#Sandy

Still car-less after Sandy? Thinking of buying a used one? Or rent one over the Thanksgiving weekend? Good luck.

Superstorm Sandy left about a quarter million dead cars in its path, Reuters figures. It mioght even drive up cars sales.

More than 300 Karma plug-in hybrids fell victim to super storm Sandy, Fisker spokesman Roger Ormisher told Reuters. The cars sat in a storage lot in Port Newark, New Jersey, which was inundated by Sandy. Among the lost Karmas are 16 that went up in flames. One car caught fire when seawater caused a short circuit. Winds spread the fire to 15 other cars.

As collateral damage of Super-Sandy, stories are making the rounds of water-logged cars dumped on unsuspecting buyers by criminal dealers. Like many fake pictures posted on Twitter and Facebook, these stories are mostly made up, or pushed by new car interests. The dangers lurk elsewhere: In your neighbor’s driveway, on eBay, in the classifieds. Read this story if you don’t want to become a belated victim of Sandy.

U.S. automakers release October sales data this week. If they don’t come in to their liking, they can blame a villain everybody hates: Super Sandy. GM already took precautionary measures and told Reuters that vehicle sales in the Northeast will be hurt by the hurricane.

Bloomberg managed to combine super storm Sandy with one of Bloomberg’s obsessions: The fate of what Bloomberg calls luxury car brands. According to the wire, “luxury-car brands such as Honda Motor Co.’s Acura and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz will take a disproportionate hit from Hurricane Sandy.”

There is something positive about Hurricane Sandy bearing down on the East Coast: If you are in Connecticut with a license, tags or anything else issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles expiring – relax. Sandy bought you extra time.