“All my everites went through. Everything fell on my clients’ cars and mine. It’s like everyone else, we’re all victims, it’s unfortunate”, testifies Patrice Gay, the boss of the Picasso garage. About fifty vehicles were parked in its warehouse in Ribérac. On the night of Monday 20 to Tuesday 21 June, a violent hailstorm hit the northwest of the Dordogne. Hailstones the size of golf balls fell on Ribérac. Patrice Gay’s cars are all dented, the windshields shattered.
“I am well insured so I will make the insurance work. But for the moment I cannot even take care of customers outside”, adds the boss. For the moment, it is necessary to cover the garage, to prevent that the rain water does not infiltrate. Patrice Gay will be able to be operational again next week.
“They don’t know how to do it, it’s huge, they can’t reach the insurance companies”
The mechanic managed to save his office by covering the computers during the storm. Since Tuesday, he has received hundreds of calls. “They don’t know how to do it, it’s huge, they can’t reach the insurance companies. I only answer my customers and appease them”, he explains. To the victims, he advises to cover, to cover, to protect the interior of the vehicles and to prevent the water from entering. “And you need a lot of patience, trying to get the insurance to make the declarations. There are hundreds of files so for the insurers and the experts, it’s not going to happen overnight”he says.
In Ribérac, there are three coachbuilders. “It will be huge, we will never be able to do everything. We will have to be supported by the surroundings”concludes the mechanic.