HOUSTON — Group 1 Automotive Inc., a Fortune 500 automotive retailer, is assessing damage at its eight Oklahoma City, Okla., dealerships in the aftermath of an April 26 hailstorm. Several Houston locations were also impacted by hail and heavy rain on April 27.
Preliminary assessments indicate there is damage to some of the facilities in Oklahoma City and to about 3,200 new and used vehicles located at the eight Oklahoma City stores and at various Houston locations. The company is insured with large deductibles and currently estimates it will incur pretax charges related to the deductibles in the range of $8 million to $10 million in the second quarter.
The affected dealerships in Oklahoma City are open for business with full capacity in the parts, service and collision areas, but with limited sales operations. All of the company’s Houston dealerships are open with full service and sales capacity.
The eight Oklahoma City dealerships are comprised of 12 franchises, including Buick, GMC, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Nissan, Toyota, Honda and Acura. On a combined basis, the eight dealerships represented 6.1 percent of Group 1’s total new vehicle unit sales in 2012.
Group 1 officials said the company is working with its manufacturer partners to replace the damaged inventory as quickly as possible, and will source inventory from its other stores. But officials also said they don’t expect inventories at these locations to be fully replenished until mid-summer.
