No matter how cheap a flood damaged car is, you do not want one. With the recent double whammy of Hurricanes Helene and Milton slamming into Florida back to back, thousands of these ruined cars are now getting ready to cross auction blocks across the state, and a lot of them are rare or interesting enthusiast models.
First spotted by The Drive, a video posted to YouTube by the Niko Brothers details the mess arriving at Florida auctions. The brothers, who are known for salvaging and rebuilding whatever they can find, took a tour of various auction lots in cities like Jacksonville and Orlando, and their findings were shocking.
According to Mike, more than 17,000 salvage vehicles are sitting in these auction lots throughout the state. And those are vehicles that were actually retrieved and towed to the sites. Hundreds, if not thousands, of others are considered totaled and brought elsewhere or possibly still stuck wherever they landed post-floods.
Many of these vehicles would look perfectly fine to someone that’s unaware of what happened, like a 2023 Cadillac Escalade that looked OK on the surface.
A visual inspection shows a clean engine bay, good oil, and a rather immaculate interior. However, the vehicle is listed as inoperable. It won’t start or run, and lastly, the title is a certificate of destruction.
Even worse are the cars that would break an enthusiast’s heart. One of the brothers remarked how there were so many supercars, “if I didn’t know better, I’m like in a car show.” There are rows of things like Dodge Hellcats, Nissan GT-Rs, Shelby Cobras (replicas I hope), Porsche 911s, Ram TRXs, Ferraris and more. All of these cars will likely sell for cheap, or at least cheaper than they would be without flood damage.
If none of this scares you, you can browse for yourself over at Copart and IAA. Keep in mind though, a flood damaged car is really not something you should buy unless you’re planning to take care of all that damage yourself. Salt water can fry the electronics of most modern cars. If any of you do end up buying one of these cars, please come back and let us know. We’d love to talk to someone braver than we are.
