Flooded cars 'repaired' for hundreds of millions, sold cheaply, customers don't know but still compete
The rainy season is always a nightmare for cars. Cars that are unlucky enough to be heavily flooded must have their engines re-engineered, or “repaired,” before they can continue to be used. After being thoroughly re-engineered and sold for tens of millions of dong less, many customers who are greedy for bargains still compete to buy them as usual.
Recently, many heavy rains have caused many places to be submerged in water. A series of cars were flooded, causing great damage.
According to Mr. Khuong, owner of a used car shop on Nguyen Chanh, Hanoi, "If a car is flooded up to the hood, the engine and air intake will be flooded."
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“If you take the car in for repair, it can still be water hammered. When a car is water hammered, at the least, the engine will have to be "opened" and the connecting rod replaced. In more serious cases, if the engine block is broken or cracked, the engine will have to be replaced,” Mr. Khuong added.
In particular, the electrical part will be affected the most because according to Mr. Khuong, if the car gets wet, the electricity will be unstable, and the mold will cause the electrical wires to rust. High-end cars with many smart features will be affected even more.
Having met many customers who brought flooded cars to sell, Mr. Khuong shared: “Usually, flooded cars like this will still have a bad smell of leather. Water entering the door can also affect the speakers, the speakers will sound crackling and muffled, so you have to check carefully.”
“In addition, the transmission system may be affected, water will rust, making the car unstable. Some details such as the car ceiling and panels must be dried, any damaged details must be replaced, making them look inconsistent... There are many more details to see if the car is flooded. However, only a mechanic or a professional can see everything,” said Mr. Khuong.
With many years of experience in the profession, Mr. Khuong shared: “Many flooded cars have been handled very neatly and beautifully. After that, the seller posted them online at a price several tens of millions of dong cheaper than the real value, and immediately received a lot of attention.”
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“However, to avoid suspicion, some people still use their cars normally, waiting for the flood season to pass before selling them. Such cars only show problems after a while, and they cannot be detected immediately upon purchase,” Mr. Khuong added.
However, according to Mr. LTP (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi), the owner of a used car store, the mechanical problem is still the most important because: "If the car dies due to flooding, water has entered, the engine must be "repaired" and rebuilt before it can run."
“If I come across these cars, I have to carefully check every screw and gasket to see if there are any signs of removal. I have to “tease” the owner a bit to know the real condition of the car. If I find it cheap, many shops will still buy it, repair it, and sell it to customers,” said Mr. P.
According to Mr. P.: “A “grass” car costs about 300 - 400 million VND, if it is flooded and needs to have its engine repaired, the price will be reduced by about 60 - 80 million VND, while the cost of repairing the engine will be 30 - 50 million VND, depending on the severity of the condition. Cars priced the same as Vios will cost more than 50 million VND to “repair” the engine.”
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“As for luxury cars like Mercedes, if the engine needs to be rebuilt, the purchase price, which should be 700 - 800 million VND, will only be around 450 - 500 million VND. Because the price for rebuilding the engine will be 4 times that of Vios, around 180 - 200 million VND. Even luxury cars worth several billion VND will have to spend 300 million VND to rebuild the engine,” said Mr. P.
The price to repair a car engine also depends on the condition. The person who repairs the engine to continue using it will repair it carefully and “well”. But many mechanics will do it at the lowest possible cost, even lower than the numbers that Mr. P. gave, with the purpose of just getting the car running, and then it is up to the customer.
Although they sell used cars, there are also places that only like to sell nice cars, and some places import these cars to rebuild them. Places that like to sell these cars still import them but still sell them at market price or 10-20 million VND cheaper, maybe even 50 million VND to "attract" customers.
Therefore, customers buying used cars need to be very careful. If they do not have experience buying used cars, they need to go to technical centers, which have full testing equipment to eliminate these causes.
