SAN ANTONIO – Hail is bad for your car, but it sure is good for the auto repair business.
Window repair and body shops were swarmed Wednesday with drivers looking to fix up their rides. Unfortunately for them, that could take longer than they'd like because of the extent of the damage.
The phones at Safelite's location on the Northeast Side kept ringing and customers kept pouring in, in what district manager Josh Naylor called "a wild day."
"We've currently got over 3,500 people on schedule for glass replacement in the city," Naylor said.
They are so busy between their two San Antonio locations, the next appointment is around mid-May. Safelite doesn't even have enough glass on hand to fix every window coming in.
"If we do have the part in stock, we'll make every attempt to get it done same day," Naylor said.
They're having more techs come in and more glass shipped to meet demand. In the meantime, it's damage control time with a quick "crash wrap," plastic sheeting and tape over the broken windows.
That was the treatment for one of John Gibb's two hail-damaged cars. He said the company would need to go up to Austin to get a replacement for his back window.
"It's going to take them about a month (or) two weeks before they can get it repaired," Gibbs said. "So they're going out of their way in there."
Depending on how bad the crack is, the wait could be a problem. San Antonio police said drivers can get a ticket if a cracked windshield obstructs their view.
Less urgent, but almost as annoying, are the telltale hail pockmarks that mar hoods, roofs and even side panels.
Adolfo Herrera, the owner of Blue Ribbon Auto Collision Center, said most of what has been coming into their shop can't be fixed with hammering.
"Probably 80 to 90 percent of it is major damage, where we're going to have to replace the panels," he said.
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Depending on the damage, Herrera said customers could be waiting a while because of how many cars there are.
"We're probably looking anywhere between two weeks, maybe a month," he said.
Then there's always the insurance company to deal with.
"They told my boyfriend that it would probably be September before they could ever get to actually repairing the damage," Samantha Hall said.
Once your car is in the shop, good luck getting around while you wait. Avis and Enterprise employees told KSAT they don't have any rental cars available because of the hail damage.