The crashing cost of the drought
WITH wildlife edging closer and closer to urban areas, it is costing many marsupials their lives, while motorists are also paying the price.
INCIDENTS of kangaroo-related smash repairs have risen by 125 per cent in the past 12 months at local business Geoff Richards Panel Beating with their estimator Zak Davis describing the situation as ‘ridiculous’.
“Ninety per cent of our work at the moment is kangaroo-related,” he confirmed.
Most customers are rural, but “people are hitting ‘roos 5km from town”, he told Dubbo Photo
“They are just absolutely everywhere at the moment.”
Mr Davis said that ‘roo-related repairs tend to be more costly than a different kind of dingle because of the nature of the accident.
“The average job cost at the moment is between $6000 and $10,000, that is well up for us,” he explained.
“The problem with ‘roo damage is that the car can look alright but there can be a lot of damage which you don’t see until you pull it apart. It’s hard to quote, the direct damage is done by multiple impacts.”
When vehicle repair is more time-consuming than originally estimated, it is creating a greater workload for the company.
“When the vehicle is damaged beyond repair, it creates more of a backlog. A three-day job can easily turn into a six-day job which really puts us behind. It’s very busy.”
The company has also hired more staff recently, helping them to deal with the extra workload.
“There’s been a slight increase in staff, but that is also because we are growing as a business,” he said.
Asked whether the increase in accident claims would affect insurance policies, Mr Davis said it was bound to have an impact.
“I think it could because of the number of claims that are happening. Most of our work at the moment, 85 per cent, would be insurance-related.”