Cars that were damaged by flood waters during Hurricane Sandy last year are being resold at used car dealerships, according to a report from Fox News.
The report says more than 250,000 cars and trucks that were damaged during the October 2012 storm were possibly repaired enough to be resold to auto buyers who are unaware of their histories.
The finding comes on the one-year anniversary of the rare northeast hurricane, which resulted in wide-spread damage in states like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
{mosads}The Fox report quotes the website CarFax.com, which provides previous-owner histories for used cars based on Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN), that as many as 50 percent of cars that are damaged by floods end up back on U.S. roads.
National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Legislative Affairs Director Bailey Wood told The Hill on Tuesday that car dealerships that are reputable would shy away from selling cars that were damaged by Sandy or any other issue.
“Dealers across the country believe that rebuilt wrecks, insurance-totaled vehicles [and] stolen cars should not be on the road,” Wood said. “They are not only not safe [to drive], but they can also be downright dangerous.”
Wood said the auto dealers’ association had played a role in the creation of a website for consumers to check the title history of vehicles they are thinking about buying, www.vehiclehistory.gov.
-This story was originally posted at 1:02 p.m. and it was updated with new information at 2:35 p.m.