100,000 water-damaged cars to hit market

Transactions in many business lines, including car and apartment sales, customarily slow down during ghost month. Business usually regains momentum after it ends.

Experts advised consumers to watch out for cars soaked in floods brought by Typhoon Morakot that devastated southern Taiwan early last month.

Ko Yu-yuan, chairman of the Taiwan Province Car Maintenance Business Association, said close to 120,000 qualified households have filed applications for relief funds from the government because their houses or apartments were flooded with water above 50 centimeters.

Based on this figure, he said, at least 100,000 vehicles were soaked in water with the southern Pingtung County having the largest volume of close to 60,000 water-damaged cars.

Ko estimated that about 40,000 or one-third of the total could have been refurbished during ghost month and are ready to be sold to the unaware consumers.

Another two-thirds of the damaged cars will become a major source of parts and components after being dismantled, he said.

An official of the Car Management Center (CMC), a car maintenance alliance, said floodwaters above 50cm means that the chassis of the cars were soaked in water.

Chen Chao-min, who heads the CMC, advised consumers that buying used cars that had water just touching the chassis is still probably alright if the price is attractive enough.

However, they should stay away from those where water rose above the chassis, even if the water did not reach as high as the dashboard, Chen said.

He suggested that consumers add an extra clause concerning “soaked cars” to the standard contract so that they are entitled to compensation or full refund if the cars are proven later to have been damaged by water.

Consumers should not set a warranty period because the defects and malfunctions will generally reveal themselves only after one or two years, he said.

They may ask the original producers of the vehicles or maintenance garages to help give the automobiles a thorough diagnosis. Decent firms normally won't charge a fee for such service, Chen added.

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