The president of a firm that holds Internet auctions of salvaged vehicles for insurers said he is still discovering new merchandise in the debris that Hurricane Katrina left behind.

“We're still finding automobiles, boats, recreation vehicles and other items in New Orleans,” said Salvage Direct President and Chief Operating Officer Darren Horn, in a message relayed by a spokesman for the Titusville, Pa.-based company.

Mr. Horn, whose company recently added a commercial lines division to sell off salvaged construction equipment and heavy machinery in addition to cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats, said flood conditions have made recovery and assessment of damaged vehicles a much longer process.

In October, 10 days after Hurricane Rita blew through the Gulf Coast, Salvage Direct said the company was working with insurance adjusters to find and catalogue salvaged properties and move them to a 23-acre steel mill site.

The company said at this point it has auctioned off 2,000 hurricane-related items including campers, all terrain vehicles, jet skis, boats and motorcycles.

Mr. Horn said that earlier in the New Orleans recovery process, Salvage discovered one boat that unfortunately “was in someone's pool after sailing through a second-floor condo.”

A spokesman for the company, Anthony LaFauce, said that with successive hurricanes over the past few years, “product for the salvage business has gone through the roof.”

Salvage Direct, which puts photos of salvaged vehicles on the Internet and sells them to licensed salvage dealers and dismantlers, said that last year the company auctioned off 18,324 cars, 3,173 sports utility vehicles, 2,845 motorcycles, 2,260 trucks, 1,676 vans and mini-vans, and 132 all-terrain vehicles.

The company site also auctioned 1,146 boats, 466 recreational vehicles, 140 personal watercraft, three tractors–including one with a manure spreader, 80 trailers and 171 commercial vehicles.

Items sold have damage that ranges from minor to so extensive as to make them unrebuildable, the company said.

Salvage Direct, which bills itself as a leader among online salvage auction firms doing Internet marketing, in addition to selling vehicles for insurance firms also does auctioning for rental car agencies and other financial institutions.

Special Reports /

Salvage Business Booms After Hurricanes

Related Stories

Recommended For You