Long wait for cars in Calcutta damaged by storm ..Owners of many vehicles are trying to access small roadside garages for repair jobs

Anasuya Basu, TT, 24.05.20, Calcutta: If your car has been damaged by Cyclone Amphan, it could be a long wait before it hits the streets back again.

Auto workshops, which were closed when the lockdown was announced, are yet to resume work. Most are yet to have their power supply restored and many have been badly damaged by the storm.

A rough estimate, going by the number of calls to workshops, would put the number of damaged cars in the city to several hundreds.

Many of the trees uprooted by the storm have fallen on parked vehicles. The windshields of many cars were smashed after being hit by lamp posts or flying objects.

Besides, a large number of cars were damaged after water entered the vehicles.

“Many of my customers have no proper facility to park their cars. The vehicles remain in the open, on roads. I have received more than 150 calls for repairs till Friday,” said Soham Misra of One Auto, a Maruti dealership that will resume operations on Monday.

Most of the damaged cars have become immovable and they need to be towed to garages. “From next week, there will be Road Side Assistance teams to tow damaged vehicles to workshops,” said Topsel Toyota’s Ashok Manecktala.

The owners of many damaged vehicles are trying to access small roadside garages for repair jobs. “I have a trusted mechanic at a roadside garage in Lansdowne. For body paint I rely on him. It is far less expensive than going to a dealer workshop, particularly for denting and painting work,” said Jatin Hazra, whose Honda City has suffered a bonnet dent during the cyclone.

Hazra, however, has not yet been able to contact his mechanic.

Not all want to go to roadside garages, particularly when repairs involve mechanical and electrical jobs. Water ingress in cars are likely to trigger short-circuits because electrical components are often fixed on vehicle floors.

“Water had entered my car as it was parked in the basement of my multi-storeyed building. The water has receded but I cannot start my car. There is no sound when I am turning on the ignition,” said Manoj Jain, who owns a Volkswagen Vento.

“It’s probably a short circuit,” said Jain, who has booked a service call with the Volkswagen city dealer.