Denver auto dealer Mike Shaw got lucky when Hurricane Katrina swept across the lot, smashing vehicles and peeling the roof from his Honda dealership near New Orleans.
Unlike other dealers nearby, Shaw’s Honda of Slidell was built 14 feet above sea level – high enough that the building escaped flooding.
Private insurance will cover damage to his dealership. He estimates the repairs will cost about $500,000.
Had he been flooded, the damage would have been more severe, and Shaw would have had to depend on the federal government’s national flood program. The program pays only up to $500,000 on a commercial building and $500,000 for its contents.
“You can’t build a building for $500,000,” said Shaw, whose dealership on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain cost about $6 million for land and construction when it was built in 2003.
Six million dollars’ worth of vehicles that were parked outside the building were totaled and are insured. Another 25 or so survived inside the dealership, he said.
Neighboring dealerships on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain were inundated when levees broke, Shaw said Monday.
According to Automotive News, Katrina did major damage to more than 200 dealerships in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Many of the damaged dealerships in Louisiana will need six months or more to reopen, Automotive News said. The Louisiana Automobile Dealers Association couldn’t be reached for comment.
Shaw expects to begin selling cars within the next month or so, even though the building won’t be repaired for several months, he said.
“In the interim, we will sell out of a trailer,” he said.
Shaw owns two dealerships in Denver and a third in Colorado Springs.
He has about 40 employees in his Louisiana dealership, and three were still missing Monday.
The rest have received paychecks despite the fact that the dealership is closed.
“We are continuing to pay 100 percent for as long as we can,” Shaw said.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
