Hailstorms: record damage to vehicles in France

For ten days, in a bodywork near Besançon (Doubs), the sound of small hammers has resonated continuously. A team of dent repairers, technicians specially come from Italy, are trying to remove hundreds of hailstones. “It’s a lot of work, it’s a lot of passion,” explains Jacopo Puppio, one of the dent repairers, who confirms that there are “a lot” of impacts, and that the cars are “massacred”.

On August 27, a very violent storm swept through several towns in the department. Hailstones the size of tennis balls then caused considerable damage, hundreds of cars were affected. Since then, the parking lot of a body shop has never been so full, according to the manager. A resident of the area comes for a first assessment: "[The car] is machine-gunned everywhere, everywhere. There is not an element that has been spared", notes Jean-Claude Dole, the manager of Carrosserie Dole - ZeCarrossery, in Besançon. And the news is not good: “Given the condition and given the age of the vehicle, I am afraid that your vehicle is [not] economically repairable,” warns the mechanic. “It’s a bit of a disaster, because we would have liked to repair it. It’s old, but it’s still beautiful. So we’re going to talk,” reacts the customer.

A new record in terms of insurance costs

Throughout France this summer, hailstorms were particularly numerous and intense. This is one of the effects of global warming. Last July 15, for example, in Aubenas, in Ardèche, nearly 10,000 cars were damaged in a few minutes. Almost two months later, in the garages of the sector, there is still a traffic jam, the repairs have barely started. “There will be significant delays because, inevitably, with this increase due to hail, with this episode, it brings us a lot more work than what we are used to managing. And all of that, it will be spread out between a year and two years,” indicates David Vernet, manager of Carrosserie Vernet in Aubenas.

Last year, hail had already caused heavy damage and cost insurers more than two billion euros. A figure that could be exceeded this year.