What is more, when you see all those cars that are going to be 'totalled' by the insurance company because they were under water in the southern part of the US or on the east coast, those cars used to be sold for pennies on the dollar in "salvage sales" in which salvage dealers would recover parts and/or do enough repairs to resell them with a salvage title. The bidding for those cars is much more intense given the demand by rental car companies for stock, any stock, to boost their fleets.
Well, the thing about flood-cars is they can look and drive fine but really merit being called totalled - having been submerged makes corrosion inevitable in a much quicker time frame. All of the electrical parts will go bad in X time frame.
Maybe these can be kept going long enough to bring value to companies but it seems like you'll have a lot more car renters on the side of the road than normal.
"Water can ruin electronics, lubricants, and mechanical systems. It may take months or years, but corrosion can find its way to the car's vital electronics, including airbag controllers."
https://www.consumerreports.org/buying-a-car/beware-the-floo...