MARSHFIELD, Wis. (WSAW) – The hail damage Tuesday has made it a very busy time for insurance companies and body shops. According to Marshfield Insurance 80-90 percent of the calls where auto-vehicle damage related.

It made for a very busy day at Marshfield Insurance, and that’s an understatement.

“I would say we are in the neighborhood of about 500 phone calls today just in our agency,” said Nick Arnoldy, owner and broker for Marshfield Insurance.

Anytime there’s storm damage scammers will begin to go door to door. If you have some damage, Arnoldy says be careful who you trust.

“Door to door is a good example to be leery of somebody doing some repairs. I would do a background check and ask for references, and also talk to other dealerships as well. If they are familiar with that particular place,” said Arnoldy.

Just a few miles up the road at Wheelers Chevrolet they were hit pretty hard with quarter to golf ball-sized hail.

“Approximately 250 cars roughly were damaged today,” said Dan Wheeler, Co-Owner, Wheelers Chevrolet GMC.

Wheeler says lots of vehicles at the dealership on South Maple Avenue were damaged. But he adds thankfully it doesn’t happen all that often.

“We’ve have been luck over the years, we’ve been in business since 1964 and this is the first time that we have had damaging hail like this at this location, earlier this year we had some at our Medford location luckily it doesn’t happen very often,” said Wheeler.

“Taking pictures is always helpful but just getting to the body shop is really the key. And the hardest part is really just being patient,” said Arnoldy.

Arnoldy recommends for people who have damage to call the body shop first, then call your insurance company. Because it can take a month or two to get your vehicle fixed in most cases. Also, do your research before taking your car to a body shop to ensure they are reputable.

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