Hail damages $27 million in inventory at Penske Automotive stores in Texas

Penske Automotive Group Inc. said Thursday that severe storms that hit Round Rock, Texas, on Sunday disrupted business at its Hyundai-Genesis, Honda and Toyota dealerships there, with hail damaging more than 750 new, used and loaner vehicles valued at more than $27 million.

Penske spokesperson Anthony Pordon said he heard of no reports of anyone hurt at the dealerships because of the hail, which he described as "baseball-sized."

The stores — Round Rock Hyundai/Genesis of Round Rock, Round Rock Honda and Round Rock Toyota — are all on the same campus on North Interstate 35, north of Austin.

Steele GMC Round Rock also was hit by hail, according to local media reports.

Penske said it's working with insurance adjusters to assess the damage to the vehicles and facilities. The retailer expects insurance to cover part of the wreckage, but the company will incur the potential loss of new- and used-vehicle sales and be responsible for its insurance deductibles.

"Most of these cars are just not repairable," Pordon said. "They can't be fixed. They need to be scrapped."

Hailstorms also impacted dealerships in Michigan this year, damaging vehicles at dealerships in Davison, north of Detroit. The hail hit Hank Graff Chevrolet and almost every vehicle on Todd Wenzel Buick-GMC of Davison's lot.

Penske said it's working with the automakers to replace the vehicles, but it cannot predict when the replacement inventory will arrive.

Penske, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., ranks No. 3 on Automotive News' list of the top 150 dealership groups based in the U.S., retailing 185,831 new vehicles in 2022.