July 2019

12th of July, 1984 shortly before 8 p.m.: A bright yellow sky announced the hailstorm disaster in Munich. A ghostly backdrop. Minutes later an inferno broke out: huge ice grains up to the size of a tennis ball pelted on people, animals, houses, cars, fields and gardens. 

The result: Three dead, more than 300 injured, over 200,000 damaged cars and further property damage amounting to more than three billion marks within 20 minutes - the largest loss event in the history of the German insurance industry to date. At that time, the dent repair technique was not yet known, so every dent was knocked out, smoothed and painted. The vehicle repair costs for most motor vehicles were higher than the current market value, so that a total loss was incurred. In 1984 there were no laptops yet, so that an expert opinion for the experts in the AZT was much more time-consuming and costly than today. All dents, on average between 50 and 250 per vehicle, were counted and recorded manually.

On Whit Monday 2019, 10th of June, a similar storm has happened again in the Munich region. Hail grains with a diameter of up to six centimetres crashed through car and window panes during the night on Tuesday and caused numerous other damage to buildings.

Many cars resemble a lunar landscape. They are covered with dents caused by hailstones. Allianz is currently expecting up to 20,000 damage cases. The total expenses for cars and the other property insurance is estimated at around 190 million Euro. For the insurers, this means peak period.

Allianz has set up eight hail inspection centers - one of them at the Allianz Center for Technology (AZT) - to process the large number of claims quickly, efficiently and in a customer-oriented manner. Since June 17th, 2019 several automotive experts have been responsible for inspecting hail damage to the cars of Allianz customers here. The special feature: A modern hail scanner, which enables the fast, automated recording of hail damage to vehicles following mass damage events caused by storms, supports Allianz colleagues in their work.  In addition, the AZT workshop offers the perfect infrastructure to ensure the best possible organizational process. As early as 2018, the AZT was working on a scientific project on hail damage. The laboratory test deals with an analysis of different carbon fibre reinforced plastics (e.g. carbon) regarding hail resistance.

Further information on the practical test can be found in our topic "Hagelschaden" ("hail damage" - in German language only).