News

Ask Matt ... what's going on that big cleared lot

By Matt Matteson, Published: July 31, 2024

Q. There is a lot of earthmoving on Mills Gap Road in Fletcher next to Blue Ridge Metals. What are they building?

   A huge 31-acre gravel parking lot. In late 2022 the Copart company acquired farmland in an M-1 (industrial) zoning district to build an auto storage lot. The site plan shows perimeter fencing and 31 new trees along Mills Gap Road. The project is also visible from Bill Moore Community Park.

   Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with 200 locations worldwide, Copart buys and resells used, wholesale and salvage title vehicles. Buyers are vehicle dismantlers, body shops, salvage buyers, auto dealers and individual consumers. Everything is highly computerized and it’s all done online.

   So where will Copart get the cars to fill the Fletcher lot?  “We have a contract with Copart,” said Cliff Hankins, a manager with Tim Hoffman’s Allstate Insurance Agency in Hendersonville.  “Our wrecked vehicles are picked up by Copart and taken to a big lot in Spartanburg, South Carolina,” said Hankins.  Once the damaged vehicle and new “salvaged vehicle” title reaches a Copart lot, an online auction can begin. Some vehicles have a minimum bidding price.

   Typically a wrecked vehicle gets towed to a temporary location where the car’s value is determined. Often it’s done by a rep looking at series of photos and plugging data into a computer. A Copart vehicle search typically shows 10 or more photos of a vehicle inside and out. “Insurance adjusters are out of work,” said Hankins referring to the old school way of inspecting the damaged vehicle on site. If the insurance company’s cash offer is accepted, they get the vehicle and apply for a new title containing the word “salvage.”  In North Carolina, if the cost to repair exceeds 75 percent of the pre-accident actual cash value, the vehicle is deemed a total loss.

   Hankins said that if the car does not move off the lot fast enough, it can eventually be sold to parts dealers or for scrap metal. Totaled vehicles often have value in tires, seats and engine parts. “They get these vehicles for pennies on the dollar and can sell them for thousands depending on the value,” said Hankins, who didn’t think a lot in Fletcher will save the insurance company. “It will help Copart,” he said.

   Roger Gagnon is an “old school” used car dealer located at 2445 Asheville Highway. “I have an account with Copart,” said Gagnon. “They make a fortune on their cars,” he said. “Usually about 20 percent profit and the buyer pays all the fees.” Gagnon added that some salvage cars have no damage at all such as where a car was stolen and later recovered and the insurance company wants to sell it. Damaged vehicles can get a “rebuilt title” from DMV if it passes inspection.

   Copart puts up 175,000 vehicles for auction every day. Based on the size of lots in other areas, the Fletcher lot may hold some 1,500 vehicles.  In Clayton, N.C., in 2020, an auto auction lot caught fire and consumed 40 cars. Chief Greg Garland of Fletcher Fire and Rescue felt that his department was well equipped and experienced to handle such fires.

   I found the wrecked car business interesting because Fletcher is already home to another auction lot — IAA Asheville, at 4900 Hendersonville Road next to Southern Concrete. “They are our biggest competition,” said Eric Trumbach, Copart’s construction site manager in Fletcher. IAA may have over 1,000 cars and equipment on their lot. Car jockeys move the cars around with a long-pronged forklift. By comparing aerial photos, it appears that IAA has doubled the number of cars in the last five years. Trumbach said Copart’s Fletcher site is projected to be open for business in December. Then the battle for damaged cars begins.