Local motorists who use online services to screen prospective vehicle purchases are likely to be warned if they live in one of the 49 Mississippi counties declared disaster areas after Hurricane Katrina.

A recent search on the Web site of CARFAX Inc. outlining the vehicle history on a 2004 Toyota Camry LE – one registered in Warren County and completely undamaged by the storm – contained an advisory posted in September 2005. It alerts a potential buyer that the Camry was registered in a county declared a flood disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Local car dealers said caution is always advisable, whether through the Web or not.

&#8220Always look under the carpet for rust stains, around the bolts that bolt the seats down,” said Alan Atwood of Atwood Chevrolet on North Frontage Road, adding that local consumers and car buyers &#8220need to make their own judgment” on a car.

&#8220Have all your documentation and prove that it’s always been in Vicksburg,” he said.

The CARFAX warning is apparently automatic, triggered for any vehicle ever registered in any of the declared disaster counties.

&#8220They’re probably just protecting themselves, but you should always be careful of who you’re buying from,” said George Carr of Carr Buick Pontiac Cadillac GMC on South Frontage Road.

The advisory says most vehicles may not have sustained any damage, but that CARFAX recommends checking for flood and/or other damage during a pre-purchase inspection.

Tens of thousands of privately owned vehicles and those in dealer inventories were inundated by flooding along the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts in hurricanes last August and September. If offered for sale at all, those in dealer inventories should have what’s known as a salvage title by Mississippi law. Any person buying a vehicle with a salvage title must be made aware of the damage – regardless whether the shopper pays a service such as CARFAX for a vehicle history.

The sweeping advisories appear to be an outgrowth of the large number of counties in the state that were lumped into the federally declared disaster area, one that formed the basis of the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act that created numerous tax incentives for business and housing development.

As with the high number of low-income housing units that were proposed for areas in the less-damaged tier of counties in central Mississippi – most of which did not receive tax credits to proceed this year – the advisory is an after-effect of Warren County being included in the disaster area.

Carr said vehicles purchased at auction and sold at his dealership are guaranteed suitable for purchase, with none of them purchased from auctions known to unload those flooded in the hurricane.

Steve Nolan, spokesman with the Chicago-based vehicle site Cars.com, said that site partners with CARFAX to provide history reports to people looking to shop their vehicle around to potential buyers.

The advisory noting that the vehicle was registered in a disaster county &#8220would definitely come up” on a vehicle history report a site user purchases to get started, Nolan said.

&#8220It is a protection to buyers,” Nolan said.

The reports are geared to help sellers provide potential buyers more information about a vehicle and be viewed for free to shoppers on Cars.com.

Started in 1998, Cars.com is owned by six large media companies: Belo Corp., Gannett Co. Inc., Knight Ridder Inc., The McClatchy Co., Tribune Co. and The Washington Post Co.