Salvage Direct to Feature Hurricane Recovery Experiences at 2005 NACE Conference; Salvage Direct's Catastrophic Response Teams Work Day and Night To Meet Insurance Companies Needs.

TITUSVILLE, Pa. -- While still in the midst of dealing with the aftermath of nearly back-to-back Gulf Coast hurricanes, Salvage Direct is putting the final touches on their revamped exhibit designed for the 2005 NACE Conference and Exposition November 3 - 5, 2005. The company is not new to the calamity caused by a hurricane, but the severity of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and then Wilma tested the limits of their catastrophic (CAT) teams. Company President and COO, Darren Horn, describes the situation, "Because of the massive destruction and overwhelming devastation, we knew we had to bring in our own basic services just to set up shop. The flood conditions made it take much longer than usual to recover and assess damaged vehicles and watercraft. Of course, witnessing the reactions of returning evacuees required a certain amount of sensitivity to their material losses."

At their NACE booth #W3229, attendees can hear how Salvage Direct's CAT response teams worked closely with insurance company adjusters to find and catalogue salvaged properties and relocate them to a nearby 23-acre steel mill site within a ten-day period. Salvaged cars and trucks, and specialty lines - RVs, ATVs, jet skis, boats and motorcycles - were set up with individual online auctions for resale or dismantling to Salvage Direct's network of certified independent vendors. By already auctioning close to half of 2000 hurricane-related auction items, Salvage Direct is helping insurance companies avoid the trouble and costs of holding salvageable vehicles for longer than necessary.

"We're still finding automobiles, boats, recreation vehicles and other items in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the first week we found a boat in the water. That may sound OK, unfortunately it was in someone's pool after sailing through a second-floor condo," Horn adds. He went on to say, "I'm really proud of my crews and their continued hard work in the face of all the devastation. But I do think they're tired of taking quick showers with bottled water."

ABOUT NACE

NACE 2005, the world's collision repair event, takes place November 3-5 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 30,000 attendees are expected to take in a variety of educational sessions addressing the needs of all industry segments, as well as an Exposition with 500+ exhibiting companies. NACE is sponsored by The Automotive Service Association (ASA), the largest international not-for-profit trade association of its kind serving the collision repair industry.

ABOUT SALVAGE DIRECT

Started in 1998, Salvage Direct is one of the first salvage auction firms to use the Internet to market recovered vehicles. Their use of online auctions helps insurance companies liquidate inventories of vehicles one at a time to certified dismantlers and dealers. An established buyer base allows their clients to regularly achieve a higher-than-average return on the value of the property while saving insurance companies storage and marketing costs. In addition to cars and trucks, Salvage Direct is known for dealing with specialty lines, such as RVs, ATVs and boats and provides similar recovery, electronic filing, storage and auctioning services to clients in regions where specialized vehicles are popular. Each year the company auctions vehicles recovered from predominantly east coast locations, however, their network also includes services for clients in Texas, California and Washington.