THEY'RE the hail chasers - hundreds of illegal workers who fly into the country to fix cars damaged by hailstorms, some arriving at airports before the last hailstone has melted.   

They're in Melbourne now, well-placed motor industry sources have told The Saturday Age, making fistfuls of money from the tens of thousands of cars pummelled by the balls of ice that belted down on Christmas Day.

From all over the world, including the US, Europe and Asia, they arrive on tourist visas, set up makeshift garages to fix hail-damaged cars, and are paid cash-in-hand on the black market, sources said. 


''People don't understand how big this is,'' said Laury Chibnall, chairman of the Victorian Automobile Chamber Of Commerce's PDR (paintless dent repair) division and managing director of Ballarat hail-damage repairer and training academy, Dents R us.

''There's hundreds of them. They come from not just America, but everywhere overseas. These guys land here, they have holiday visas, they get in, make a killing, and get out quick.''   

Mr Chibnall, who through the VACC aims to lobby MPs for an official crackdown on illegal operators, said the hail chasers robbed skilled Australians of work. ''There's quite a few of us PDR technicians in Australia now. We should get the opportunity first to do this work, and and if we can't, we could source overseas [skilled labour] and bring them in legally to work for us.'' .

The panel beating industry that is unregulated in Victoria, unlike motor traders, and has no state licensing body. While The Saturday Age has no reason to doubt the veracity of our sources' claims, we have no tangible evidence of the activity.

Damage claims lodged with insurance companies go through reputable panel shops, but the backlog of work has apparently allowed the chasers to proliferate.

Some hail chasers are regular visitors, coming and going many times a year. They keep their tools here, in shipping containers or storage units, then rent factory premises for a few months. Others are mobile workers with no fixed address.   

Some even work with their own meteorologists to chase hailstorms around the world and pick up work. Their purported specialty is removing panel dents without the need to repaint cars. But skill levels vary, from minimal to masterful.

Paintless dent repair ''massages'' out the dents without crazing the paint, saving thousands of dollars in repair costs for motorists and insurers by avoiding the need to respray vehicles.

One estimate puts chasers' earnings at $5000 to $10,000 a week. It's all pocketed, with no insurance costs to cover, no workplace premiums, no tax paid, no responsibility.   

A Victorian government spokeswoman said the first issue the situation raised was illegal workers, a federal immigration responsibility.

The federal Immigration Department said if anyone had evidence of illegal work practices it should contact the department.

''We take all allegations of illegal work seriously,'' a spokesman said. ''The department investigates all such claims and takes appropriate actions, which can include site visits.''   

The Insurance Council of Australia said the Christmas Day hailstorm in Melbourne generated more than 77,000 insurance claims worth more than $550 million. More than half the claims related to hail-damaged cars.

Immigration hotline: 1800 009 623