The damage from Hurricane Harvey is nearing $30 billion and many businesses, including dealerships, will face tremendous challenges. More than 43% of businesses won’t reopen their doors after a disaster, according to Scott Owens, managing director of BluTinuity LLC, a disaster planning and management consulting company. And, for those that open, 29% will fail within 2 years.

Don’t become another failed business statistic. Develop a disaster recovery plan to increase your dealership’s chances of surviving a disaster, large or small. Experts say disaster recovery plans should answer these questions:

1. What is most important to my dealership?

2. What are my risks?

3. What kind of data backup do I have?

4. How will I communicate with my employees, customers and others?

5. How will I conduct business while we recover?

6. Does my plan work?

Here are additional resources from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Ready.gov website:

A final question: When should you start your plan? The answer: Today.