Demand for tows, car-repair shops soars.
Repair shops, tow trucks staying busy retrieving and repairing cars inundated by this week’s storm
The flood fallout showed no sign of cresting Wednesday as repair shops, tow yards and auto dealerships continued to take in water-logged cars and trucks by the hundreds.
The city announced that by 1:30 p.m., some 550 abandoned vehicles had been reported to law enforcement or other authorities and removed from public streets over the preceding 2½-day period.
State Farm, the largest auto insurer in Texas, has received at least 5,360 weather-related auto claims, most of them in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties, and a spokesman said flatly, “We do anticipate that these will continue to climb.” The prognosis was similar from Farmer’s and Allstate.
And at John Eagle Honda in the hard-hit northwest area, the woeful parade of flood-damaged vehicles being towed in for repair showed no signs of letting up. Workers filled the 58 service bays, unbolting car seats, pulling out
soggy carpeting and cranking up fans and dehumidifiers to get the vehicles ready for the next round of repairs. They draped carpet linings on posts and kept doors, trunks and hoods open to help get the moisture out.
About 125 vehicles had arrived by midday, and John Eagle president and managing partner Mac DeLaup was predicting more on the way.
“The calls that we’re getting from people — the wreckers have simply not been able to get to them yet,” he said.
DeLaup said most of the vehicles would prove salvageable — provided workers get an early start.
“Being quick is the key,” he said.
In addition, flooding damaged about 200 new and used vehicles at the dealership itself. DeLaup said most of the damage was minor.
Meanwhile, area wreckers are dealing with a post-flood surge in requests for service.
Wednesday was “a little bit slower” for the three-truck crew at Superior Wrecker, owner John Payette said. Superior had 28 calls by midafternoon, which Payette estimated was about half of what his drivers would do that day.
On Monday, “the phone rang off the hook all day long.”
Tow truck drivers’ calls were so frequent on Monday that they faced a choice: Work the most urgent calls and take down information for non-emergency service later, rather than fight floodwaters and risk equipment.
Coming days will be spent clearing that backlog and addressing new calls from people getting to their vehicles for the first time, said Ken Ulmer, president of Houston wrecker company SafeTow and a committee member with the Texas Towing & Storage Association.
One company on Tuesday towed between 500 and 600 cars, Ulmer said.
“In Houston, especially, to have a flood and have anything less than 300 or 400 cars involved is a mud puddle,” he added.
“It really doesn’t take a lot of water to damage cars.”