscrupulous salespeople or independent sellers who may lie about flood damage. According to Carfax, 325,510 flooded vehicles were put back in use in 2017, including 12,166 in Philadelphia, 10,037 in Chicago and 6,995 in Detroit—large cities not traditionally known for excessive flooding.
“People with bad intentions buy cars that have been totaled by floods and move them to other parts of the country,” Richard Reina, the product training director for aftermarket auto retailer CARiD, explained. This process, meant to remove a salvage designation from a car’s documentation, is called title washing. There’s a good description of the scam on the Fraud Guides site.
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