Copart Opens New Location to Prepare for Severe Weather
Copart has opened a new location in Lumberton, N.C., meant to serve as a catastrophe response facility during severe weather events along the United States’ North Atlantic coastline.

A satellite view of Hurricanes Irma and Jose.
Photo courtesy of NOAA.
Copart has opened a new location in Lumberton, N.C., meant to serve as a catastrophe response facility during severe weather events along the United States’ North Atlantic coastline.
The core focus of the new 90-acre facility will be to store vehicles affected by severe weather events.
“Copart is committed to having the most agile and rapid vehicle recovery response for clients and communities when severe weather strikes,” said Copart CEO Jay Adair. “Opening our new location in Lumberton gives Copart more space to store vehicles that are recovered from weather catastrophes in the Coastal Plains region.”
Just last year, in March 2017, Copart opened its 14th Florida location in Okeechobee. The core function of the Okeechobee location was also to serve as a facility to store weather damaged vehicles.
Roughly five months after that location was opened, a severe weather event, in the form of Hurricane Irma, made landfall in Florida and destroyed hundreds of thousands of vehicles.
Soon after the hurricane, while Copart was still surveying the total damage caused by Irma, Copart CEO Jay Adair told Vehicle Remarketing that he expected his company to process a little under 10,000 additional salvage vehicles as a result of the hurricane.
He did not predict these additional salvage vehicles to be a problem, however, as he had enough real estate to store 50,000 additional vehicles — in part due to the openings of locations such as the Okeechobee facility.
Related: Salvage Auctions Estimate Volume of Hurricane-Damaged Vehicles
Originally posted on Vehicle Remarketing
More Operations

Top 50 Executive Fleets
It is that time of year again! Time for the 2026 list of the Top 50 Executive Fleets, presented by Automotive Fleet and Volvo as part of its annual Fleet 500. Download now to see this year's list of companies!
Read More →
Behind the Scenes: Building the Ringmaster of the Road from Body to Paint Part 2
The body is built, the paint is on, and Team Fletcher’s Soap Box Derby car is nearly ready for testing ahead of race day in Akron.
Read More →
It's All Downhill from Here! Fleet Industry Raises $22,000 for Skilled Trades Scholarships
Work Truck’s Lauren Fletcher and Automotive Fleet’s Chris Brown turned a friendly racing rivalry into $22,000 for automotive technology and skilled trades scholarships.
Read More →
Fleet Confidence, Safety, and Smarter Risk Management Lead This Month
This month’s TruckChat: Top Monthly News Recap explores what it takes to build confidence across a fleet, from stronger leadership and technician support to better safety preparation, smarter use of telematics, and clearer plans for when something goes wrong.
Read More →From Fleet Operator to OEM Leader: Tina Kourakos’ Career Lessons
Tina Kourakos shares the lessons, relationships, and career pivots that shaped more than 30 years in fleet, plus the advice every new fleet manager should hear.
Read More →
WEX Brings Standard Fleet's Connected Vehicle Platform to Fleet Customers
This week’s product launch with Standard Fleet’s connected vehicle platform reflects WEX Venture Capital's strategy of turning startup innovation into customer solutions. Standard Fleet is now available to WEX fleet customers.
Read More →Meet Atlas: Motive's AI Assistant for Fleets
Artificial intelligence is becoming a practical tool for fleet operations. In this video, Emily Parsons introduces Atlas, Motive's AI-powered assistant that combines conversational search with the ability to perform actions across the Motive platform.
Read More →The Top 300 Commercial Fleets
The Top 300 Commercial Fleets: See the List
Read More →
NTEA Releases Updated Federal Excise Tax Guide for the Work Truck Industry
NTEA’s latest revised edition of its Federal Excise Tax Guide for the Work Truck Industry is now available to help fleet leaders navigate complex federal tax requirements.
Read More →
Super Dispatch Powers Centralized Vehicle Transport Operations for Merchants Fleet
Merchants Fleet has replaced fragmented transportation processes with Super Dispatch’s unified, API-powered platform to improve visibility, automation, and carrier performance.
Read More →
