The hailstorm on August 28, 2026, left a trail of destruction across large parts of the Mittelland. On Friday morning, a thunderstorm front swept across the densely populated regions of Aarau, Olten, Solothurn, Zurich, and parts of the Mittelland, bringing violent gusts of wind, heavy rain, and hailstones up to six centimeters in diameter. It left behind dented car bodies, shattered windows, damaged facades, building exteriors, and roofs stripped of their covering.
Now the full extent of the situation is becoming clear in more or less concrete figures and in practice, as the affected insurers grapple with the flood of claims.
Vaudoise expects over 2,000 claims and CHF 10 million in damages
According to a statement released on August 31, more than 650 damaged vehicles have already been reported to Vaudoise. Based on this initial data and given the intensity of the hailstorm, the insurer expects more than 2,000 claims in the coming days and damages totaling approximately CHF 10 million—exclusively for vehicle damage—in the regions of Aarau, Olten, Solothurn, and Zurich.
To handle the large number of claims, Vaudoise relies on mobile claims assessment teams that are set up as close as possible to the affected locations. “Proximity to our customers is our top priority. That’s why we set up our claims assessment centers as close as possible to the site of the weather event—and do so promptly—to ensure optimal organization,” says Gérard Nerny, head of the Auto Claims Assessment Department. Those affected can report their claim through their agency or on vaudoise.ch and will then receive a link to schedule an appointment.
AXA Relies on Hail Claims Drive-Ins and Scanners
Axa also reported a flood of damage claims across multiple channels as early as Friday evening and is advising its customers to file claims online whenever possible. Despite the additional staff deployed, longer wait times are expected on the 24-hour hotline. Customers with safety-related vehicle damage to windows should report it immediately; in such cases, Axa will refer them to partner garages, where wait times are also to be expected.
To speed up the assessment process, Axa is setting up temporary mobile hail “drive-ins” in the near future, initially planned for the Winterthur and Olten areas, and possibly at other locations as well, depending on the extent of the damage. There, hail dents will no longer be counted by hand but will be precisely recorded within a few minutes using a scanner, and the amount of damage will be calculated. According to Axa, it is still too early to provide a reliable estimate of the total damage.
In Practice: Insured Individuals Will Have to Wait Until Mid-January 2027
So much for the official announcements. However, the reality is quite different for those affected, as the editorial team atthebrokernews discovered: When scheduling an appointment for a vehicle damaged by hail, the earliest available dates were in mid-January 2027—about four and a half months after the damage occurred. From the policyholders’ perspective, this is not very customer-friendly, especially for vehicles whose safety or everyday usability has been compromised by hail damage.
Against this backdrop,thebrokernews submitted media inquiries to both AXA and Vaudoise to clarify how the announced measures will be implemented in practice and whether such long wait times are to be expected.
Vaudoise’s Responses
Our questions were answered as follows:
To quickly assess hail damage to vehicles, Vaudoise is setting up assessment centers. Vaudoise will inform its customers shortly about where and when it will set up these assessment centers in the coming weeks. Appointments can be scheduled online.
Customers bring their damaged vehicles to these centers. There, an auto expert uses a scanner to calculate the repair costs. Customers can then choose whether to receive a cash payment for the repair or have the damage repaired at a body shop.
If a windshield is shattered, policyholders don’t have to wait for an assessment: Customers can have their windshields repaired or replaced immediately, without a prior assessment. They can choose between the authorized service partners Carglass and Desa or a repair shop of their choice.
Vaudoise is thus making it clear that, at least for safety-related damage such as shattered windshields, there is no need for long wait times before an assessment is conducted. However, the exact timeline for locations and launch dates regarding the actual claims assessment by the assessment centers remains to be determined; Vaudoise states that it will provide customers with separate information shortly.
Axa’s Responses
AXA also responded to our media inquiry. The insurer is remaining tight-lipped about the number of reported claims: It stated that it had received numerous reports and that the scale of the damage was extraordinary, with a very large number of claims in a short period of time across large parts of the densely populated Swiss Plateau: in certain regions, hailstones reached a diameter of over five centimeters. Axa does not wish to provide specific figures regarding the storm.
The insurer is providing more specific details regarding the rollout of its hail damage drive-ins: Work on setting them up began immediately after the storm. A drive-in has been in operation in Hinwil since Tuesday; one will follow in the Olten area (Dulliken) starting September 9, in Winterthur starting September 10, in the Bülach area (Bachenbülach) starting September 15, and in the Weinfelden area not until October 27—about two months after the storm. Customers will be assigned a drive-in appointment by Axa after they report their claim.
The process itself is designed for efficiency: After making an appointment, customers drive their damaged vehicle into the drive-in, hand over the car keys, and spend a maximum of 30 minutes waiting in the customer lounge while enjoying coffee and croissants. Meanwhile, the vehicle passes through a hail scanner, whose 3D cameras create a digital model and record the number and size of dents for each component. A technician reviews and supplements the scan report, calculates the cost of the damage, and in the final consultation with the customer, the customer decides between having the vehicle repaired—either by scheduling an appointment at a partner garage or at their own garage—or receiving a cash payout, which is transferred a few days later. Customers receive the digital scan report via email.
In the case of safety-related damage, such as a broken windshield, Axa also immediately refers customers to partner garages, which are tasked with getting the vehicle back on the road as quickly as possible. However, the insurer acknowledges that, due to the high volume of claims, waiting times are to be expected even at partner garages and repair shops.
Context
With estimates of over 2,000 vehicle damage claims at Vaudoise alone and similarly high numbers of claims at other insurers such as Axa, Mobiliar, and Allianz Suisse, etc., it is becoming clear that the hailstorm of August 28, 2026, ranks among the most significant severe weather events of the year in the Swiss auto insurance sector. The measures announced—such as mobile claims assessment centers, hail drive-ins, and scanner technology—are intended to speed up the claims process, and the detailed procedure that Axa has now disclosed indeed reveals a well-thought-out process designed for speed.
But the rollout of these locations tells a different story than the advertising message: While Hinwil already got a drive-through location at the beginning of the week, those affected in the Weinfelden area will have to wait until the end of October—two months after the storm. And as for the regular damage assessment—excluding windshields—Vaudoise has yet to announce a timeline. Whether the announced measures will be effective across the board in practice or whether, as in this case, customers will have to wait for appointments well into next year remains to be seen in the coming weeks.thebrokernews will continue to follow this story.
Binci Heeb
See also: AXA Claims Statistics
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