Heres a link to some photos of last weeks damage at the Russo and Steele Auction in Scottsdale Arizona. I heard that there were around 600 cars that were damaged when the tent collapsed. The fire department shut down the auction during the live telecast and evacuated the tent about a half hour before the tent collapsed (and blew out onto the freeway). Owners weren't allowed to remove cars till early this week, and most were left with windows open and tops down and well exposed to the rain. My sympathy goes out to the owners of these cars. http://picasaweb.google.com/tjmyers769/RussoAndSteele2010Damages#
It will be interesting to see what sort of settlements are made after the auction company has established puffed up values in the auction catalogs.
I kind of makes me sick to my stomach to see all that damage. Feel really bad for each and every one of them. I bet some will get out of the hobby all together.
I agree. Almost made me sick looking at those images. All the hard work put into them, gone in a mater of moments. Could you imagine if someone had a "Low mile" original paint survivor that an old lady owned and only drove to church and never in the rain. And you bring it to an auction and it gets destroyed.
Actually a blessing in disguise for a lot of them as the cars were there to be disposed of anyway. And the insurance check won't have the auctioneer's commission deducted. Mostly valuable cars so I'm sure they'll be repaired and now have an interesting story as part of their provenance.
While I was looking at the carnage photos I saw a 65 Chevelle wagon in the background. Went to the Russo and Steel Auction site and found it. Cool looking wagon. Chadwa
I bet these unfortunate vehicle owners get screwed around with getting any kind of satifaction from insurance. :banghead3: Is this just to be a claim on the individual's policy, or the auction house's? Do the car owners sign a damage waiver when they submit their car for auction? Will the auction house claim no responsibility...just claim this was an "act of God"? Will the aution house and the tent provider be sued for not taking better precautions to protect the vehicles? What a mess! David
Actually, most of these people are gonna make out like fat rats....with the help of the auction company. If they have collector car insurance, they'll get paid agreed value for the vehicle AND have the option to buy it back for salvage value. Which on the "old" cars is just about ZERO!! Then, if they're really smart, Russo and Steele will assist all the owners with their insurance claims then hold a salvage auction. Don't cry for them, they'll be OK. Look at it another way, if my scenario plays out, it'll give us regular folk a chance most of us would never get. Chuck
