Waits could grow as area body shops process tornado-damaged vehicles
The backlogs could last for months, they said.
"It probably at least tripled the amount of work flow that we're seeing right now. And most of the body shops in the
Voss's chains of auto body shops have seen about a 20 percent jump,
As the body shops continue to schedule repairs further down the line, they've been talking to each other to find some of the best strategies to deal with the influx, Trimbach said. Trimbach and Gerber have both brought in paintless dent experts from out of town. Trimbach has four, he said. Gerber has two, said
"Damage that might take us five days to repair, they can fix in five hours...it's not requiring any paint. It's really like magic to watch. And that's all these people do for a living, and they chase storms across the country," Campbell said.
Most auto body shops are also increasing hours to process more vehicles each week and are handling more extensive damage that takes longer to repair than normal, the shops said.
"The tornado damage vehicles are
Claims representatives at
"The tornadoes have caused an increase in auto claims, and we expect for there to be more once the dust has settled and people have gotten the ball rolling on a home claim," he said.
Some auto body shops have estimated it could take through the summer and up to nine months until the number of repairs is back to normal, similar to the hail storm that blew through the
This time more damaged vehicles are being called total losses, said
"With all the electronics in cars today, water damage is just as bad...There's a lot of cars out there still with the windows knocked out; it's just going to total them because the electronics in the car (cost) so much," Leet said. "You will repair fewer of them because of the extent of the damage."
Because of so many total losses, car sales in the
The closer an auto body shop is to the heart of the damage, the busier it will be, Bergsman said. Some who don't want to wait as long may choose to go outside of the
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