Bay Area Auto Repair Shops Overwhelmed by Storm-Related Repairs

The recent storms have led to hundreds of crashes on Bay Area roads, causing body shops to be overwhelmed with repairs.

At White Oaks Collision Center in Campbell, the calls have been steady over the past two weeks. 

“We’re getting a lot of the tree branch and debris falling down onto cars. A lot of water leaks,” said Troy Garber, estimator at the White Oaks Collision Center. 

They’ve been getting calls from drivers whose cars have been hit while driving in the rain and many others who’ve had trees fall onto their cars. 

“In addition to the normal collision stuff, especially being on Highway 17, here it seems like stuff just slides down the mountain and ends up in our lap so to speak,” said Garber.

NBC Bay Area soke with more than a dozen collision centers who say they’ve been inundated with cars and the wait times for appointments are growing. 

“We’re typically about a week to two weeks out in terms of our schedule,” said Garber. “Given what’s going on now it’s stretching out closer to three weeks.”

Michael Aziz’s sister’s car was backed into by another driver recently. 

“We went to several body shops and all of them have been saying it’s going to take four to six weeks,” he said. “She needs a car and we don’t have an extra one.”

He’s now scheduled at White Oaks in a couple weeks.

Auto repair shops ask for patience as the backlog of crunched cars is addressed – and the storms subside. 

“If something unfortunately does fall on your car or hits it out of your control, get with your insurance first, and then start searching around for a shop,” said Garber.

Source: NBC Bay Area