“The Number of Claims Is Unprecedented,” Says Vehicle Expert at Hail Drive-In

More than 100 dents cover the roof of a Tesla brought to Zurich Insurance's temporary hail center in Seuzach near Winterthur. Its headlights are shattered, its windshield is broken, and an insurance expert quickly reaches a devastating conclusion: the car is a total loss.

The owner is close to tears. His daughter had saved during her studies for her "first beautiful car" and hoped to buy the Tesla from her parents after graduating. "But an act of nature has now destroyed her dream," he says. The car had been parked near the insurance site when hail struck Seuzach on the morning of Aug. 28.

The storm left its mark well beyond the vehicles. Solar panels were smashed and windows broken around the industrial area. One week later, damaged cars still filled the insurance center's grounds. Zurich Insurance opened its first temporary drive-in with a hail scanner only 20 hours after the storm.

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The number of damage claims and the demand for assessments are unprecedented.

Vehicle expert Joël Ryavec says he has been working almost continuously, including on Sunday, examining broken headlights and taillights. "The number of damage claims and the demand for assessments are unprecedented," he says. The insurer has used hail scanners for three years. At the center, cameras and artificial intelligence analyze each vehicle as it passes slowly through a black scanning frame, with a narrow green light moving over the bodywork for about 20 seconds.

The destruction is expected to impose costs running into hundreds of millions of Swiss francs. For some victims, the damage has reached far beyond the loss of a car.

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As an act of nature has now destroyed her dream.