Local repair businesses see boom following Wednesday

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It’s created a workload that some say could take weeksd to getcaught up. Local businesses say they are makinh adjustments to handle the increased workload causefby Wednesday’s storm, which included reports of golf ball-tp baseball-sized hail in parts of Wichita. , which includes four Wichitaw locations, has extended its hours to be open from8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdaty for the immediate future. The company also is bringinh in additional service technicians from Arkansasand Louisiana, says Jadenh Randle, Auto Craft’s director of marketing. “We’ve been very he says.
As of mid-afternoon Randle says Auto Craft had at least twodozen hail-damaged cars dropped off at its downtown location and a dozebn out east. That’s in addition to all the calls from insurance companiesand adjusters. Many of the cars brought in were not drivablw because ofbroken windows. All Angles Collisio Repair also has seen a boomin , too. But those are just a few Barrett Diver, a manager at All Angles, estimatee the business had about 30 people come in for estimated bymid afternoon. More are likely to come in duringh the nextfew days. All Anglee on Thursday was exploring optionxs for setting up a separate location from its414 S.
Washington site just for hail damagew estimatesand work. Taking on additionalk hours also is a Diver says. Jani Byers, a manager at Lewis Street Glass, says the companty could repair more than 30 broken vehiclwe windshieldsby day’s end. She anticipatee more than that on Fridauy as people further surveytheir damage. The busines s also handles residential glass repaitr and fielded some calls from people who livenear . she says, have bought glass to install themselvez instead of waitingfor repairs. Byers compares Wednesday’a hail storm to one that hit Wichit a inJune 1992. “This is probablgy second to ‘92,” Byers says of the severit of Wednesday’s storm.
The 1992 storn included two batches of thunderstorms that dumped hailstone upto 4.5 inches in diametefr across Sedgwick County. Estimated propertyt damage totaled $500 million. Byersw says that storm led to an influ of residentialglass repairs, while Wednesday’sa storm has centered on automotive