Page 48 - Australasian Paint & Panel Mar-Apr 2019

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Industry insight
PAINT&PANEL MARCH / APRIL 2019
THE DECEMBER SYDNEY HAILSTORM WAS SEVERE AND SPREAD FROM THE CENTRAL COAST TO THE EASTERN SUBURBS.
SAM STREET TALKED TO SUNCORP AND IAG ABOUT HOW THE TWO BIGGEST INSURERS ARE COPING WITH THE AFTERMATH.
HE 1999 SYDNEY HAILSTORM
still wears the crown in terms of devastation, but the Decem- 2019 storm was no slouch. Campbelltown and Berrowa in particular suffered from the largest hailstones which left a trail of destruction and thousands of cars looking as if they had been attacked by a crowbar-wielding, drug-fuelled army
of maniacs.
By 31 January 72,142 motor claims had
been lodged. Head of Motor Claims, Paul Sofronoff reports that Suncorp had received 25,000 claims when we talked to him in late February. “The storm happened in the run up to Christmas so we were certainly swamped. It was all available hands on deck. Fortunately a large percentage of claims were made online and that pro- cess also allows customers to book them- selves into the assessment centres our hail repair partners set up. So far we have managed to assess 85% of our claims.”
Suncorp has been working with Wiz- ard and Australian Hail Network for the last five years so both parties knew what to expect and how to leap into action as soon as the hailstones hit. PDR repairs
HAIL FROM HELL
ber
began in January, the conventional re- pairs will take longer to get underway. Sofronoff says Suncorp aims to have have 80% of claims repaired by July.
The standard M.O from the hail re- pairers is to rent a shed, set up triage bays, set up PDR bays and then, as the assessments die down, set up the con- ventional repair bays and paint shop with prep bays and spray booths. While PDR techniques and equipment have ad- vanced significantly in the last decade,
Our biggest fear is more storms in this specialist area that is
already stretched.”
Sofronoff credits expert logistics for speeding up the hail repair process. “It's about getting customers to the right place at the right time and making the whole process as smooth as possible.”
IAG is dealing with over 42,000 motor claims lodged by mid-February. David Wilkies, Executive Manager of Motor Assessing said that front line staff had to
be restrained from working seven day weeks in the direct aftermath of the hail- storm. Assessors and customer service personnel rolled up their sleeves and got stuck right in. IAG works with four nation- al suppliers who have all been 'switched on'. Within a week of the storm 11 centres were set up across metro Sydney which were assessing over 1000 cars per day.
These triage centres, that morph into full blown repair centres include glaziers as well as assessors. Customers who need- ed it had their cars cleared of broken glass and replacement glass fitted. If the vehicle was too dangerous to drive because of bro- ken glass it was picked up and repaired so that it could be safely used. By mid-Febru- ary 35,000 vehicles had been booked in for repair and IAG aims to complete repairs by the end of August. Given the size of the hailstones only just under 6,000 have been written off, which is also a testament to how sophisticated the hail repair process has become.
“Our biggest fear is more storms in this specialist area that is already stretched,” Wilkies said.
A national hail repairer commented: "Hail repair has been a growing sector in