Photo by Steve Bruce, CBC
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island — Autobody shops on Prince Edward Island are still recovering from damages incurred by Hurricane Fiona, with some shops reporting massive repair backlogs that could take a year to clear.
In an interview with the CBC, Dave Gaudet, owner of Fix Auto Charlottetown and former Bodyworx Professional cover star, said his shop is booked through to August, and that his shop isn’t alone in this regard.
“Everybody just got slammed with claims so we just can’t get through it all,” he said. “Don’t have the manpower or the capacity to do it.”
The shop typically faces 20 claims a week, but grew to 400 claims in the week after Fiona. Gaudet has since hired more people and extended to 12 hours a day and six days a week, but says it will still be hard to catch up, saying they will likely repair Fiona damage around this time next year.
With repairs from car scratches, trees falling onto vehicles or damage from flying debris, most repairs take 70 to 80 hours to complete, or two to three weeks. The shop now prioritizes smaller repairs while turning away major repairs out of necessity, says Gaudet.
