Just had a customer in Long Island, NY tell me that the insurance auto auction outfit has signed a one year lease on some property on Long Island, and they've got about 20,000 cars that were damaged by Super Storm Sandy. He says there are POVs and new cars that got hit by the storm at the port as well as dealerships. Car haulers are keeping busy in that area hauling for the auction as well as hauling used cars in to the dealerships, because all those folks whose car got totaled by the storm now need cars.
In a weird way, this storm may provide a positive jolt to the economy as people go about putting their lives back together. My Long Island customer told me there are construction contractors coming from as far away as Texas for work. You think about the building supply stores, the contractors, plumbers, roofers, window guys, siding guys, painting guys, carpet guys... and then there are the furniture stores, clothing stores, etc.
We know the bad news about the storm, all that damage... but the good news of the stimulus to the economy is that it won't be just one sharp jolt. It's going to take a lot of time to move the thousands of cars and rebuilt all those homes. The insurance auction place signed a lease for a year, after all.
Now if we can just get the insurance companies to move with all due haste as well as the federal, state and county governments... That'll help the people who suffered losses from Sandy, and it'll give the economic recovery a little more juice as well. Could be just the thing to finally lift construction employment off the floor!
