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Insurance company assessing hail damage, surprised by volume of dents

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OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Homeowners are still dealing with the damage left behind by last week's hail storm. Many of them are turning to insurance companies to get claims on their cars as well. One company is making it easier for people to get the help they need at L Street Marketplace.

"Right now we've done 33 cars a day for the past two days," Brad Lehman of American Family Insurance said.

American Family has set up a drive-thru claim center in front of the Home Depot at the L Street Marketplace. Brad Lehman says the company has been seeing car after car from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. since Friday.

"This is our third day and we're fully booked here," Lehman said. "We will have looked at about a hundred cars by the end of today."

Lehman has been in other parts of the country that have had severe weather damaging vehicles. From the damage he has seen in Omaha, Lehman says drivers mostly received light to medium hail damage. What stands out to him is the volume of light to medium hits that Omaha vehicles took.

It's frustrating for drivers like Mike McCabe who brought two cars to be looked at.

"I don't think we knew the cars were going to be this bad," McCabe said. "The sooner you get this taken care of the better, it's nice they could set this up."

Inside American Family's catastrophe unit trailer are agents handling auto claims as well as property claims. As of Sunday afternoon, the catastrophe team has taken more than 500 auto claims and more than 900 property claims. Those numbers are expected to rise.

American Family employees will be outside of the Home Depot for at least the rest of the week, taking calls and claims from Douglas and Sarpy counties.

Lehman says his drive-thru will stay put until demand slows down.

"When we have a large storm like this, we want to get out and deliver our promise to our customers and make sure we're taking care of their claims and protecting their dreams," he said.

Other insurance companies in the area are also taking lots of claims. Companies say you should contact your insurance agent for information on the best way to file a claim.