“Hail only” centre to open in Manitoba following storm to address vehicle damage claims

Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) will open a special hail claim centre tomorrow in the wake of Winnipeg being pummelled by ice pellets on June 9.

The centre will be dedicated to “hail only” estimating for individuals whose vehicles sustained damage as a result of the storm over the recent weekend. As of June 12, MPI had received more than 1,500 claims.

Appointments can only be booked through the MPI contact centre, which will be capable of accommodating 300 appointments daily. Another centre in Selkirk will handle all claims opened by vehicle owners in that area, which number more than 300 to date.

The special centre is needed to respond to what Christine Martin, vice president of service operations for MPI, characterizes as an extraordinary number of new claims. “We realize many people are concerned about their vehicles.”

In July 1996, MPI was hit with the single largest catastrophic event in the corporation’s history. The hailstorm that struck Winnipeg and outlying areas produced 24,494 related claims and hail damage cost of $53 million.