Remember the 2009 Cash for Clunkers program" Some hated it. Others invested in this new form of government cheese. After eight weeks, the entire USA had spent nearly $3 billion in taxpayer money to supplement the purchase of almost 690,000 vehicles. It was a big deal, but not nearly as big as what?s happening right now in the Southeast thanks to hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Roughly a million vehicles have been totaled from Texas to the southern tip of Florida. When Superstorm Sandy hit the New York tri-state area in 2012, auto sales in metropolitan New York City skyrocketed 49 percent in a single month. Yet, as far as vehicle population is concerned, the aftermath of that storm represents a fraction of the damage Harvey and Irma have left from Houston to Miami. Industry trade paper Automotive News reported estimates that retail sales in Houston were up 40 to 50 percent over year-ago levels in the immediate aftermath of the storm, even as inventories were depleted by flood damage. When extreme disasters strike, local car dealers at ground zero will fan out into surrounding wholesale dealer auctions to buy whatever they can to fulfill the surge in demand. Within a week of Harvey?s landfall, there were dealers throughout southeast Texas visiting mega auctions in Atlanta, Tampa, and Tulsa. These folks were loading up cars and trucks on transport vehicles that were headed out to places including Houston and Corpus Christi.
Bradley Williams has been a large-scale buyer for...