<\/p>\n
Mateo Leija, reconditioning supervisor of GiveMeTheVIN.com, shows a Subaru Impreza that was damaged by a hailstorm at a parking lot of Manheim Dallas, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Dallas.<\/p>\n
Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
While the hail storm that blew through Dallas-Fort Worth the night of April 25<\/a> wasn\u2019t as bad as it could have been, for John Clay Wolfe, founder of vehicle wholesaler GiveMeTheVIN.com<\/a>, it was \u201cmy worst nightmare.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Every Wednesday, Wolfe hosts a car auction at his lanes at auction house Manheim Dallas, and on the last Wednesday of every month, that auction includes classic and collector cars. It\u2019s a high-octane affair<\/a> with multiple auction lanes going simultaneously in Dallas and other cities and a live radio show to pair with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Related story: Dallas ‘miracle’ made of collectible cars<\/a><\/p>\n By the time the hail storm hit that weekend, there were already around 800 cars on site, uncovered for the\u00a0April 31 auction, including 80 collector cars and 300 highline (sports or luxury) cars. One truck had 1,000 dents, a Ferrari\u2019s windshield was cracked, and countless others were dinged, cracked or in need of inspection.\u00a0<\/p>\n In total, Wolfe is looking at $3 million in potential damage, accounting for an average insurance deductible of $2,500 and additional supplements for repairs to the expensive cars that need extra attention.<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Ferraris and the Lamborghinis and stuff, we can’t drill holes on those cars to do paintless dent repair,\u201d Wolfe explained. \u201cAnd so they’re going to have to be painted in some cases, and you\u2019ve got to have it super-duper professionally done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A cracked windshield of a Ferrari that was damaged by a hailstorm is seen at a parking lot of Manheim Dallas, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Chitose Suzuki\/Staff photographer<\/p>\n Wolfe started selling cars in the mid-90s, but this is the first time something like this has happened to him. He spent the days leading up to last week\u2019s auction negotiating with his insurance company on how much they would pay out per car and which cars would get repaired versus simply sold with hail damage. The annual bill for the policy is nearly $700,000, and like the home, auto and health insurance we all pay, it\u2019s getting more expensive.<\/p>\n Wolfe explained that dealer insurance previously had something akin to your health insurance\u2019s out-of-pocket maximum. While each damaged car had a deductible, after a certain amount paid \u2014 for Wolfe it was $50,000 \u2014 no more deductible needed to be paid. Over the past few years, insurers in Texas have done away with that, called an aggregate, for the same reasons consumer home and auto insurance has risen<\/a>: increasing frequency of natural disasters.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s also not much Wolfe and other wholesalers can do to mitigate the impact of storms. Manheim controls the auction lots, and at more than 100 acres, Manheim Dallas is too large to practically cover. Wolfe said there were 17,000 cars on the lot that were hit by the hailstorm.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of one of those things you\u2019ve just gotta eat, to tell you the truth,\u201d Wolfe said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In addition to the cost of fixing the cars, the hail storm also put a chunk of last week\u2019s inventory in time out, about $25 million of $70 million worth of inventory, to be exact. While 35 classics still sold April 31 and 140 cars were repaired in time to be sold at auction May 6, the rest have not only been sitting unsold as they get fixed, but clogging the pipes of future auctions, where selling cars quickly is crucial.\u00a0<\/p>\n John Clay Wolfe, CEO of GiveMeTheVIN.com, is seen at Manheim Dallas auction, Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Dallas.<\/p>\n Chitose Suzuki\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n The car auction business is fast-moving and very low-margin, buying and selling thousands of cars per day to dealers at wholesale prices, but there isn\u2019t enough demand right now to support selling additional cars each week as the backlog is cleared. That cash flow disruption isn\u2019t something insurance can pay for, nor is the loss of selling cars for less than they would have gone for before the storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, though, GiveMeTheVIN.com will be fine, Wolfe said. He\u2019s tapped into an emergency line of credit he\u2019s paid for for years for this exact purpose. But the profitability of the company for the year will take a major hit, he said. They typically do about $1.5 billion in revenue per year at a gross margin of 3%, which leaves $45 million before expenses like rent, salaries and taxes. A potential loss of $3 million is a big bite out of that.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
<\/p>\n