The number of damage claims submitted to Manitoba Public Insurance for June storms will break a nearly 30-year-old record this week, while the final tally could approach 40,000.
MPI vice-president and chief claims officer John Bowering said about 22,000 claims — almost all for hail damage and 80 per cent of them from Winnipeg — had been received as of Thursday morning.
“The numbers have been larger than anything we’ve seen in our history,” he told reporters during a tour of the Crown corporation’s temporary hail response centre in East Kildonan.
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MPI Estimator, Mike Head, checks out the hail damage to a claimant’s car.
Bowering said the volume of claims could have an impact on Manitoba’s auto insurance rates in the future, but it’s too early to say if they will increase.
A large hail storm usually results in about 7,000 to 8,000 claims to MPI. Last week’s storms dropped pea- to grapefruit-sized hail in Manitoba.
“This one hit directly in Winnipeg, and so as a result it impacted a lot of Manitobans,” Bowering said.
MPI received about 24,000 claims from a single storm event in 1996 and about 16,000 after one in 2023.
“This one will surpass (2023) later this week, and we’ll probably hit 30,000 to even potentially as high as 40,000 claims by the end of the year as the claims slowly come in,” Bowering said.
This month, all but about 500 claims so far were for hail damage. Some were for flood, wind or other storm-related damage, Bowering said.
Manitobans with storm-damaged vehicles can open a claim via MPI’s website or by calling its contact centre.
Customers in Winnipeg and some other communities will receive emails inviting them to book an appointment at the hail response centre at Gateway Road and Lexington Park, which is usually a service centre.
Bowering said it is the first time MPI has used a self-service booking tool after a large storm to handle a high volume of claims.
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“This one will surpass (2023) later this week, and we’ll probably hit 30,000 to even potentially as high as 40,000 claims by the end of the year as the claims slowly come in,” MPI vice-president and chief claims officer John Bowering said Thursday.
Estimators are aiming to conduct initial damage assessments (by appointment only) for 300 vehicles per day to determine if they are repairable or a writeoff. A steady stream of drivers went through the centre while journalists were given an inside look Thursday, a day after it opened.
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Bowering said appointments were available as soon as Sunday, as of Thursday morning, while appointments for weekdays and Saturdays, which see the highest demand, are already booking a few weeks out.
Alternatively, customers who submit a claim can go to an MPI-accredited repair shop to get a full damage estimate for eligible claims or book an appointment at an MPI service centre, depending on their location.
Bowering said the hail response centre in northeast Winnipeg will run seven days a week and probably for two to three months to help process claims as quickly as possible.
A second location could open if demand is high.
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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