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“If you see a car you’d like to purchase, and you are told it’s a 2006 Honda Accord in blue, but when you look up the VIN it says it’s a 2004 or that its color is black, you will know better

what the seller is selling,” says the NICB’s Lehman. “It could be an honest mistake by the seller, or perhaps not. In this case, best to walk away.” A comprehensive VIN check not only

provides a record of what the car should be, but also where it was registered and for how long. Even if a vehicle escapes a branded title, it cannot escape its time line. Look to see if the

car is on an out-of-state title in another person’s name. Maybe the current owner has had the vehicle for a short time, and the previous owner had it at the time and place of a hurricane or

other flooding event. That’s a big red flag of a relocated flood car. The VIN provides a trustworthy base, but it’s not infallible. Individual owners may have done their own repairs and not

reported the flood to the local DMV. Or a skilled deceit artist may locate a similar car with clean information and clone the VIN to look like the good car.  So before you buy the vehicle,

make sure to get it checked out by a mechanic. They will be knowledgeable about the signs of flooding and where to hunt for telltale damage. Mechanics recognize the signs of corrosion on

everything from screws to electrical connectors, and they know where water should never be. Still, Quarno estimates, only a small percentage of the vehicles damaged in a hurricane like Ian

are likely to get back on the consumer market. That’s because there is an entire industry waiting to take them. Though interior and electronic components are typically discarded because of

water damage, other parts — body parts, glass, suspension, tires, trim and plastics — can all be recycled, he says.  “Furthermore, these vehicles still have considerable value in the way of

recyclable metals: steel, aluminum, copper, lead and even semiprecious metals like platinum, palladium and rhodium,” he adds. It’s good news to know that the large majority of flood cars

have plenty of legitimate business interest and value. But it doesn’t erase the need to be vigilant about the remaining vehicles that could be part of a pre-owned deal anywhere across the

country.