OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Car shops like Jody's Collision Repair are seeing cars coming in from the ice storm with extensive damage. Jaffery Insurance offers advice for storm victims filing claims.
- Neighbor Tyson Garst shares his story of his son's parked car getting hit the night of the storm.
- Jody's Collision Repair says they've been really busy since the storm hit.
- "You want to leave insurance for things like Friday, things like the tornado and the hailstorms and avoid the little claims because those little claims is what hurts you, not the big claims that come through it."
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It's been a busy start of the week for our neighbors who were impacted by Friday's ice storm. Hundreds have car damage which means many are filing insurance claims and bringing their cars into the shop to schedule a fix.
Take a look at this car. It appears to be driving by but it's actually sliding and what you just heard is the car hitting Tyson Garst’s son's parked Honda Civic.
"We were very stressed. We were amped probably, you know, one o'clock in the morning still trying to get sleep. The tow truck drivers, we trying to arrange everything and they still couldn't get anybody because it was so icy and dangerous," said Garst.
Thankfully no one was hurt, and an insurance claim has been filed.
While Tyson’s son's car has been towed to a shop, others are still bringing there's in to places like Jody’s Collision Repair.
"But yeah, it's been really, really busy with all the collisions that have happened and most of them are pretty significant as you can see on this one here."
Shop manager Josh Finley says the shop started getting calls on Friday and many cars that have come in will be expensive repairs.
"It almost seemed like they picked up speed when they were sliding," said Finley.
Whether you hit a car, got hit or your parked car slid down a hill and was damaged, it's important to file a claim with your insurance.
Jaffery insurance founder and CEO Cyrus Jaffery shares some tips on how to keep your rate down especially if this isn't the first claim you've had to file this year.
"We encourage clients to put those claims in, let us get you handled. But maybe the little claims, potentially not the big storms, but little claims, maybe it's under your deductible or maybe a $500 more and then your deductible or something,” said Jaffery.
"You definitely want to pay those out of pocket because you want to leave insurance for things like Friday, things like the tornado and the hailstorms and avoid the little claims because those little claims are what hurts you, not the big claims that come through it.”
If you have any damage to your car from the storm, both Finley and Jaffery say it is important you file a claim right away.
