Fixed Ops Journal - October 2017 - 28

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AFTERMATH

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

"We were very fortunate." ZACH GERMAIN, Germain Lexus of Naples

JEFF YIP

JACK NILES III

Flooding caused a short circuit in a service vehicle, igniting a shop
fire at Gay Buick-GMC in suburban Houston.

Hurricane Irma damaged the exterior and disabled service bays at
Niles Sales and Service in Key West.

Harvey's toll: Houston flooding
hit some service shops hard,
wrecking cars, tools and parts

Irma's ire: Florida dealers find
'silver lining' in opportunity to
rebuild and upgrade their shops

JEFF YIP

foj@autonews.com

OUSTON - When Hurricane Harvey struck southeast Texas in late August, it shattered rainfall records, brought
deadly flooding and destroyed as many as a million cars
and trucks.
Today, the din of repair work is the background music for Houston
area dealerships - and their service departments - that were hit
hardest.
The Houston Automobile Dealers Association says 12 of its 175
member dealerships sustained damage from Harvey. The association
did not estimate the cost of that damage.
Ruined-vehicle inventories were cleared out fairly quickly and replaced by new stock - thanks in part to the prompt response of manufacturers and insurers - enabling sales to resume. But some fixed operations have had a tougher recovery.
At shops in Harvey's path, flooding ruined or heavily damaged scan
tools, tire-mounting machines, frame straighteners, alignment racks
and floor sweepers. Transformers blew. Parts that had been left on the
floor or lower shelves became junk.
Charles Hudson is a service technician at McRee Ford in the Houston suburb of Dickinson, which for a time was under a mandatory
evacuation order. He says that floodwater invaded his large roller tool
see HARVEY, Page 30

PAGE 28

OCTOBER 2017

MARK ELIAS

foj@autonews.com

IAMI - Hurricane Irma did not spare some new-vehicle
dealerships - including their service departments -
when it assailed Florida last month. Destruction was worst
across the Florida Keys and along the state's west coast.
Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association,
said he did not have precise figures on the extent of damage to dealerships across the state.
"We were blessed in Florida not to have a huge number of property
damage losses at our stores," Smith told Fixed Ops Journal. "Certainly
there were some in the key counties."
Cox Automotive estimates that the storm destroyed 200,000 to
400,000 vehicles in Florida. Cox did not offer a projection of how many
vehicles damaged by Irma could be repaired.
In Key West, the hurricane initially disabled 16 of the 22 service bays
at Niles Sales and Service, which sells Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, GMC
and Nissan vehicles.
Dealer principal Jack Niles III says the service department has replaced a water-damaged tire machine and wheel balancer, and is
awaiting a new alignment machine.
"Our service garage area was pretty dated, so you have to find the silver lining," Niles says. "When all is said and done, it will be a much
see IRMA, Page 30

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - October 2017