Auto-shops backed up until mid-January

Auto-body shops around mid-Missouri are seeing dozens of customers this week, coming in for repairs on their cars after Friday’s ice storm.

The president of Central Missouri Auto Body told ABC 17 News they’re currently booking appointments for mid-January.

“The driveable cars, we just ask you to be patient and keep driving them,” Carol Miller said. “I know it’s an eyesore for everyone.”

Miller said she has about a seven person staff and they were already booked to capacity before the storm. She said jobs take a certain amount of time and instead of trying to squeeze in more jobs into a time frame, they’re booking further into January.

“With the size of the shop that we have, we would just be making appointments a little bit later than being able to put too many more through,” Miller said.

First responders were also inundated with calls Friday. Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp with Boone County Fire Protection District said they sent someone to the 911 Joint Communications Center to “triage” calls.

“We had rollover accidents where it was confirmed non-injury,” Blomenkamp said. “The person at the 911 center talked to them on the phone. Non-injury, they had a ride home, there’s no tow-trucks available, there’s no officers available, so we just told told them to file a delayed accident report and get home safely.”

Blomenkamp also said drivers were calling in the same crash multiple times. Blomenkamp said if there is yellow tape around the car, crews have already responded to that crash.