Oklahoma body shops catching up on hail damage repairs

Body shop owners say they just now are getting caught up with the backlog of work created by the storm.

Most estimates put the damage from the hailstorm at $500 million for central Oklahoma, most of it to homes and businesses. But cars make up a big chunk of that total about $80 million, Southwest Insurance Information Services President Jerry Johns said.

"From an insurance perspective it will go down as one of, if not the most significant weather-related events since 1999," Johns said. "Obviously much of it was roof damage and things like that but vehicle claims were extremely high for those not fortunate enough to shelter their car or truck before it hit."

Customers waited for weeks and even months to get their hail-damaged cars repaired.

"To say the least we've had an abundance of it," Body Works manager Bob White said. "We've now worked through the first wave of it. We're at the point now where we can work in some regular collision work."

White said the focus after the storm was on cars that weren't drivable because of broken windshields. Now the focus is on less-serious hail damage, such as dented hoods.