LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.—Just how much of an impact did hurricanes Harvey and Irma have on vehicle prices and their ability to retain values?
According to Black Book, during the three-month period between July-September 2009, when roughly 690,000 older-model vehicles were replaced during the Government's Car Allowance Rebate System program ("Cash for Clunkers"), overall used-vehicle retention increased +3.4%.
During the three-month period between August-October of 2017, when an estimated 700,000 vehicles were damaged or destroyed during Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, overall used-vehicle retention increased +1.8%, Black Book said.
"While the health of the overall economy and automotive sales environment was significantly different between the two time periods, it's interesting to see that the hurricanes had a similar effect on used vehicle values compared with the government's rebate program in 2009," said Anil Goyal, senior vice president of automotive valuation and analytics.