PHILLIP Taylor saw the clouds building on 12 May 2021, leaving his Toyota Corolla in the driveway at his Maroochydore home to walk to the Sunshine Plaza Shopping Centre. Not expecting to soon need Hail Damage Repair, he was not concerned, thinking only that any rain that may fall would give his 2010 white sedan a free carwash.
What ensued was a brief but savage storm that blasted everything in its path delivering hail, strong winds and heavy rain. Maroochydore was one of the hardest-hit suburbs on the Sunshine Coast.
Phillip had just walked in to one of the Plaza’s undercover carparks when he realised the severity of what was being unleashed. The area felt like a war zone under attack.
“The cloud above me was so black, you could not see a star, the moon or anything,” he remembered vividly.
“It just looked like one of those (storms) you see in the movies. As soon as I walked into the shops, all you heard was like a drumming of hailstones hitting the Plaza roof. You couldn’t hear any music. You couldn’t hear anybody talk. It was just one white noise.”
He went on to recall:
“It was like a howling shower of ice shards flying through the air. It was almost like there was an automatic weapon propelling them down on Earth. I was just hoping the roof wouldn’t break with the force of it. It literally ripped through. The severity of the storm came within a flash of about half an hour.”
When Phillip was finally able to return home, he was in disbelief at the amount of damage to his small neighbourhood.
“It had just been smashed,” he said.
“All the cars down my street looked like a gang of kids had walked through or gone through on their bikes and smashed every single mirror, sides, tops, roofs. (The storm) terrorised the streets. All in half an hour. Anything it touched.”
Luckily, Phillip had a day off from work the next day and was able to call his RACQ Insurance hotline and get the ball rolling on repairs through Platinum Hail Management Solutions (PHMS).
PHMS specialises in providing rapid response to weather events – specifically relating to hail storms – for insurance companies across Australia.
Based in south-east Queensland, PHMS establishes dedicated Emergency Hail Catastrophe Repair Centres when needed, immediately allowing its skilled staff, capabilities and specialised equipment to deliver the entire hail repair process from end-to-end.
The state-of-the-art PHMS Light Inspection Tunnel ensures all damage is captured at assessment.
Phillip initially thought his Corolla would be a write-off.
Although the roof and bonnet sustained so much damage they had to be replaced, along with new left-hand side and inner mirrors, PHMS was able to uncover and repair dents to all the doors and boot.
The Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) method means skilled technicians are able to gently remove dents, dings, creases and hail damage from inside the panel using a series of special hand tools.
The original shape is restored, and the manufacturer’s original paint work is kept intact with a minimum of fuss and inconvenience.
PHMS even put in new window seals (“My rubber seals on windows got torn apart: it looked like mice had been chewing at them all the way along”).
Phillip was so gobsmacked by the result, he was moved to offer his thanks in a service review: “Platinum Hail did an immaculate job on the repair to my hail damage on my vehicle. It was almost a write-off and they repaired and restored it like new. I was extremely impressed with their craftsmanship along with their very helpful and friendly team.”
Phillip said the Emergency Hail Catastrophe Repair Centre was set up virtually the next suburb over at Kuluin, and once the assessment had been completed, PHMS had told him upfront the estimated time for repairs to be completed and the necessary parts to be delivered.
The whole operation was a “smooth transition” from the first phone call to pick-up.
RACQ Insurance provided a replacement car for two weeks and Phillip was able to head off on holidays with peace of mind while his Corolla was being repaired.
So he has “absolutely” no hesitation in recommending the PHMS team as the summer storm season approaches.
“If there’s any dents on it, I haven’t been able to see any of them yet. So they did a good job,” Phillip said of the PHMS operation.
“The boys were very detailed, very particular. I feel it came back better than it went in. They didn’t give it back to me dirty, so I was also impressed with that. The outside was amazing. The inside was perfect. I was very happy.”