The Subaru from the depths

I know it's rather shallow to think about oneself in the midst of great human tragedy.
I know the people on the East Coast being pummeled by Hurricane Superstorm Sandy are suffering and will be rebuilding their lives for months ahead. They're losing homes and businesses and, in some cases, their lives.
So I'm not making light of their situation.
However, I can't help but wonder as I watch the pictures of streets turned to rivers and cars swallowed by high water, how many of those cars might end up like the Subaru from Hell that we once owned?
How many water-logged vehicles will be resold to suckers like we were?
When we bought the Subaru, it was a nice looking car, kind of a pink silvery station wagon.
We bought it used at a time when we had to really watch our pennies and we needed a reliable vehicle that could carry lots of kids around.
It worked just fine for a little while but then various, expensive parts started to break.
It was one thing after another until it got so I started to sweat every time we took it in for a repair.
No matter what we did, it was another $500 or $1000 to fix the problem.
We were replacing all kinds of rods and struts and wires until the bills finally got to be too much for us.
When the pile reached more than $6,000, we caved.
Even though I needed a car to do my reporting job at The Daily Herald,  we sold the Subaru and I began riding the bus in and out of Provo to work.
It was about a year later that we realized the car had been one of those dumped off the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco during a weather disaster.
It had been at the bottom of the bay long enough for the salt water to eat away at the undercarriage and somehow we had been lucky enough to have bought it after it had dried out and put back on the market.
I forget the details but I remember the pain.
It was a dreadful time.
So as I watch the footage from Sandy, I can't help but think...is anybody out there going to get stung with the same kind of fraudulence?
Are there laws in place now to protect people from underwater sales?
I hope so. If not, buyer beware and check for leaks.