Hail Damage From Every Angle: Insurance Goes High Tech

PARKER, Colo. (CBS4)- After weeks of severe storms along the Front Range and Denver metro area, some property owners are feeling the aftermath.

Allstate Insurance set up what they call a Catastrophe Response Center in Parker this week to evaluate storm damage, primarily from hail storms, to vehicles.

"This is our mobile assessment center. It's the first time that we've actually had this in Colorado, and it's part of our catastrophe response," said Allstate Insurance spokeswoman Stephanie Howell.

The system uses several cameras installed in the mobile inspection center to take hundreds of high resolution pictures of the damage.

"When I went out and looked at my Jeep it was like, 'Oh, no' pretty impressive," said Englewood resident Debbie Moody.

Moody drove to the mobile insurance center on Wednesday to get some answers about how bad the damage was.

For drivers, it's pretty easy, just pull into the tractor trailer turned photo studio and park. The computer takes over from there.

"What we are looking at, you have to kind of come in at an angle," said one Allstate inspection specialist.

The dents and dings that can be hard to spot with the naked eye are photographed and those images are sent to the computer which puts them through a special program which calculates the cost of the repairs.

"It's quick, it's easy, it's accurate," said Howell.

For Moody, it was exactly what she was looking for, "Very nice, taken care of right away."

Allstate Insurance clients need to file a claim and schedule an appointment before a consultation at the Catastrophe Response Center.