Flood car industry

... or face a long wait for a more expensive replacement car.

Motor Trades Association of Queensland spokesman Richard Payne predicts about 7500 vehicles will be written off by insurers in the Queensland floods, alone.

"Those vehicles will have to be replaced, but insurance companies corrall the vehicles and inspect them en masse which will take time," he said.  "It's suggested that you get in early, because there may be shortages when the demand on new and used cars hit, although I don't think it will come in a burst," he said.

Motor Trades Association of Australia spokesman Colin Duckworth said there were no reports of dealers in Queensland, NSW or Victoria losing much stock in the floods.  He said the slowly rising floodwaters gave dealers enough notice to move their vehicles out.

Payne said he did not expect price rises on new cars in the wake of the floods.  "The strong dollar and the competition will keep prices competitive, particularly with new vehicles, but there may be some increase in the price of used vehicles."

Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar was reluctant to speculate on whether the demand for replacements for flood-damaged vehicles would be good for the industry.

"We haven't made an assessment yet. We acknowledge there are other urgent matters that people are dealing with first," he said.  "It's in the hands of the insurers at the moment, and we would be hopeful that the assessmment process would move forward quickly."

The enterprising Lancaster Motor Group of Newcastle has offered to fly Queensland flood victims for free to pick up their second-hand or new car, or provide discounts to have their vehicle transported home.  They will also donate $100 for each vehicles sold under the offer to the Lifeline Queensland Flood Appeal.

McKellar said there would "clearly" be a longer-term impact from the floods on the economy.  "We would hope it wouldn't impact on interest rates and we'll wait and see what the impact will be on inflation," he said.

"The recent CPI shows inflationary pressures are not excessive at the moment and we would hope there are not unnecessary price pressures emerging as a result of the flood impact."

McKellar said they would not review annual sales targets "at this stage.  Obviously we'll be making a fuller assessment of the impact a little bit further down the track," he said.

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