Williamson County Tax Man Warns Cedar Park About Flooded Cars

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, TX — The county's tax assessor/collector has got your back. He wants residents to protect themselves when purchasing a new vehicle, especially from online sources such as Craisglist.

Larry Gaddes, the county's tax man, also reminds residents about a used car market now awash in flood-damaged cars in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. Between 500,000 to 1 million such vehicles are on the market, their condition unknown to many would-be buyers, Gaddes said.

"The potential exists for dishonest sellers to provide fake or altered titles or other documentation of flood damaged vehicles, especially those vehicles that were not involved in an insurance claim," Gaddes wrote in an advisory. "Many times, customers are unaware the vehicle they are purchasing is flood damaged, salvaged, rebuilt or even stolen."

Related story: Hurricane Harvey: Used Cars Damaged By Storm Poised To Flood The Market

To avoid being victimized, Gaddes offered a number of handy tips:

• View the vehicle title history using the Title Check feature on the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles website, www.txdmv.gov. The vehicle identification is needed and there is a small fee for the service.
• Check online appraisals to see what the estimated price of a vehicle should be. If the deal seems too good to be true, it may be better to walk away or take the vehicle to your mechanic for inspection.
• Complete a physical inspection of the vehicle including pulling up the carpet. Google how to spot a flood damaged car.
• Understand that fake vehicle titles and other documentation can be made by dishonest sellers.
• Whenever possible, both the buyer and seller should complete the title transfer together at the Tax Office. This helps to ensure the buyer is receiving the correct title documents and it is also the seller’s way of ensuring the title is transferred out of their name.

>>> AP Photo/Charlie Riedel