95% of Flooded Cars Appear During the Monsoon Season... How to Avoid Being Tricked by Listings

Growing Anxiety Among Used Car Consumers Every Year
Checking Flood History and Visual Inspection Are Important
Full-Scale Inflow of Flooded Cars After Summer Ends

On the 26th, as the first summer monsoon rain fell nationwide, interest in how to deal with flood-damaged car listings has also increased. This is due to concerns that vehicles damaged by flooding may appear as listings in the used car market. In fact, most domestic vehicle flood damage is reported to occur during the summer monsoon season.

According to the General Insurance Association and the used car industry, about 95.5% of domestic vehicle flood damage occurs during the monsoon season. Sudden heavy rains cause water to enter parked vehicles or force drivers to navigate flooded roads more frequently.

Last summer, a parking lot in Gyeonggi-do was flooded, submerging vehicles. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Last summer, when a 170mm water bomb fell in the metropolitan area in just one day, hundreds of flood-damaged vehicles were reported. Photos of vehicles half-submerged in muddy water were also shared on online communities.

As news of vehicle flood damage increases, consumers looking to buy used cars inevitably feel anxious. This is because flood-damaged vehicles can enter the used car market as listings.

Check Flood Damage History on 'CarHistory'

Free Flooded Vehicle Check on the Insurance Development Institute's Kahistory [Image Source=Kahistory]

So how can flood-damaged vehicles be filtered out? The most reliable method is to visit 'CarHistory,' an automobile insurance history inquiry service operated by the Korea Insurance Development Institute.

By accessing the website and entering the vehicle identification number (VIN) or license plate number, you can immediately check the history. While there is a small fee for checking general insurance history, flood damage history inquiries are provided free of charge.

Check Smell, Metal Corrosion... Visual Inspection Is Also Important

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong is inspecting flood-damaged vehicles on August 15th last year. [Photo by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport]

However, CarHistory has its limitations. It cannot verify the history of vehicles where flood damage was personally borne by the owner or where the insurance company was never notified of the flood damage.

Therefore, when it is difficult to rely on electronic records, directly inspecting the vehicle visually can be a solution. Even if a vehicle has undergone drying and deodorizing after being submerged in rainwater once, the characteristic interior odor often remains. Closing all windows and running the air conditioner to check for odors is also a good method.

It is also advisable to check for 'corrosion' on metal parts such as seat belts, the driver's seat, and the rear seats. These parts are difficult to replace, making it hard to hide mud, water stains, or rust marks.

Opening the engine room to check for signs of replacement of the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) is also necessary. Since the ECU is sensitive to moisture, it is always replaced if the vehicle has suffered flood damage.

Major Influx of Flood-Damaged Cars Occurs After Summer

The condition of the engine room can be used to determine whether a vehicle has been flooded. The photo shows an employee at a finished car service center inspecting a flooded vehicle.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

A strategy can be to avoid the period when flood-damaged vehicles enter the used car market altogether. In fact, most flood-damaged vehicles do not appear on the market during the summer. This is when consumers are highly alert due to heavy rains, and media coverage is frequent.

Also, during this time, distributors are busy handling vehicle processing and acquisition, so there is less opportunity for flood-damaged cars to be listed immediately. The period when flood-damaged car sales become active is more likely in autumn or early winter, after the vehicle reassembly process is completed.

Meanwhile, to prevent flood-damaged car damage, it is recommended to avoid private transactions as much as possible when purchasing used cars and to buy from licensed automobile dealers. Vehicles purchased through official dealers are protected under the Automobile Management Act. In the case of private transactions, compensation is not available even if a flood-damaged vehicle is purchased.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.