Over 100 vehicles awaiting repair after Henderson hail storm

HENDERSON, Texas (KLTV) - The hailstorm in Henderson may be over, but the wait for hail damage repair is not.

It could be several months before many vehicles are straightened out. Insurance adjusters must look at policies as well as damaged vehicles to see if a vehicle can be repaired or if it will be declared totaled.

Burl’s Collision Center Customer Service Representatives Nikki Lightfoot and Coy Reese said there are over a hundred vehicles parked at their auto body shop.

“Well, we had over 300 cars come in Thursday and Friday of last week when it happened. And since then, they’ve trickled in,” Reese said.

He estimated that 50 to 60 vehicles trickle in per day. Only the heavily damaged vehicles are left there.

“Most of them have an estimate and we’re having to supplement the insurance company for additional damages that they couldn’t see based on photos or video,” Reese said.

Some companies send adjusters to shops to make the call.

“The vehicles that are not drivable, those customers they’re out of a vehicle. They have no vehicle to drive. They may be able to get in a rental, which I know rentals are hard to find,” Lightfoot said.

They said some people have been told to pick up a rental in Tyler or even Shreveport. Vehicles have already been rented, and a few took hail damage themselves. Hal Hunt said he got a rental from Tyler and his truck will be repaired in a few weeks.

“I changed insurance about six months ago and I was relatively unsure of how this was going to turn out but it’s turning out good,” Hunt said.

Lightfoot said if a vehicle is drivable a customer should use it until an insurance adjuster looks at it.

“Whenever the insurance company can get us an approved supplement back for everything that we need we’re taking them in,” Lightfoot said.

She said most insurance pays for a rental for about a month and after that it will be out of pocket, so a customer should hit the right window.

“We can get in in, we can get it out at that time if we don’t have to stop and wait on insurance approval,” Lightfoot said.

They advise the customer to get insurance approval before bringing the vehicle to a body shop.

Lightfoot said hidden damage to vehicles is often the holdup, like interior water damage that happened from rain following the hailstorm. They said they have brought in hail damage repair specialists but even so, they have currently fixed less than ten vehicles.

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