Last month, flooding in Texas killed at least 23 people: there isn’t a final tally yet because some people are still missing. That’s all very sad, but what if you live thousands of miles away and don’t know anyone in Texas? This natural disaster could still affect you directly…if you’re in the market for a used car, since rebuilt vehicles destroyed in a flood could be hitting the market in coming months. [More]
floods
Buyers, Beware Of Irene-Damaged Used Cars Flooding Dealer Lots
By 9.1.11
Even if you live thousands of miles away from where Irene hit, that’s no guarantee that you won’t run into a storm-damaged car on the used car dealer lot. These cars could be salvages or total losses, with screwed up engines and rotting components. Here are signs to watch out for. [More]
How To Avoid Flood-Damaged Used Vehicles
By 6.10.11
Disastrous flooding, such as what the Midwest and Southeast has recently suffered, tends to, well, flood the used car market with damaged vehicles that pass the eyeball test. There are ways to avoid falling victim to unscrupulous resellers try to move water-addled rides, though. [More]
Walmart Says Employees Chose To Remain In Store During Flood
By 8.16.10
Last week, we reported the story of more than two dozen Walmart who became trapped inside an Ames, Iowa, store by rising flood waters. At the time, it was unclear as to just why the workers were in the store — authorities had warned managers of the impending flood the night before — but now Walmart says it was the employees’ choice to stay. [More]
Virgin Atlantic Thinks Customer Is Making Up Pakistan Flood Disaster
By 8.3.10
You can’t expect every person to be up to date on the latest news cycle, especially not on a global scale. But there’s a Virgin Atlantic Airlines CSR who not only somehow missed that Pakistan just suffered its worst flooding in 80 years, but who kept insisting the Elisa, a customer trying to make her way back home to NYC, prove that the flooding happened. Elisa says the CSR “insisted that there were no indications in her notes that a flood had happened in Pakistan,” and that Elisa would have to prove the news or pay $933 for a “service change fee” to get back home. [More]
Best Buy In Illinois Catches Fire, Then Floods
By 3.4.08
A fire broke out in a Best Buy in Quincy, Illinois, over the weekend, and although the sprinkler system put it out promptly, it flooded the entire store in an inch and a half of water. The store manager told the local news station that it would take a few days to clean up and restock inventory—but we prefer to imagine that there’s going to be an awful lot of CompUSA-style “AS IS” deals in the Quincy Best Buy very soon.
Land Rover Sends Film Crews To Real Natural Disasters To Shoot Their Cars As "Hero Cars"
By 6.21.07
Reader Mars tips us off to this Brandweek article about Land Rover’s soon to be launched commercial campaign where Land Rover sends film crews to the sites of actual natural disasters while they are in progress to get footage of the Land Rovers “in action” as “hero cars.”
