SAN ANTONIO – Hail may have fallen a week ago, but it looks to be at least a few more weeks before all the damage is assessed and longer before it’s fixed.
Cars pockmarked with dents were still driving up to the big tents set up in a Windcrest Home Depot parking lot Tuesday, where three insurance giants were set up, ready to assess hail-battered cars.
As William Bjorgo sat in the Nationwide tent, he explained he had just found out his car had been totaled, beaten by an onslaught of hail in April 12's storm as he worked at the Helotes Walmart.
"I don't have a car now," he said. "So that's, like, not good."
It's an unhappy discovery, and one that took almost a week to find out, despite his wife calling Nationwide early the next morning to file a claim.
"Even though we got on it within six, seven hours, like, we were already on like a week wait list almost," Bjorgo said.
Plenty of cars were coming in, with a variety of damage.
"You're seeing anywhere from broken windshields, to back glass, to, you know, extensive damages on the vehicles, to minimal damages on the vehicles," Nationwide Material Damage Catastrophe Manager Brian Powers said.
Aiding the Nationwide team in assessing the damage was a large, drive-in shed, called the Mobile Assessment Center, or MAC. It uses HD cameras to find the dents on the cars.
RELATED: Has San Antonio ever seen hail this severe?
Then, Powers explained, it "creates a splat sheet for us, which enables (it) to show us the size, location and number of dents on the vehicle."
Each assessment still takes time, though, and there are still a lot left to do.
"I'd hate to guess right now," Powers said, "but I'm going to say it's going to be another two, three weeks here."
Even once the damage is assessed, there's still a matter of getting it fixed. KSAT 12 called five different body shops, ranging from locals to a big chain, to ask how long it would be before a customer with hail damage could get their car in. Answers ranged from tomorrow all the way to August.
Click here for tips and resources on how to avoid being taken advantage of after a hail storm.