Texas flooding damages an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 insured vehicles

It’s the “end of the road” for an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 insured vehicles following the recent flooding in Texas, the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) in the United States said on Friday.

The current estimate is from Dallas-based Copart, which works on behalf of insurers to handle vehicles damaged in catastrophes. About 2,500 cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs and other vehicles have already been towed to one of Copart’s locations, a 200-acre processing facility in Houston, the NICB said in a statement.

Related: Insured losses from flooding in Oklahoma and Texas “set to easily exceed” US$1 billion: Aon Benfield

After a disaster, the NICB works with its member companies, law enforcement and companies like Copart to identify the vehicles that have had an insurance claim filed and to process them for sale. All of the cars will be retitled with the Department of Motor Vehicles and the new title will indicate the fact that the vehicle has been flood damaged, NICB Said. Most of the vehicles are sold to parts companies who will dismantle them and re-sell usable parts that were not damaged by the flooding.

The Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is also entered into the NICB’s VINCheck and the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) database.

VINCheck allows car buyers to see whether a vehicle has ever been declared as “salvage” or a total loss by an NICB member that participates in the program. Insurers representing about 88% of the personal auto insurance market provide their salvage data to the program. It also alerts users if a vehicle has been stolen and is still unrecovered.

Related: Death toll climbs to 19 from storms in Texas, Oklahoma; more rain falls on hard hit Houston

The NICB is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in Des Plaines, Ill. dedicated to “preventing, detecting and defeating insurance fraud and vehicle theft through data analytics, investigations, training, legislative advocacy and public awareness.” It is supported by more than 1,100 property and casualty insurance companies and self-insured organizations.

NICB member companies wrote US$371 billion in insurance premiums in 2013, or more than 78% of the nation’s p&c insurance. That includes more than 93 percent (US$168 billion) of the nation’s personal auto insurance.