Work Truck Logo
MenuMENU
SearchSEARCH

Hurricane Irma Could Wipe out 400,000 Vehicles

As many as 400,000 vehicles in Florida will need to be replaced as a result of Hurricane Irma, including as many as 11,000 fleet vehicles, according to Cox Automotive.

September 13, 2017
Hurricane Irma Could Wipe out 400,000 Vehicles

Photo of replacement rental vehicles being transported to the Houston area courtesy of Enterprise Holdings.

2 min to read


Photo of replacement rental vehicles being transported to the Houston area courtesy of Enterprise Holdings.

As many as 400,000 vehicles in Florida will need to be replaced as a result of Hurricane Irma, including as many as 11,000 fleet vehicles, according to Cox Automotive.

Ad Loading...

When added to the damage inflicted by Hurricane Harvey in southeastern Texas, Smoke estimates that as many as 1 million vehicles will need to be replaced as a result of the two storms.

Ad Loading...

Much of Hurricane Irma's damage came in the southwest Florida, including the Florida Keys, Fort Myers, and Tampa. Commercial fleets likely suffered the brunt of the storm's impact, as larger rental operators mostly moved their vehicles into parking garages to protect them from the wind and rain.

"We were able to move most of the units to cover and they weren't damaged or flooded out," said Lisa Martini, an Enterprise spokesperson. "That made a big difference for us."

Hertz also saw minimal damage to its rental fleet in Florida, said Karen Drake, a spokesperson for Hertz Holdings.

Enterprise has reopened most of its Florida offices, except for those in Naples and Key West, where it operates airport rental facilities at Key West International Airport and Florida Keys Marathon Airport. Enterprise plans to reopen its Naples location on Thursday.

Unlike Hurricane Harvey, which caused heavy flooding, Hurricane Irma damaged vehicles with high-speed winds and heavy rainfall. And the storm's move north along the Gulf Coast side of the state likely resulted in a lesser impact on commercial vehicles, said Jonathan Smoke, Cox Automotive's chief economist.

Ad Loading...

"Hopefully with the significant preparation time, the losses will be to the low end of the range," Smoke said. "The westward track helped to avoid more damage in Orlando, which is home to more than a third of the total fleet in Florida."

Vehicles in Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina saw only a "small amount of damage," Smoke said.

In Texas, Hurricane Harvey likely damaged between 320,000 and 580,000 vehicles with fleet making up between 12,000 and 21,500 units. Enterprise Holdings reported it had lost 3,000 rental vehicles, while Hertz reported a loss of 500 units in Texas.

Rental operators began shipping thousands of units into Texas following the storm to meet demand for insurance replacement vehicles. Enterprise sent 17,000 vehicles to the state, the company announced.

Originally posted on Automotive Fleet

More Operations

Shades of Fleet “Family Ties” thumbnail with Lauren Fletcher, a family tree graphic, keys, and Work Truck branding.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 15, 2026

Family Ties Inside the Fleet Families Building Careers Across Generations

Three fleet families share what it really takes to work together, learn across generations, and keep business from following them home.

Read More →
Shades of Fleet Hidden Heroes graphic featuring silhouetted dispatchers, coordinators, parts specialists, and support staff working across fleet operations, with a Share Your Story callout.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 15, 2026

Shades of Fleet Call for Voices: Fleet's Hidden Heroes

Fleet’s hidden heroes are often the ones keeping everything moving behind the scenes. September’s Shades of Fleet is looking for dispatchers, coordinators, parts specialists, and other support pros to share their stories.

Read More →
Truck Centers Inc. graphic recognizing National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Sept. 14–18, over an image of a semi-truck traveling along a rural highway beneath a cloudy sky.
Operationsby News/Media ReleaseSeptember 14, 2026

Truck Centers, Inc. Celebrates National Truck Driver Appreciation Week with $1,000 Fuel Card Giveaways

During National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Truck Centers, Inc. is offering customers a chance to fuel up for free. Customers at all Truck Centers locations can enter to win one of four $1,000 fuel cards from Sept. 14 - 18.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Lauren Fletcher appears in a Work Truck Weekly Truck Chat Cheat Sheet thumbnail with bold blue, black, white, and orange graphics. Text highlights fleet guides, AI, tariffs, and fuel strategy, with a semi-truck in the background.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 14, 2026

Fleet Guides, AI Time-Savers, Truck Tariffs & Fuel Strategy Lead the News

This week’s Truck Chat Cheat Sheet covers new fleet vehicle guides, practical AI use cases, U.S.-Canada truck production, mixed-energy strategy, and more.

Read More →
Podcast cover for “The Fleet Skills We Keep Missing on Veterans’ Resumes” featuring a folded American flag, military dog tags, a resume listing leadership and adaptability skills, a wrench, and vehicle keys on a dark workbench.
OperationsSeptember 11, 2026

What Fleet Employers Are Missing When Hiring Veterans

What if some of the strongest candidates for fleet are already out there, but their experience is written in a language our industry does not always recognize?

Read More →
Graphic promoting Automotive Fleet's 2026 Personal Use Survey with the text "Have a Personal Use Policy? We Want to Know!" encouraging fleet managers to complete the annual industry survey.
Operationsby StaffSeptember 8, 2026

Automotive Fleet Opens 2026 Personal Use Survey for Commercial Fleet Managers

Less than two weeks left! Commercial and corporate fleet managers are invited to share how their organizations handle company vehicle personal-use policies, charges, and driver eligibility.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Truck Chat promotional graphic featuring two hosts and the headline “Operate Fleet at the Speed of Business,” presented by Work Truck.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 7, 2026

What Resilient Fleets Do Differently When Conditions Change

Fleet resilience is about more than reacting to disruption. Lauren Fletcher talks with AP Fleet’s Alex Coveney about flexibility, planning, scaling, and what helps fleets adapt when business conditions shift.

Read More →
View down the 996-foot Soap Box Derby track at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio, with grandstands, the starting structure, and a colorful Soap Box Derby sign in the foreground.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherSeptember 1, 2026

If We Want the Next Generation in Automotive, We Have to Give Them a Reason to Care

The automotive industry talks constantly about its workforce shortage. But before we can recruit the next generation, we may need to do a better job giving kids a reason to care about automotive in the first place.

Read More →
Work Truck Weekly Truck Chat Cheat Sheet thumbnail featuring Lauren Fletcher with blue hair and raised hands beside a work truck, with callouts for Ram under $40K, tariffs, and AI maintenance.
Operationsby Lauren FletcherAugust 31, 2026

Ram ProMaster City Under $40K, Truck Tariffs, and AI Maintenance Lead the News

A sub-$40K commercial van, tariff questions, AI-powered maintenance, and a new EV production strategy headline this week’s Truck Chat Cheat Sheet.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Fleet Legends promotional graphic featuring Bob Adamsky in a suit beside bold black, white, and yellow text reading “Legends of Fleet,” with his name and the tagline “Decades of Leadership. Lessons That Last.”
Sponsoredby Lauren FletcherAugust 31, 2026

Bob Adamsky Shares the Fleet Lessons You Usually Learn the Hard Way

After more than 30 years in fleet, Arrow International’s Bob Adamsky has learned that the job is about far more than vehicles. He shares the lessons he wishes every fleet manager could learn a little earlier.

Read More →