Bloomberg managed to combine super storm Sandy with one of Bloomberg’s obsessions: The fate of what Bloomberg calls luxury car brands. According to the wire, “luxury-car brands such as Honda Motor Co.’s Acura and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz will take a disproportionate hit from Hurricane Sandy.”
Why? The Washington-New York corridor that was drowned in water and darkness by the super storm accounts for about a quarter of the luxury brands’ sales, says Bloomberg after checking with Edmunds.
There are only three days left in the month, but Bloomberg worries that the storm may be “keeping prospective car buyers home.”
Never mind, Bloomberg: From what we could see on TV, the dealers should be – well – swamped and deluged with buyers once the insurance companies have processed the claims of flood damaged cars.
Gasp. Luxury car sales hurt? Well Bloomberg, now that’s the primary concern going forward, isn’t it? Glad to see you have your head on straight. I can’t bear the thought of those one-percenters having to drive a car an extra week, or past 36k miles.
Huh. That’s a good point. I wonder if a leasing company gives you leeway if your hometown gets flooded and you happen to have to drive your due-to-be-turned-in vehicle a couple-hundred miles past its limit.
I think that generally the lease deals have a fairly reasonable per-mile charge if you drive beyond the contract limit. At $0.30/mile, thats only $60 for 200 miles. It’s not like a cell phone contract.
36,000 miles ? My dear Detroit X, who keeps an S class after 20,000 miles ? One does grow bored even with the best machines.
I’d figure it would lead to more sales/leases as insurance pays out claims….
Er, in the longer short-term of course…
The parable of the broken window works wonders for quarterly earnings…
A tree fell down on my block and some of my carport’s roof got shredded by rain, but, my cars are A-OK and my power stayed on throughout the night. Thank goodness I live in Queens instead of Long Island.
My prayers to people who are in the dark and flooded. I’m volunteering for disaster relief.
Good for you, bigtruck. Having lived in south Alabama for sixty five years, I have seen too many storms like this shatter many peoples lives. Thank you for doing something to give back to the community.
Hey, this is a ripe opportunity! Acura can tout its MDX and Mercedes-Benz can show off its new GL, both of which are very capable vehicles.
Unless waterlogged…
Honestly Bertel, I believe, at least as car sales go, the worry is for the foreseeable future, that unscrupulous dealerships will be selling luxury flood victims as new cars, as they did after Hurricane Katrina.
Whatever a Bloomberg Sandy is, I don’t want to eat it.
They have gold flakes in them, I hear.
Corey:
You are referring to Goldschlager. Take another shot….:)
I was referring to Bloomberg Sandies. Ha.
Breakin’ my heart. 39 people dead (so far) Billions in damage and the luxury car market might take a downturn?