Brisbane hailstorm insured losses passed the $300 million mark yesterday, 2 December.
The hailstorm could prove to be a lifeline to many shops who missed out on the recent RACQ network selection which reportedly shrank down from 160 shops to 40 shops.
By 9am (Queensland time) yesterday, 59,970 claims have been lodged by property and motor vehicle owners affected by the hailstorm – 15,020 for house and contents claims and 42,950 for motor vehicle according to the Insurance Council of Australia.
Suncorp Insurance is expecting more than 600 cars a day to pass through its mass assessment centre in Fairfield, established to deal with the aftermath of last Thursday’s storms in Brisbane. Over 8,000 claims lodged with the company are for hail damaged cars.
The dedicated centre at Fairfield will be the largest motor recovery and repair response set up in Queensland, and will house Suncorp Insurance assessors and motor repair specialists say the company.
Ray Iversen of Highland Smash Repairs in Salisbury suffered shop damage during the hail storm which smashed 150 louvres in the roof, took down three stacks from the prep bays and damaged the cars inside the workshop. Fortunately the damage hasn't prevented work output. Iverson's other shop Trend Smash Repairs which had to be rennovated after the 2011 floods.
"This storm was bigger that the ones in 1984 and 1986 and during that time I ran the paint shop 24 hours a day over an 18 month period. Dollar-wise I think this storm will top it," Iversen said.
Steve Economides of Gabba Smash Repairs in East Brisbane reckons his team wrote over 1000 estimates in the two and half working days that followed the storm. "We're booked out until June already and that's doing eight hail jobs per week. We'll be looking at setting up another workshop to deal with demand," Economides said.
While Gabba Smash Repairs' 36,000 square metre workshop escaped damage, many of the cars in its substantial car park were severly damaged. Econimides estimates that there could be as much as two and a half years of hail work for Brisbane shops.