, Columnist
Harvey's Toll on Houston's Car Lovers
Dealers could see a surge of truck sales in the rush to replace hundreds of thousands of destroyed vehicles.
Flooded.
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Hurricane Harvey’s long stay over Texas brought a number of unfortunate superlatives with it. One of note? The storm destroyed 300,000 to 500,000 vehicles, according to early estimates. The top end of that range would mean that the storm and its effects destroyed more than hurricanes Katrina and Sandy combined. Those half a million vehicles equal more than 3 percent of all new U.S. sales expected this year (and are already a significant arbitrage opportunity, too).
It’s not cars that Texans want, though. “Everybody coming out wants a Jeep or truck,” one dealer sales representative told the Washington Post.