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Darlene Stinson’s heart broke when she saw that hail had battered her cherished wheels in a hail storm in northwest Regina.
“By the time I got home … I cried,” she said. “It really saddened me.”
Stinson’s vehicle is just one of 10,000 auto claims SGI is aiming to appraise after a June 9 hail storm slammed part of the Queen City.
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An additional 800 property claims were filed in connection to the storm.
SGI said it expects the total cost of the storm is expected to exceed $80 million dollars.
Stinson arrived at an appointment-only appraisal blitz on Friday, to help process the high volume of auto claims.
SGI said the appraisal blitzes are designed to analyze hundreds of vehicles a day at the Regina Commercial Claims, over the next few weekends.
Hail from June 9 storm battered many homes and vehicles in the northwest part of Regina. (Linda Lacelle/Submitted)
Nikki Kluk, the director of SGI auto claims, said the blitzes are designed to help get faster appraisals for more customers.
She said auto claims are continuing to be filed, calling the hail storm “significant.”
“We are well prepared to handle that,” Kluk said. “We’ve mobilized our staff to intake those claims, so we are helping customers who either phone in, come into a branch or put a claim in online.”
Nikki Kluk, the director of SGI auto claims, said hail storms in Regina in 2022 and Estevan in 2024, also generated a large amount of claims. (Gillian Massie/980 CJME)
Stinson said the appraisal blitz made the claim process slick.
“I’m quite pleased with everything,” she said. “Everything is nice and smooth, and they almost seem like they sound caring.”
Stinson was visiting her friend Linda Lacelle when the hail began to fall on June 9, denting the siding of her vehicle and damaging the framework.
Lacelle told 980 CJME that one of her vehicles is scheduled to be appraised at a later date.
Linda Lacelle’s truck was severly damaged by the June 9 hail storm in Regina. (Linda Lacelle/Submitted)
Stinson said she felt scared as she watched from Lacelle’s home as the hail thundered down on homes and cars outside.
While the appraisal process has been swift, Stinson said she hasn’t been delivered good news from the adjuster.
“The way he’s talking here doesn’t look like I’m going to get to keep her (the vehicle),” she said. “It’s high price damage here, like it’s quite severe.”
Property damage claims could take weeks
Candace Hagerman, director of SGI property operations, said people began calling for appraisals the same evening of the hail storm.
Over 800 claims have been filed to SGI so far and she said the majority of the claims came from the northwest part of the city.
“It was a heavily treed area,” Hagerman said. “So, there may have been some trees that have damaged other items in the yard, like barbecues and fences and things like that as well.”
The process to get a homeowner a quote on property damage can take anywhere from four to six weeks.
Hagerman said much of the damage is to eaves troughs, shingles, and siding.
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