Some Calgary drivers have been met with an unexpected fallout from the violent rain and hail storm in Calgary this past weekend.
Certain rental car companies have reported a spike in insurance replacement rentals. So much so, they may run out in just days.
“We’re getting pretty close,” Budget Calgary’s operations manager Wade Stender said.
“We will have a few left, but yep, we’re going to run out by the end of the week.”
The storm caused a lot of damage to many vehicles in the city, mostly in the northeast quadrant where some hail reached the size of a tennis ball.
Car windows were smashed and hoods were dented. Some vehicles were caught in the huge pools of water, and ended up submerged.
That has left many people without anything to drive, until their ride gets fixed.
“Cars are either in the shop, or headed there,” Stender said.
Global News tried to book a vehicle on Budget’s online booking site. We put in various dates this week and next, but were told they were sold out.
We also tried Enterprise’s online reservation system, and were met with a no availability notice.
Stender suggests coming into the actual rental building — rather than booking online. He added there are always vehicles trickling in or in the shop, and that will give customers physically there an edge over those online.
“They can come to our locations, we have three locations in Calgary,” he added. “They’ll probably have to stand in line and wait, so we just ask for patience, but we’ll get them something.”
Budget said it is not able to bring cars in from other cities not hit by the storm because it is a franchisee. However it added some of its other competitors may be able to if the shortage persists.