Getting your car ready for hurricane season

From June 1 to November 30, your car is also your evacuation plan. What to do before, during and after the storm, and how not to buy a flooded car.

In Louisiana a hurricane is not a possibility: it is a date on the calendar you don't know yet. The car is the piece of the plan most people neglect, and the only one that gets you out of the danger zone. Here is what costs little before and a lot after.

At the start of the season (June)

• Maintenance up to date: oil, brakes, tires with tread and correct pressure, battery tested.
• Spare tire inflated, jack and lug wrench in the car. Many new cars have no spare: buy a kit or a tire.
• New wiper blades. In storm rain, worn ones mean blindness.
• Copies of insurance, registration and the title in the glovebox and on your phone.
• Photo of the odometer and of all four sides of the car: your evidence if there is a claim.
• Trunk kit: water, jumper cables, flashlight, phone charger, cash in small bills, towel, trash bag.

When a watch is issued (72 hours out)

• Full tank. Gas station lines start with the watch, not the hurricane. EVs: battery at 100% and a charger plan along the route.
• Decide where the car will sleep: high, covered parking (floors 2 or 3 of a garage), away from trees, poles and areas that flood. Never under a tree "for the shade."
• If you evacuate: leave before the traffic, with alternate routes, without waiting for the last advisory.
• If you stay: windows closed, nothing of value inside, and the car off the street.

During

Don't drive. If you are in the car and water rises, leave it and get to high ground: a foot of moving water floats a car; two feet sweeps it away. Never cross a flooded street "because it doesn't look like much": you can't see whether the pavement is still there.

After

• Don't start a car that sat with water above the doors. If water got into the engine and you crank it, you destroy it.
• Photograph everything before touching anything: water line on the doors, interior, engine.
• Call your insurer that same day. Flood damage is covered by "comprehensive" coverage, not liability.
• Disconnect the battery, open doors and windows, pull the carpets. Mold starts in 48 hours.
• If the insurer declares a total loss, the title will carry a brand forever. If it is repaired, keep every receipt: the next buyer will ask.

The second storm: flooded cars for sale

Weeks after every hurricane, thousands of "freshly washed" cars show up on the market at impossible prices. How to spot them: musty smell under the carpets, sand in the spare-tire well, rust on seat bolts, condensation in the headlamps, new wiring under the dash. The title may not say it: check the history and ask for an electrical inspection.