Flood of insurance claims for dented cars and broken windows follows Minnesota hailstorm

Twin Cities auto shops and insurance agents have been flooded with calls from people whose homes and cars were dented and bruised by giant hailstones last week.

The Friday hailstorm was strong enough to leave dents in car hoods and roofs and even break windows, according to local mechanics.

"We've had quite an uptick in phone calls and people stopping by," said Tim Albrecht, an estimator for Master Collision on Lake Street in Minneapolis. "It's pretty heavy damage."

People are calling Hagen's Auto Body in Minneapolis every five to 10 minutes, said owner John Hagen. Over 100 calls came in on Monday. The shop is not currently providing hail estimates, and plans to handle two hail cases per week starting in September.

In damaging weather like the hailstorm, called a "catastrophic event" by insurance companies, many car shops will work with independent contractors to provide estimates and handle the large number of claims.

The size of hail varied greatly by area. Parts of south Minneapolis were hit the hardest with hailstones 3 inches in diameter, while other areas had hail as small as 1 inch, according to the National Weather Service.

John Haldeman, an associate for Farmers Insurance in south Minneapolis, said his office has had 40 calls seeking claims for home and auto damages since the storm. Haldeman advised homeowners to watch out for "storm chasers" — people who act as contractors and try to trick someone into overpaying for repairs.

"A lot of times they're pretty misleading, it's really overcharged and usually it's pretty shoddy work," he said.

Some of the most dramatic images came from Oakdale Golf Club. The course in Buffalo Lake, Minn., west of the Twin Cities, has remained closed since it was ravaged by four minutes of hail. Some of the hailstones were baseball-sized, owner Mike Knodel said.

"I've never seen anything like it, it just coated the whole course," Knodel said.

The largest hail left small craters in the course. More than 100 volunteers pitched in over the weekend to remove debris and smooth out and fill in the large holes in the course, allowing the course to reopen much faster than it otherwise could, Knodel said. They plan to reopen Friday.

"It was unbelievable to see the amount of equipment brought in and the people," he said. "Without that, it would've been months of work."