Hurricane Ian made landfall at Cayo Costa, Florida, on 28 September 2022. Carfax estimated up to 358,000 vehicles were damaged, the most of any recent storm. Three years on, many of those cars have been repaired, retitled and resold. Enter the VIN to see where it was in 2022.
Title brands applied when an insurer wrote the car off, including brands that did not follow the car to a later state.
Copart and IAAI photos from late 2022. Water lines and mud show in them. Photos are on 70% of our reports.
Every state that titled the car since 2022, in order.
Readings in date order, to spot a replaced or reset digital odometer.
Ownership timeline on 75% of reports. Quick resales after a storm are a pattern worth noticing.
Run the VIN. Look for a flood or salvage brand and a salvage auction sale from October 2022 onwards.
Check whether the car was titled in Florida in 2022, especially around Fort Myers, Naples and Port Charlotte.
Count the titles since 2022. Several states in a short time can be a sign of a brand being shed.
Have a mechanic check for corrosion under the seats, in connectors and on low-mounted modules.
Carfax's estimate of up to 358,000 vehicles was far above Cox Automotive's 30,000 to 70,000, which counted insurance write-offs. The gap is cars that were damaged but never written off.
Carfax has estimated that roughly half of flood-damaged cars return to the road, and that around 400,000 flood-damaged cars were already in use before Ian hit.
A car repaired in 2023 and sold twice since can look like any other used car. The 2022 auction photos do not change.
A car that was never claimed has no flood brand. Only an inspection catches it.
A common pattern: a Lee or Charlotte County title, an insurance total loss in October 2022, a salvage auction with photos of mud in the cabin, a rebuilt title in 2023, then a clean title in another state and two owners since. A report cannot show flood damage that was never insured or reported, so a clean record is a reason to inspect, not a guarantee.
See a full sample reportCarfax estimated up to 358,000 vehicles. Cox Automotive estimated 30,000 to 70,000 insurance total losses. The difference is cars that were damaged but not written off.
It made landfall at Cayo Costa, Florida, on 28 September 2022, then crossed the state and made a second landfall in South Carolina on 30 September.
Yes. Flood cars stay on the road for years after a storm, often far from where they flooded. The VIN history is how you find out.
It shows flood and salvage brands, insurance total losses and auction records where they were reported. It cannot show damage on a car that was never claimed, so also inspect the car.
Enter the VIN to see which records exist. The preview is free.