Number of flood-damaged vehicles exaggerated

In recent days, an alarming prediction has flashed across the Internet: Hundreds of thousands of flood-damaged vehicles will inundate the used-car market, and buyers might not be told which cars have been marred.

Not true; the actual number of affected vehicles is far smaller, and some of those cars will be repaired and kept by their owners. The dire predictions claim the number of cars damaged by Sandy could be larger than the 600,000 damaged when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005. But an AP analysis of claims data supplied by major insurance companies shows the number of cars reported damaged so far is a fraction of that.

The companies -- State Farm, Progressive, New Jersey Manufacturers and Nationwide -- have received about 31,000 car-damage claims. -- AP