urban.one
07-28-2010, 07:39 AM
Hail chasers cash in on vehicle dents
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | 4:45 PM MT
Gaetan Santerre has spent the last 15 years chasing hailstorms to fix the dents that hail leaves on vehicles. (CBC)
Hail chasers who follow storms across Canada have set up shop in Calgary, making thousands of dollars fixing ugly dents to vehicles.
Calgarians are still waiting for repairs after an intense half-hour storm pounded the city earlier this month with hail the size of golf balls, cracking windshields and denting vehicles.
It's after such storms that hail chasers pull into town picking up lucrative work fixing damaged vehicles.
"I'm a storm chaser. I usually try to keep it a little more low key and basically I push dents for a living," said Bill Moore, whose licence plate reads "HAIL YAH." Top dent pushers can make as much as $600,000 a year.
Moore specializes in paintless dent repair: "massaging from underneath, lightly flexing till the dent releases and it goes back to its original memory."
Hail the size of golf balls pelted Calgary on July 12. (Submitted by Jen Hall)
Gaetan Santerre is based in Montreal but spends little time there as he follows hailstorms, making an average of $250,000 for nine months of work. It's been his job for the last 15 years.
"It's fun, too," he told CBC News. "We go everywhere in the world: Calgary, Montreal, Seattle, everywhere, Australia, France."
Among the hailstorms that develop in spring and summer, central and southern Alberta, known as hail alley, is often hardest hit. Moore has homes in Oshawa, Ont., and Medicine Hat so he can reach different parts of the country faster.
"It was late starting this year," said Moore. "We were on site about a month ago in Hudson Bay, Sask., then onto Humboldt, Sask. Normally you'll get hail out of the gate in April in Eastern Canada — so, Ontario east — and then you generally start to migrate to the west as you get later in the year."
Enough work for 18 months
Moore and Santerre are working mainly on insurance claims, but other hail chasers try to get hired at dealerships or body shops.
"There are some really good guys, but there's a lot more guys that just aren't about quality," warned Mark Armstrong, who owns the Dent Clinic in Calgary. He said he's received calls from hail chasers in Spain, Germany and the U.S. looking for work.
Bill Moore's licence plate reflects his success in repairing vehicle dents left by hailstorms. (CBC)
"You get guys that are just in to make a quick buck. They basically go to these body shops, and the body shops deal with the guy that will give them the best price … and they're usually in town just enough to get the work done, and then they blow out to another storm."
Moore and Santerre, however, say there's enough work in Calgary to keep them busy for the next year and a half.
"I'm in the wrong business, I think," said Mario Desousa, who was getting an assessment on how much it would cost to get hail dents pounded out of his car. "I didn't think there was anybody that actually chased storms to actually benefit [from] the actual damage."
The worst hail storm in Canadian history — in terms of paid insurance claims — was in Calgary in 1991. It resulted in $105 million worth of claims for vehicle damage.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/07/27/calgary-hail-chasers-storm-dents-vehicles-repair-insurance.html#ixzz0uz3vbsOl
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 | 4:45 PM MT
Gaetan Santerre has spent the last 15 years chasing hailstorms to fix the dents that hail leaves on vehicles. (CBC)
Hail chasers who follow storms across Canada have set up shop in Calgary, making thousands of dollars fixing ugly dents to vehicles.
Calgarians are still waiting for repairs after an intense half-hour storm pounded the city earlier this month with hail the size of golf balls, cracking windshields and denting vehicles.
It's after such storms that hail chasers pull into town picking up lucrative work fixing damaged vehicles.
"I'm a storm chaser. I usually try to keep it a little more low key and basically I push dents for a living," said Bill Moore, whose licence plate reads "HAIL YAH." Top dent pushers can make as much as $600,000 a year.
Moore specializes in paintless dent repair: "massaging from underneath, lightly flexing till the dent releases and it goes back to its original memory."
Hail the size of golf balls pelted Calgary on July 12. (Submitted by Jen Hall)
Gaetan Santerre is based in Montreal but spends little time there as he follows hailstorms, making an average of $250,000 for nine months of work. It's been his job for the last 15 years.
"It's fun, too," he told CBC News. "We go everywhere in the world: Calgary, Montreal, Seattle, everywhere, Australia, France."
Among the hailstorms that develop in spring and summer, central and southern Alberta, known as hail alley, is often hardest hit. Moore has homes in Oshawa, Ont., and Medicine Hat so he can reach different parts of the country faster.
"It was late starting this year," said Moore. "We were on site about a month ago in Hudson Bay, Sask., then onto Humboldt, Sask. Normally you'll get hail out of the gate in April in Eastern Canada — so, Ontario east — and then you generally start to migrate to the west as you get later in the year."
Enough work for 18 months
Moore and Santerre are working mainly on insurance claims, but other hail chasers try to get hired at dealerships or body shops.
"There are some really good guys, but there's a lot more guys that just aren't about quality," warned Mark Armstrong, who owns the Dent Clinic in Calgary. He said he's received calls from hail chasers in Spain, Germany and the U.S. looking for work.
Bill Moore's licence plate reflects his success in repairing vehicle dents left by hailstorms. (CBC)
"You get guys that are just in to make a quick buck. They basically go to these body shops, and the body shops deal with the guy that will give them the best price … and they're usually in town just enough to get the work done, and then they blow out to another storm."
Moore and Santerre, however, say there's enough work in Calgary to keep them busy for the next year and a half.
"I'm in the wrong business, I think," said Mario Desousa, who was getting an assessment on how much it would cost to get hail dents pounded out of his car. "I didn't think there was anybody that actually chased storms to actually benefit [from] the actual damage."
The worst hail storm in Canadian history — in terms of paid insurance claims — was in Calgary in 1991. It resulted in $105 million worth of claims for vehicle damage.
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2010/07/27/calgary-hail-chasers-storm-dents-vehicles-repair-insurance.html#ixzz0uz3vbsOl