Many insurers brought in specialists from either around New Zealand or other countries to assist with vehicle repairs as they faced a downpour of hail damage claims last year. However, several repairers have since taken a hit from the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic – slowing down the repair process for hail claims.

Smart Fix, a hail repairer temporarily operating in South Canterbury, said replacement car parts would take approximately four to five months to arrive due to air freight bans – leaving repairers no choice but to rely on cargo ships.

Adam Marks, Timaru site manager at Smart Fix, offered assurances that they were taking a proactive approach to resolving coronavirus-related issues.

“We are ringing people and pushing the anticipation times back. We’re all in the same boat at the moment, so there’s a big uncertainty within the industry and the community. Things can happen and get a lot worse very quickly,” Marks told Stuff.co.nz.

Read more: Insurance Council warns Kiwis about buying hail-damaged cars

Shane Griffin, director of Dent Devil, said some of his team members could no longer come to work as the country’s borders closed.

“We have technicians from Europe [who] can no longer come over. We also have a Canadian who was self-isolating for 14 days to prepare for coming over, and now he can’t,” he told Stuff.co.nz. “It’s business as usual. Our team is just a little bit leaner. We just need to replace five guys or so.”