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BUYER BEWARE
October 17, 2005
A Used Car or a Katrina Biohazard?
By MARCIA BIEDERMAN
TO the sorrows and losses wrought by Hurricane Katrina, add the unprecedented potential for fraud - and peril - in the resale of cars damaged by the storm.
Since the hurricane struck on Aug. 29, auto clubs and law enforcement officials have warned consumers to scrutinize used cars for water damage and investigate their histories. Because a damaged car's title can be "washed"- varying state laws make it relatively easy to obtain a clean title in one state for a vehicle branded with a "flood" or "salvage" title in another - such warnings are routine after major storms.
But Katrina's automotive losses were hardly routine. Cars that sat in sewage- and fuel-contaminated floodwaters in New Orleans could pose unprecedented risks to anyone who handles the vehicles or their parts, according to the Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair, a nonprofit organization that provides advice on pollution prevention and worker health and safety issues to segments of the auto industry, including repair businesses.
"This is not just another flood vehicle; this is a whole different animal," said Robert Stewart, the group's president.
The coordinating committee has posted a report on the Internet (www.ccar-greenlink.org) warning that contaminated sludge may lurk in doors, frame rails, rocker panels and gas tanks, and that interior trim and carpets can harbor pathogens. The flooded cars should be regarded as biohazards, the group says.
"We can't tell you whether a New Orleans car would ever be safe," said Lirel Holt, past chairman of the coordinating committee.
Carfax, the nation's leading provider of information on the history of individual vehicles, estimates that 570,000 cars may have been damaged by Katrina. Louisiana officials say 300,000 of those may have been in New Orleans.
An ambitious project to help consumers identify at least some hurricane-damaged vehicles became available online Friday. At the Web site of the National Insurance Crime Bureau, www.nicb.org, one can enter a car's 17-digit vehicle identification number, or VIN, to find out whether it is among the 60,000 listed so far in a database of vehicles damaged by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita.
The insurance crime bureau, a nonprofit organization financed by insurance companies primarily to combat auto theft and insurance fraud, is continuing to work with the Louisiana State Police on collecting VIN numbers of both insured and uninsured vehicles.
Frank G. Scafidi, a spokesman for the insurance crime bureau, said more detailed information about the vehicles, including title histories, would be made available to law enforcement agencies and motor vehicle departments around the nation, and to vendors of vehicle-history information like Carfax.
So far the Web site lists only 3,300 VIN's for New Orleans vehicles. The vast majority of the cars listed so far were damaged where contamination was less likely: in other parts of Louisiana or in Alabama and Mississippi. Most were insured vehicles for which settlements have been made, Mr. Scafidi said.
Until the crime bureau's Web site has more complete listings, consumers can research whether a vehicle was ever registered in counties declared a federal emergency disaster area by entering the VIN at www.carfax.com/flood.
Lt. Allen Carpenter of the Louisiana State Police heads a task force, which also includes the crime bureau, focused on collecting the VIN's of affected vehicles and making them available to the public. But the work did not begin until three and a half weeks after Katrina hit, he said, because the police were busy with public-safety matters and because New Orleans officials reversed their decision about opening the city. Out-of-state wreckers began moving vehicles out of the city, he said, and fliers appeared under windshields offering to pay "top dollar" for cars.
"Given the sheer volume of what we're doing, it would be impossible to expect we'll catch 300,000 cars unless the city was shut down completely," Lieutentant Carpenter said. "If we can get 80 to 85 percent of these vehicles indexed, we'll have done a fantastic job."
Louisiana state authorities share some of the environmental concerns of the Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair, but appear to place more faith in standard cleansing processes. In recent weeks, state police personnel have been working with the state environmental quality department to identify potentially hazardous cars in New Orleans and decontaminate them. As is customary after disasters, many companies that insured the vehicles are turning them over to auto recyclers, which may sell the cars as scrap, dismantle them for parts or offer them to rebuilders.
John Rogers, an environmental scientist for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said his agency had not been consulted in the preparation of the coordinating committee's report. In contrast to the report's emphasis on places in a car where contamination could linger, he said many of the affected cars had dried out, reducing potential problems from factors like E. coli. Others could be decontaminated by being washed or having carpets and trim removed.
Lt. Carpenter said he would have preferred to crush all vehicles recovered from the most affected parishes: Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines. That would have cost less than decontaminating the vehicles, he said, and "we'd be sure they wouldn't be on the market."
But some insurance companies resisted across-the-board crushing, Lieutenant Carpenter added. Crushing cars for scrap metal generally brings in less money than selling them whole to rebuilders or marketing their dismantled parts, said Thomas C. O'Brien, chief executive of Insurance Auto Auctions. His company is one of several handling cars salvaged from affected areas on consignment for insurers and other customers who, he said, determine how they are marketed.
The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies voluntarily decided to crush any car taken from the areas most contaminated by E. coli or fuel. In a news release, Progressive derided the state-recommended water-and-bleach decontamination process. "Would you want to be the person who unknowingly buys one of these cars?" it asked.
"We don't want our workers working with them, and we don't want any of them going back on the road," said Anne Giaritta, a spokeswoman for Progressive.
Spokesmen for two other large insurers, Geico and State Farm, did not respond to messages asking if they were likewise crushing all policyholders' cars from the most severely affected parts of New Orleans.
October 17, 2005
A Used Car or a Katrina Biohazard?
By MARCIA BIEDERMAN
TO the sorrows and losses wrought by Hurricane Katrina, add the unprecedented potential for fraud - and peril - in the resale of cars damaged by the storm.
Since the hurricane struck on Aug. 29, auto clubs and law enforcement officials have warned consumers to scrutinize used cars for water damage and investigate their histories. Because a damaged car's title can be "washed"- varying state laws make it relatively easy to obtain a clean title in one state for a vehicle branded with a "flood" or "salvage" title in another - such warnings are routine after major storms.
But Katrina's automotive losses were hardly routine. Cars that sat in sewage- and fuel-contaminated floodwaters in New Orleans could pose unprecedented risks to anyone who handles the vehicles or their parts, according to the Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair, a nonprofit organization that provides advice on pollution prevention and worker health and safety issues to segments of the auto industry, including repair businesses.
"This is not just another flood vehicle; this is a whole different animal," said Robert Stewart, the group's president.
The coordinating committee has posted a report on the Internet (www.ccar-greenlink.org) warning that contaminated sludge may lurk in doors, frame rails, rocker panels and gas tanks, and that interior trim and carpets can harbor pathogens. The flooded cars should be regarded as biohazards, the group says.
"We can't tell you whether a New Orleans car would ever be safe," said Lirel Holt, past chairman of the coordinating committee.
Carfax, the nation's leading provider of information on the history of individual vehicles, estimates that 570,000 cars may have been damaged by Katrina. Louisiana officials say 300,000 of those may have been in New Orleans.
An ambitious project to help consumers identify at least some hurricane-damaged vehicles became available online Friday. At the Web site of the National Insurance Crime Bureau, www.nicb.org, one can enter a car's 17-digit vehicle identification number, or VIN, to find out whether it is among the 60,000 listed so far in a database of vehicles damaged by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita.
The insurance crime bureau, a nonprofit organization financed by insurance companies primarily to combat auto theft and insurance fraud, is continuing to work with the Louisiana State Police on collecting VIN numbers of both insured and uninsured vehicles.
Frank G. Scafidi, a spokesman for the insurance crime bureau, said more detailed information about the vehicles, including title histories, would be made available to law enforcement agencies and motor vehicle departments around the nation, and to vendors of vehicle-history information like Carfax.
So far the Web site lists only 3,300 VIN's for New Orleans vehicles. The vast majority of the cars listed so far were damaged where contamination was less likely: in other parts of Louisiana or in Alabama and Mississippi. Most were insured vehicles for which settlements have been made, Mr. Scafidi said.
Until the crime bureau's Web site has more complete listings, consumers can research whether a vehicle was ever registered in counties declared a federal emergency disaster area by entering the VIN at www.carfax.com/flood.
Lt. Allen Carpenter of the Louisiana State Police heads a task force, which also includes the crime bureau, focused on collecting the VIN's of affected vehicles and making them available to the public. But the work did not begin until three and a half weeks after Katrina hit, he said, because the police were busy with public-safety matters and because New Orleans officials reversed their decision about opening the city. Out-of-state wreckers began moving vehicles out of the city, he said, and fliers appeared under windshields offering to pay "top dollar" for cars.
"Given the sheer volume of what we're doing, it would be impossible to expect we'll catch 300,000 cars unless the city was shut down completely," Lieutentant Carpenter said. "If we can get 80 to 85 percent of these vehicles indexed, we'll have done a fantastic job."
Louisiana state authorities share some of the environmental concerns of the Coordinating Committee for Automotive Repair, but appear to place more faith in standard cleansing processes. In recent weeks, state police personnel have been working with the state environmental quality department to identify potentially hazardous cars in New Orleans and decontaminate them. As is customary after disasters, many companies that insured the vehicles are turning them over to auto recyclers, which may sell the cars as scrap, dismantle them for parts or offer them to rebuilders.
John Rogers, an environmental scientist for the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, said his agency had not been consulted in the preparation of the coordinating committee's report. In contrast to the report's emphasis on places in a car where contamination could linger, he said many of the affected cars had dried out, reducing potential problems from factors like E. coli. Others could be decontaminated by being washed or having carpets and trim removed.
Lt. Carpenter said he would have preferred to crush all vehicles recovered from the most affected parishes: Orleans, St. Bernard and Plaquemines. That would have cost less than decontaminating the vehicles, he said, and "we'd be sure they wouldn't be on the market."
But some insurance companies resisted across-the-board crushing, Lieutenant Carpenter added. Crushing cars for scrap metal generally brings in less money than selling them whole to rebuilders or marketing their dismantled parts, said Thomas C. O'Brien, chief executive of Insurance Auto Auctions. His company is one of several handling cars salvaged from affected areas on consignment for insurers and other customers who, he said, determine how they are marketed.
The Progressive Group of Insurance Companies voluntarily decided to crush any car taken from the areas most contaminated by E. coli or fuel. In a news release, Progressive derided the state-recommended water-and-bleach decontamination process. "Would you want to be the person who unknowingly buys one of these cars?" it asked.
"We don't want our workers working with them, and we don't want any of them going back on the road," said Anne Giaritta, a spokeswoman for Progressive.
Spokesmen for two other large insurers, Geico and State Farm, did not respond to messages asking if they were likewise crushing all policyholders' cars from the most severely affected parts of New Orleans.