I'm getting ready to pick up my new Mini Cooper. I have been in limbo for the last two weeks, because my car arrived by ship on the Thursday just before Sandy hit. The dealership was closed for almost a week, because they had no power, so it was difficult to get info. Was my car sitting on the dock, submerged in salt water?

Anyway, after the cars clear US Customs at the port, they get shipped to a nearby warehouse, before they get put on trucks and shipped to the dealerships. When all the smoke cleared, it was determined that my car had not left the port (Bayonne, NJ) before Sandy hit. Believe it or not, there was almost no damage to any cars at the port. At the warehouse, on the otherhand, 170 BMWs and 45 Minis were submerged in 6' of salt water. Think about how much those cars are worth. Figure, average of $60k for the Beemers, and say $30k for the Minis, you're talking more than $11 million. And that's just one dealership. Funny, when you think of the cost of hurricane damage, you usually think about people's property - homes and businesses. You never think about some of the other damage.

So I ask what happens to those cars. Apparently, they become the property of the insurance companies. I guess they try to get them in some sort of working order and then sell them at an auction, as "Damaged goods".

 

Not entirely sure what they would do here.

I remember that back home in Holland, a bmw dealership got hit by a huge hail storm. The entire parking lot was filled with brands spanking new BMWs. They tried to fix the dents as best they could and then sold those cars with about 30% off.

 

Wow thats crazy... time for a raised warehouse!

 

About 6yrs ago, a ship full of new Mazdas nearly sank in the Pacific. The ship was eventually righted but the cars were damaged. Mazda eventually crushed all the cars on board (over 4,700 cars) rather than allow any of the parts to enter their inventory chain. The Miata spec racers were all salivating over the prospect of salvage title Miatas available on the cheap but it was not to be. I can't imagine any of those MINIs or BMWs escaping the same fate.

 

Right, I believe by law they have to be trashed.

 

You don't want a car with salt water damage, either. It's almost impossible to properly fix electronic equipment once it's been exposed to salt water.

 

Actually a vast majority were not damaged but Mazda was more concerned about the view the company would have if the good ones were salvaged, really, who would want those? So they scrapped them all.

 

Believe it or not its not, depending on the damage. They can choose to sell them with a salvage title if thy are deemed safe. It's likely that these will be totaled though with how long they all sat in saltwater.