Car Buyers Beware: Saltwater-Damaged Vehicles Post Threat

Statement

Car Buyers beware: Saltwater-damaged vehicles post threat

Californians endure their fair share of natural disasters, but at least we do not have to worry about hurricanes.

Or do we?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

According to state insurance officials, last year's hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma swamped about 600,000 cars and trucks.

Because California is the nation's largest automobile market, many of the vehicles flooded by these out-of-state hurricanes are showing up at our auto auctions, used car lots and in classified ads statewide.

The Automobile Club of Southern California estimates that at least half of those 600,000 damaged vehicles will end up on the used-car market instead of being scrapped. That translates into more than 300,000 saltwater-damaged cars being dumped into the marketplace.

The chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, Jack Kain, recently said: "A lot of these cars will be trucked to California. I'm getting calls of cars coming into auctions (in California) at 25, 30 a day."

In other words, California is a dumping ground for vast numbers of hurricane-damaged cars. We have reports that thousands are here already.

In addition, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Health's Centers for Disease Control, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, California's DMV and Bureau of Automotive Repair and numerous other state motor vehicle agencies and consumer groups warned consumers to be wary of vehicles damaged by hurricane flooding.

Carfax, an online service that tracks used-car histories, recommends that consumers never buy a flooded vehicle.

For those reasons and more, I introduced Assembly Bill 1854 to halt putting the public at risk from saltwater-damaged vehicles. This measure is pending, but we remain hopeful it will pass so we can protect consumers as soon as possible.

Why the rush? Saltwater is highly corrosive to vehicles and causes irreparable damage to vehicles systems and parts. Triggers for airbags, anti-braking components and many electrical and sensory components are especially sensitive to saltwater. Eventually, these will break down.

An added health risk is contamination from toxic substances, bacteria, E. Coli, hepatitis and cholera.

According to one news report, a firefighter in Mississippi scratched a finger while he was extracting a victim from a crashed Katrina car, contracted sepsis and died of septic shock within a week.

My bill targets saltwater damaged vehicles by prohibiting these vehicles from entering California in the first place.

Specifically, my bill:

* Prohibits an insurance company from selling vehicles to California-based salvage pools if it has determined the vehicle is totaled due to saltwater-damage.
* Prohibits California-based salvage pools from knowingly buying or selling these vehicles.
* Imposes a penalty of not less than double the amount derived from selling these vehicles in California. This would be in addition to any existing criminal and civil remedies.
* A new hurricane season is now upon us. Absent this needed consumer-protection safeguard, California will continue to be a dumping ground for unsafe vehicles, and the health and safety of Californians will continue to be at risk.

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