Barrie, Ontario — Last Thursday a tornado swept through Barrie, destroying homes, vehicles and virtually anything standing in its five kilometre long and up to 100 metres wide path.
Since then, collision repair shops such as CSN Zenetec and Fix Auto Barrie North have been dealing with the aftermath.
“The claims started coming in the day following the tornado. Many vehicles were towed in and many more customers reached out who were still able to safely stay in their vehicle,” said Greg Sherman, Business Development Manager at CSN Zenetec. “We expect the repairs to continue through August.”
Sherman says the damage on vehicles spanned from minor dents to some that will result in a total-loss scenario.
“In the harder-hit area of town, vehicles were physically moved; some ending up flipped over on the roof. We have heard of a situation where large commercial bins were blown into the side of a vehicle. Lots of cases of vehicles with minor debris-caused scrapes and dents.”
Over at Fix Auto Barrie North the situation was pretty similar.
“We’ve already seen a few vehicles, and had a couple towed in. Our team jumped right into action to help customers out, by getting them into available rentals, which are hard to come by right now,” said Kim Roberts from Fix Auto Barrie North.
Both shops are doing everything they can to help their community.
Roberts says at Fix Auto they are offering free of charge storage for those affected by the tornado.
“We are doing what we can to support our fellow Barrie families,” she said.
Meanwhile, CSN Zenetec sent 11 of its technicians to participate in the cleanup efforts at the site of the Tornado on Monday.
It’s always a challenge any time a collision repair facility deals with a catastrophe claim scenario like last week’s tornado, says Sherman.
However, he says Zenetec’s primary focus is providing the customer service and the quality repairs that the community has grown to expect.
“When hit with an unexpected situation like this, our team rises to the challenge and works together to process claims while empathetically providing our customers with the time and assistance they require,” he said. “Together, we will get through re-establishing what was lost.”
In addition to the support provided by shops such as CSN Zenetec and Fix Auto Barrie North, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) has deployed the Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion (CAMP).
The program provides disaster victims with access to on-site insurance related information. The City of Barrie has set up the Emergency Support Centre at Saint Gabriel the Archangel Catholic School and starting on July 19, there are representatives at the school to help answer insurance-related questions.
For more information on how to start the claims process as well as more insurance information related to wind damage and tornadoes, visit: http://www.ibc.ca/on/disaster/wind.
