Last year, Hurricane Sandy did great damage along America’s eastern seaboard. Among the damaged homes and damaged lives were approximately 400- to 500,000 flood-damaged cars. What became of those flooded out wrecks? Surely the insurance companies covered the damages and the cars were conveniently sent off to junk yards where they would be destroyed and/or harvested for parts, right?

Wrong.

What happens after natural disasters like this, no matter where they happen, be it New York, Louisiana, Florida or Minnesota, is that very unscrupulous scavengers come in and buy up many of the vehicles. They often buy them for pennies on the dollar, shine them back up, and resell them. Often they sell the cars at what appear to be great buys, often hundreds or even thousands under any comparable sales or book value. They also tend to sell them at some distance from where the disaster occurred, where people aren’t as keenly aware that the cars may have been damaged.

According to Autoreports.com, Carfax and others currently estimate there are over 200,000 cars out on the road that were damaged, often seriously and severely, in Hurricane Sandy. And one can only guess that there are even more out there just waiting for a sucker to take them home.

But wait a minute, you say? What is so bad about the customer getting a heavily discounted car? After all, we all want a great deal when we buy a car. And I see those shows on TV where they take those wrecks and make them like new, right?

A car that has been in a flood can have a lot of damage that is never seen and hasn’t been, or really can’t be, fixed. According to Larry Gamache of Carfax, a flood like Sandy deposits salt water in these vehicles and causes corrosion that simply can’t be reversed in many cases. Gamache goes on to explain:

“Flood cars are a volatile mixture of water, metal and electricity,” Gamache said. “Once a car is ravaged by water, the mechanical, electrical or safety systems can fail at any time. There’s also the health risk, as mold and bacteria permeate the vents and soft parts of the interior. Know what you’re putting you and your family into before laying down your hard-earned money.”

Also keep in mind that the vulture capitalist who is scamming you on this 2009 Honda Accord is simply shining the car up for appearance sake, not rebuilding the car carefully from scratch like the classics and vintage autos that get restored on TV.

And though most of the cars, about two-thirds of them, will be sold in neighboring states, a good third of the vehicles (60-70K) will be sold further out, so even if you are buying in California or Texas, I recommend having the car checked out both on paper (like a Carfax report) and by a trusted mechanic, so you don’t put yourself or your family at any unnecessary risk or fall victim to a crook.

And, in fairness, there are many dealers out there who won’t deal with such automobiles. Those dealers won’t be afraid to let you have the car checked and may even offer the Carfax report before you even request it, stores like Newark’s Delaware’s Winner AutoWorld. Here, buyers even have Carfax apps on their phones when taking trade-ins and at dealer auctions. These apps, which can find the car in their database with just a scan of the VIN number, along with their trained eye, help their customers avoid purchasing a bad car. A store like this knows that it owes its longevity, at least in large part, to limiting their inventory to only the best available cars to their customers.

Noel Moret, a longtime consultant at Winner AutoWorld, explained to me how they, as any reputable seller, do everything they can to avoid bad cars, as they know those can only lead to hassles, lost revenue, and a damaged reputation. For them, it’s in their interest to avoid flood-damaged or other “bad-news” cars. In the aftermath of Sandy, Moret even helped people from the greater New York and surrounding areas avoid the rip-offs and scams, and keep watch for those cars even now, as they continue to spread across the nation.

But alas, the Carfax report isn’t a total guarantee against buying a flood-damaged car. There are sophisticated methods some criminals will implement to essentially “scrub” the accident off any relevant report. Also, Carfax can only report what has been reported; if something wasn’t reported to the insurance company or on a police report, there will be no record of the event for them to enter into their own database.

That’s where your trusted mechanic comes into play. But again, keep in mind that nothing and no one is perfect. But utilizing his/her knowledge and expertise will minimize your chances of being sold a lemon. And a few bucks spent now on this service can certainly save you hundreds or thousands down the road. Not to mention the health and well-being of your family and anyone else who may travel in your vehicle. And the good dealers won’t mind you doing this.

And between the report and checkup, along with some prudent pricing research, you can minimize your odds of being stuck with a clunker and maximize your chances of finding maximum value for your dollar.