ATLANTA – In the wake of Hurricane Sandy’s devastation along the eastern seaboard, Manheim is responding by offering flexibility to some policies, such as storage arrangements, to help dealers during this challenging time. This policy flexibility is available at 11 Manheim locations in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast markets.
“We wanted to do what we could to address customer concerns about flood damage in severely affected areas while helping them prepare for the expected increase in demand for replacing damaged vehicles,” said Tim Janego, Manheim regional vice president, East.
After the disaster, estimates place vehicle losses in the tens of thousands, prompting an equal number of retail sales to replace consumer and commercial losses. According to Janego, Manheim is anticipating a significant rise in wholesale vehicle demand as analysts predict that retail sales will increase dramatically in the Northeast, further pushing wholesale prices to historic levels. This rise in wholesale prices is estimated to reach its first peak in December. As dealers look to purchase early and heavily to avoid the anticipated wholesale price increases coming in the next few months, lot storage may be a problem.
As a result, Manheim is providing some flexibility to existing policies over the next eight weeks to help all dealerships.
