A hail storm hit a rare car auction, pummeling uncovered Ferraris and Lamborghinis, causing $3 million in damages

When the storm hit, some 800 cars were out and uncovered, including 80 collectors' cars and 300 high-end sports or luxury vehicles. The damage was staggering.

One truck had 1,000 dents. The windshield of a Ferrari was cracked. A Subaru Impreza had a golf ball sized hole in its rear window. The list goes on.

The scenario, says Wolfe, was "my worst nightmare."

Rising costs

The $3 million figure Wolfe is facing is post-insurance out-of-pocket expenses. He'll have to pay a $2,500 deductible, but many of the vehicles will need a special sort of repair that might not be covered by the insurer, he told the Dallas Morning News.

"The Ferraris and the Lamborghinis and stuff, we can't drill holes on those cars to do paintless dent repair," Wolfe said. "And so they're going to have to be painted in some cases, and you've got to have it super-duper professionally done. … This was just bad enough to cost a s— ton of money.""

Wolfe already pays roughly $700,000 per year for his company's insurance policy – and after a claim like this, it's likely to move even higher. Changes to Texas insurance rules have done away with a maximum out of pocket amount for dealer insurance, which raised the total estimated bill of this storm.

No relief coming

This is the first time Wolfe has faced this sort of damage, but it was seemingly bound to happen. The auctions take place on a 100-acre lot in Dallas that's too large to cover. All totaled, 17,000 cars on that lot were on the lot hit by the hailstorm, he said.

Texas, meanwhile, continues to be impacted by climate change. In February 2021, the state's power grid failed, leaving more than 4 million customers without power and resulting in at least 246 deaths (2). Texas narrowly averted a much worse crisis. At its peak, the grid was just 4 minutes and 37 seconds (3) away from a total, weeks- or months-long blackout.

At the same time, high temperatures are getting higher. Temperatures along a 30-mile stretch of the Rio Grande hit 104 degrees (4) on Feb. 26, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the U.S. in the December-February time period.

That's not Wolfe's concern right now, though. While 140 cars were repaired in time for the auction, the rest are still being fixed — and will have to remain on the lot until the next sale. That's another expense for the company. And while Wolfe has a line of credit he can draw from, he said the company's profits this year are going to be notably lower than last.

Article Sources

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Dallas Morning News (1); Texas Department of State Health Services (2); KUT (3); USA Today (4)