October 31, 2012 - When I think about the damages caused by a hurricane I generally conjure the news photos of people’s homes being destroyed—their personal belongings being washed away, destroyed in fires, or crushed in a collapse. It is estimated that Hurricane Sandy is going to cause about $20 billion dollars’ worth of damage—that is outrageous! That means that Sandy will have to wreak havoc on a lot more than just people’s homes to rack up a total that monumental. Obviously, this Hurricane is affecting the major Metropolis of New York City which means that buildings will be flooded, people’s cars will be destroyed, along with plenty of other catastrophes. As I was reading through the news today I came across an article about the effect it’s going to have on car producers—I think it caught my attention because I had never really thought about that aspect of a hurricane’s consequences.
If you’re a dealership, what do you do with the hundreds or thousands of brand new cars that you have on your lot? That sounds like a logistics nightmare! Apparently Hurricane Irene, taught car dealerships to be prepared. At the first signs of Hurricane Sandy dealerships began moving their inventory to “higher ground”—whatever that means. I guess most dealerships moved their cars out of potentially affected areas, or took measures to protect their cars from damage. Either way, it is impossible for everyone to have gotten all those cars out of there before the storm hit. My co-worker showed me an image of a NYC cab fleet—literally hundreds of cabs—just drowning in water.
The monetary damage to the auto industry caused by Hurricane Sandy goes beyond the physical damage to those cars left behind to, literally, weather the storm. Dealerships spent the last week or so moving their inventory instead of selling cars. Not that anyone is exactly in the market for a new Lexus with an impending Hurricane looming on the horizon, but when a dealership’s energy is spent moving cars out of the city they’re not exactly focusing on selling cars. Sales numbers are going to take a huge hit at the end of month and into November. I doubt the $20 billion number will factor loss in potential sales, but there is no denying it is just another consequence of this terrible storm.
From everyone at BuyAutoParts.com, we wish everyone the best during this difficult time. For those affected, or who have loved ones affected by Hurricane Sandy, you are in our thoughts
