International Service with Local Expertise
When one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer electronics sustained damage to their distribution center near Mexico City, some $1 million in merchandise suffered water damage.

Complicating matters were product labeling that precluded importing to the U.S., complex tax issues and the financial relationship between the Mexican unit of the U.K. insurer and its Korean re-insurer.

Our experienced team successfully navigated to a solution that brought about a competitive bid sale in Mexico, with proceeds of better than 50%, cutting the stock loss in half.

Betting on Experience
When numerous floating casino barges along the Mississippi Gulf Coast were deemed a total loss as the result of Hurricane Katrina, their contents were turned over to salvage companies to be sold for the account of the insuring companies. In most cases, these contents were sold for a lump sum price, with the buyer acquiring "mining rights" to the property.

With replacement costs estimated in the millions, we received and rejected such offers, and elected to invest about $50,000.00 to stabilize, clean and protect the highest valued electronic equipment. After thorough research, we then grouped the highest dollar contents into multiple lots and conducted on-site bid sales on each one. The results were successful, and the interest and traffic generated from these sales also enabled us to negotiate additional salvage sales for the minor - but still important - residual portions of the contents.

The resultant recovery was the highest dollar per square foot of any of the casino barges.

Digging for "Gold"
When this electrical warehouse burned, the insurance company was told that "absolutely nothing is left, and demolition needs to get underway immediately". The insurer's highly experienced adjuster asked us to come in to examine the remains, and we literally dug into the debris, discovering tons of valuable copper and aluminum wire and cable.

We brought in the people, equipment and transport needed to recover the material, contracted for smelting and refining, and at the end of a few short months, sent over $825,000.00 to the insurance company from their "complete and total loss."

Muddy Waters
Not long ago, we were called to the scene of a devastating flood loss at the service center of a major metals company. Some 10 thousand tons of coiled and sheeted steel and aluminum were stored within the plant awaiting processing to customer specifications, and roughly one-third of the stock had been either completely or partially submerged in the silt-laden water. High air temperatures at the time of, and subsequent to the flooding, had created a saturated environment, and day-night temperature cycles produced heavy condensation on the "above the water-line" materials, with attendant osmosis promoting the movement of water into the laps of the coils and between the sheets of processed material.

The insured purchased material for processing to customer specifications, and bought little or none on a speculative basis. In other words, almost their entire inventory had a future home - a specific customer who required specific product for their manufacturing applications. The liquidation of this stock, even if undamaged, into the general marketplace, with the attendant costs of loading, shipping and integrating into another center's inventory for processing and sale, would have forced significant discounting.

With this in mind, it made sense to consider alternatives to the total liquidation of all material. Certain customers had sourcing problems, and their end-use allowed less than pristine surfaces (e.g. heavy plate), such that the product could be, literally, hosed off prior to shipment. Another customer used aluminum sheets whose imperfect finish was acceptable for their applications, and a cooperative competing service center was willing to do the work on the insured's coils and fill the customer's requirements with material that was above the water line. Likewise, much of the structural steel was able to go to its intended customers after washing down.

Ultimately, we did liquidate, in a measured and orderly fashion, about half of the product, recovering some 50% of its original value, while the added expense and discounting of the other half cost only around 10% of its value. In sum, the loss to the stock, in its entirety, came to only 30%, not much different from what would have resulted from the liquidation of a mirror-image undamaged stock.

This case high-lights the importance of considering the alternatives to liquidation of property into the salvage markets, including but not limited to: separation of stock not actually degraded by the event, restoration, rework or reprocessing and/or discounting for sale into existing markets.  

Coaching Success
When a top-quality motor coach manufacturer sustained smoke and soot damage to 25 brand new coaches, the insured removed all warranties and these “Refurbished Vehicles” totaling nearly $4.3 million in insured value were turned over to Stoner & Company to be sold “as-is”.

We started by separating the stock into 5 lots to maximize the sale. Then, by utilizing the REAL value of the internet for insurance salvage – buyer research and notification – buyers from across North America were sent comprehensive bid packages and were invited to attend our online liquidation.

The results of our online liquidation: at least 11 serious bids were received on each lot with the final sale of $3.92 million or over 90% of insured value! And both the insured and the insurer were pleased that we were able to remit all proceeds in less than 30 days from the date of loss.