# Tips for Sandy Soaked Vehicles

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Tags:** ford\
**Created:** [November 15, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558 "2012-11-15T22:38:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Carlyle35](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@Carlyle35](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Carlyle35)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558/1 "2012-11-15T22:38:24Z")

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We have a truck that flooded and insurance wants to total it. In NY, you can buy back a car when totaled, but adjuster is stating that the US law is that a flooded car can’t be bought back by the owner. It still runs for now and we need to use it to salvage our things and don’t want it to be totalled just yet if we can’t buy it back from the insurance company. Does anyone know if this is true? And if it is, when the insurance pays out, what do they do with it when you see all the postings about flooded cars being sold by others?

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**Author:** ![bscar2](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bscar2/32/2468_2.png) [@bscar2](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bscar2)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558/2 "2012-11-16T05:31:04Z")

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I would think that after Katrina hit, and all those flooded out cars appeared in other states, insurance companies are doing everything they can to prevent it from happening again.

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**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558/3 "2012-11-16T06:37:16Z")

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Contact your state DMV to see if it is true.

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**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558/4 "2012-11-16T20:32:04Z")

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Just because the insurance adjuster says it is…doesn’t mean it’s true. Check with NY State insurance board. This would be a State law…NOT a federal law.

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**Author:** ![euryale1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@euryale1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/euryale1)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/tips-for-sandy-soaked-vehicles/75558/5 "2012-11-17T04:03:28Z")

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There is NO federal law regarding the used vehicle all are state law. The insurer may be confused about NY law. It could be a teaching moment. The adjuster may just be oblivious.