Cash Price more than the Insurance Price?

[FixitFelix]

Group,

For the past week or so (give or take) i've been doing recon on all of the local businesses that offer WSR. Primarily to get an idea of what they charge, and to see what their process entails. The first company I looked up was Safelite. I used their local website to get quotes on multiple types of car models, and said i'd be paying with cash. I'd say that most, if not all of the quotes that were given were in the range of $150 (as opposed to the $50-$100 i've seen being mentioned here). For cash only customers is this typical? My goal here is to price myself as competitively as positive without screwing up the market by undercutting people, but I also dont want to miss customers from over charging.

[Brent Deines]

In my experience $150 for a cash repair is anything but normal. Safelite does this because they are first and foremost a replacement company, so it's much easier to talk a customer into a replacement if they keep the repair price on the high end. You'll also find that when they send a technician out to do a repair, they will often take the replacement windshield with them. That way if they determine the damage cannot be repaired, or can convince the customer that a repair is not in their best interest, they can replace it on the spot. The conversation might go something like this: "I can repair your windshield for you but there will always be a blemish where the damage was, or for $50 more I can replace it." If it is an insurance job some companies will even waive the deductible, or a portion thereof, to encourage the customer to replace rather than repair. Safelite is not the only company that would rather replace than repair, but being the largest chain of glass shops in the USA, and also being a windshield manufacturer, they likely realize the most profit from each replacement they do.

I've even seen some glass shops go so far as to purposely do poor repairs, so when the customer complains they just credit back what they charged for the repair toward the cost of the replacement. This is unethical and bad for our industry, but it is profitable.

I think we should be charging $150 for a repair, but to stay competitive that simply is not possible for repair only technicians in many markets, including the market we are in here in Eugene, OR.

[RCRNR]

My experience as limited as it is only 1 year owning this is charging 60-70 as a cash price works 99 percent of the time. Here we have 2 replacement companies that charge 30 per repair but do a substandard repair. Once in a while a customer will say they only charge 30 and I say they have the right to use any repair facility they wish. Some have opted to save that 30 dollars and make an appointment with those shops. Most pay and when the job is done I now have a customer for life. I also have a Safelite directly across the street from me which does charge well over 100 which really works to my benefit on cash customers. The vast majority of business I do is Insurance so losing 1-2 customers a year to a 30 replacement facility really doesn't effect me except the fact I want every customer I can get. Listen to Brent and the rest at Delta always right on. My focus is on average repairs per day more than if I can make an extra 20 dollars on a cash repair.