With potential for vehicles damaged in the June floods to show up on the market, West Virginia consumers can take solace in knowing state law requires auto dealers to provide warranties on vehicle sales, and prohibits selling vehicles that have been submerged without a salvaged title.
However, as Charleston public interest lawyer Dave McMahon noted, that would have been very different had the Legislature passed legislation allowing automobile dealers to sell vehicles "as is."
"With current law, if you buy a vehicle and it ends up having problems because of it, you get your money back," he said of flood-damaged vehicles. "With 'as is,' you're stuck with it, unless you specifically asked, 'Was it in the flood?' and the dealer lied to you."
McMahon said "as is" legislation - which would give auto dealers the option to sell older, higher mileage cars without any warranty or consumer protection - is a perennial at the Legislature.
During the 2015 regular session, the bill's introduction in the Senate generated an extra amount of controversy, since it closely followed Sen. Bill Cole's election as Senate President. Cole, R-Mercer, who owns several car dealerships in West Virginia and Kentucky, was not a sponsor of the bill.
With the controversy, the bill was parked in Senate Judiciary Committee for the remainder of the session.
Likewise, McMahon, a longtime consumer lobbyist, noted that the 2016 regular session was the first he could remember that no "as is" bills were introduced in the Legislature.
However, McMahon advised that the warranty law does not apply to vehicle sales between individuals.
"If you sell someone a car, that's still 'buyer beware,'" he said.
To that end, the state attorney general's office has put out an advisory warning consumers to exercise caution when purchasing vehicles potentially damaged by flooding from the June 23 storms.
"With so many vehicles destroyed by this summer's historic flooding, it's plausible someone may try to take advantage of the situation," Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in the advisory.
The prohibition against selling submerged vehicles without the salvaged title applies to sales by individuals as well as dealerships.
However, the attorney general's consumer protection division recommends consumers take several steps to assure they are not buying flood-damaged vehicles, including obtaining vehicle histories from CARFAX, and having a reputable mechanic inspect the vehicle prior to purchase.
Consumers should also be leery of vehicles that have a history of multiple owners in multiple states over a short period of time, a warning sign that a flood-damaged vehicle may have been taken to an "as is" state to be repaired, then brought back to West Virginia to be resold, the advisory notes.
Reach Phil Kabler at philk@wvgazettemail.com, 304 348-1220, or follow @PhilKabler on Twitter.