Local auto body shops have seen a spike in business due to the recent weather the Foothills has experienced.

Andrew Northrup, director of operations for the Car Find Group of CARSTAR, says it's been very busy with the large number of hail claims.

"The increase in the influx of hail claims and people coming in for appraisals has pretty much tripled over the last couple of weeks from where we were prior," Northrup says.

"Everyone knows we haven't had much of a winter, things were pretty slow there for a little bit but these hail storms that have come through has definitely picked up tremendously for the influx of repairs and estimates."

To stay on top of things, the local auto body shop says it's important to be proactive when ordering parts to avoid customer wait times.

"We take the estimate from the paintless dent removal and the insurance company, input it into the system, check parts of availability, order parts and then book people in accordingly so they're not put out anymore than they already are. It's definitely an inconvenience in someone's day to have an incident like this happen, so to bring someone back two or three times while waiting for parts just adds to the inconvenience."

When dealing with hail damage the first thing people should do is call their broker or insurance company directly to get the ball rolling on appointments, assessments and the estimate for repairs.

Northrup says if vehicle owners are just not sure what to do, any local auto body shop is available to answer questions.

"We're never too busy to have somebody pop down and just ask some questions to see what alternatives or solutions they might have, and we can also have one of our PDR technicians come out and look at the vehicle and speak with them as well."

To keep up to date with any weather warnings or possible hail storms in the Foothills, check out the weather page.