There have been about 400 crashes since the snow storm started early Sunday.
More than 70 of them involved injuries.
Fender benders where the vehicles are still drive-able can be settled at the scene with an exchange of license and insurance information.
Anything more severe requires police, and you have to call them.
“Obviously if your car is not drive-able, we need to attend the scene, or if there is an injury,” said Staff Sgt. Paul Stacey with the Calgary Police Traffic Unit.
“The threshold for reporting a collision is $2,000 total damage between the two vehicles, and it doesn’t take much to get to that now a days.”
There are some safety tips to ensure there is not additional damage or injury after any accident.
“Move the vehicles off to the side of the road if you can and if they are drive-able, so you don’t risk somebody else hitting the vehicle,” said Ron Wilson with AMA Calgary.
“In weather like this, you are probably safer to stay with the vehicle than to go walking out someplace.”
For collision shops, there has been a rush of business.
If you need repairs, you to have to wait.
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Auto body shops are full, still dealing with vehicles damaged from summer storms.
The latest rash of winter crashes means even more cars will be piling into auto body shops, along with a lot of paperwork.
“We are going to have at least a week’s backlog just to process all the work that is coming to get the estimates sent up and approvals from insurance,” said Ben Alleckna with Fix Auto Calgary South Central.
“Then we have to fix them, and we were quite busy with the hail that happened this summer in Airdrie. It is going to be a busy winter.”
On average you’ll have to wait until at least the new year for light repairs.
More severe damage will bump you closer to the front of the line.
According to auto body shops, you can expect those vehicles back just in time for Christmas.
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