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| Alta. warns of soggy cars |
| Canadian Press |
| October 8, 2005 |
 EDMONTON (CP) -- Rusty, mouldy and water-logged vehicles from the flooded Gulf States could soon be for sale on used car lots, warns the Alberta government. "These cars are finding their way onto the North American market," said Wilson Smith of Alberta Government Services. "We're seeing the tip of the iceberg floating in the distance . . and we want to provide people with a heads up." Smith said this year alone nearly 7,200 vehicles, mostly used, have been imported into Alberta from the United States. In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the government expects the number of flood-damaged vehicles in that stream of cars to rise substantially. It is not illegal to sell or buy a vehicle that has been damaged in a fl ood and even written off, but it is illegal if the seller doesn't tell the buyer the whole sodden story. "Potentially half a million cars could come out of the areas devastated by Katrina and Rita," spokesperson Chris Basso of the U.S.-based car history company Carfax said. "Some will be cleaned up by scam artists who are looking to make a quick buck by selling a vehicle that is basically rotting from the inside out." Basso said roughly 75,000 cars were destroyed by hurricane Floyd in 1999 and about half of them resurfaced on the used car market. The problems with a wet lemon range from mouldy upholstery and a rusty door handle to serious malfunctions of electrical, fuel and safety systems. Alberta and Quebec are the only provinces that keep a record of all vehicles declared salvaged, non-repairable or flood damaged. |
