CEDAR FALLS - Hail stones from this week's series of thunderstorms have backed up local repair shops.

"I haven't stopped getting off the phone or off the computer, and actually today was my day off," said John Ross, the body shop manager at Droste Auto and Glass in Waterloo, who has been writing up repair estimates for hail-damaged vehicles.

"We're a little swamped, and I ended up getting called back in to work," Ross said.

Like many glass repair operations, Droste has been busy replacing cracked and shattered windshields and back windows.

Droste crews have put in about 20 to 25 auto windows in the past three days, and the majority of the customers were motorists who live in North Cedar and housing additions on Hudson Road in Cedar Falls, where the hail fell the hardest.

Glass Tech in Cedar Falls has had about 20 inquiries about fixing hail damage, said Jodie Watson, the business office manager.

Most of the auto-body jobs will come later, after insurance adjusters do their work.

Insurance companies will mobilize "cat teams" - short for catastrophe teams - in the next few days to assess the damage.

"They will be set up at different locations for customers to go, and they will actually get estimates written through those on the spot. That's generally what happens in a case like this where we have a large number of people that were impacted from hail," said Aaron Potter, service and parts manager for Dick Witham Ford in Waterloo.

A number of the cars on Witham's Cedar Falls sales lot had minor dings from the hail, and one vehicle had broken glass, Potter said.

Down the street, John Deery Motors is dealing with the dings by having a hail sale.

"A lot of the dents are so minor that instead of fixing them, we're just going to pass that discount to the customers," said Sean Hewitt, controller at Deery Motors. "Some of them you can barely see."

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.