Repair Criteria

[GlassStarz]

I have to agree 100% Im not prone to judging a old repair when I see one if it didnt spread he did his job and I dont say differently to a customer
I think guys who do are doing damage to WR as a whole telling a customer someone did a bad repair is just plain dumb

[screenman]

Here is an excellent write up I have seen,

As policyholders are counted in their hundreds of thousands, insurers have to adopt a set of rules to cover this vast amount of clients. In most cases you are little more than a number to your insurer, which is why it is difficult to talk to a knowledgeable person with the authority to resolve your problem. As long as most people get their problem resolved (or can’t be bothered to complain) then the system is deemed a success. As you are only one in 100,000 policyholders, if you have a bad experience and complain then that is 0.001% complaint ratio!

Most insurers monitor the performance of their key suppliers and would take action if the complaints got to an unacceptable level. However, due to the vast numbers involved, the number of people that would have to complain to make just 1% failure rate would be 1000 people! Also bear in mind that roughly 1 in 14 people claim on their policy for glass and of that figure 50% are for glass other than the windscreen. This means 3.6% of people that are insured need front windscreen work. We also know that, at best, only 20% of front windscreen work is for repairs rather than replacement. So to work it out…

20 % of 100,000 policyholders x 3.6 % = 720 people who are likely to get their screens repaired (not replaced)

Here’s the mind boggling bit…If every one of these people successfully complained directly to the insurer then the complaints would still only be just 0.72% of the total policyholders or only 10 % of the total glass claimants!

Even if half the windscreen chip repair jobs were bad and half of those bad jobs were successfully complained about (directly to the insurer and not to the windscreen company), that would only be a 2.5% failure rate for that supplier!

Every repair pictured in this article has been carried out by a windscreen replacement company and only one customer successfully complained.

Now you can see why a windscreen repair supplier can consistently produce poor physical results and still be recommended to an unwitting policyholder. Don’t let this happen to you. You can choose which company that you would like to repair your windscreen, you may have to pay first, but it will be cheaper in the long run…

[bill lambeth]

I agree with you squirrel I see some ugly repairs everday.I average 3 calls a week from Enterprise that are old repairs.I will not touch them.I am not going to say that it is a bad repair because it has not cracked.I let the customer make their own assumption.Talking bad about your competition will get you know where even if it is safelite.

[Frank EU]

Screenman, interesting figures. When our business was larger than it is today, I used to frequently visit all main insurers. Three large insurance companies supplied us with their figures re their annual autoglass expenses. They also supplied the exact calculations which were (and still are) supplied to them by Belron.
(that is for example Safelite in the US, Autoglass in the UK and Carglass in most EU countries). Belron publishes pretty frequently the repair & replacement figures, in internal customer specific reports, so that the client is ''properly'' informed. We were asked to make a calculation in the ''repair only'' way, using the same data as basic material. They were completely and totally shocked to see the difference. They did their own internal calculations as a double check and they came pretty close to ours. Yet, we unfortunately never got their business (and you all may guess why that is!) Another reason may have been the fact that customers sometimes like to abuse our repairs only calculations to get better conditions at their current supplier. I can tell you that it was a pleasure to be trusted by the insurers (more specifically by the actuaris in charge). We have learned a lot. I cannot go into detail since we had to agree to a non-disclosure agreement.

Re the complaints, most customers seek direct contact with their supplier to deal with any concerns they may have, the supplier deals than with the customer, the insurer will never know. I think, in all fairness, that this is the way we all would prefere to deal with the complaints (if any). Why bothering the people at the insurance company if you can deal with the customer directly in a satisfying fashion.

In the unlikely event that a shield needs to be replaced (unlikely but it does happen), we than supply our customer with a ''windshield repair NOT carried out'' form. They are advised to seek contact with their insurer and use the details as stated on the card. It makes the replacement claim easier to pass, in fact it justifies it, and just stresses our repair only philosophy at the insurance office and last but not least it adds credibility. (remember we are repairs only!).

Do we ever perform a repair we are ourselves dissatisfied with? Hell yes, most repairs come out very good but it has happened in the past and I won't guarantee that it is not going to happen again someday in the future. Do we ever come accros repairs that we performed ourselves which look poor after a number of years? Indeed that happens sometimes. We than mostly re-pitfill at no cost to the customer.

We do guarantee the resins we are using not to discolor, our guarantee is for as long as the owner owns the vehicle and the guarantee is not transferable. I cannot recall, over a course of some fifteen years, any issues with discolored repairs.

[Glasseye]

While I was working for Autoglass in the UK, their "repair policy" that the branches worked by, was to assess the damage in relation to BSau242 and then inform the customer if they could or could not repair the damage. If they said they could and during the repair process it failed' they would replace the windscreen free of any charge to the customer, as far as I know this policy is still in force. The biggest concern Insurance companies had was the fraudulent claiming or glass repair when it was just a surface chip or "mylar" repair or no work had been done on a car but a claim was still made, one UK company paid a hefty price when this was discovered. As part of a successful tender to an Insurance company the windscreen company has to give a commitment to a % of total windscreen work being repaired rather than replaced, usually with penalty causes applied for any shortfall. I find now the average motorist is more aware of the glass repair facility and more inclined to use it, especially in the current financial climate. In terms of standards, there is still room for improvement, but speaking from my own experience a good majority of repairs I have seen that have been done by other repairers has been done to a good standard. I would like to think it is because of forums such as this and good training performed by large companies and independants such as Screenman that overall standards are improving.

[screenman]

On one particular wet day I stopped and asked and Autoglass guy in a tent how he got moisture out of the chip and he said with a paper towel, when I akksed him how he dried it out inside he said with a UV light, I think even in big companies standards vary. When I dummy shopped them on 3 occasions on each I was told when the repair breaks I will have to pay the excess, I decided not to havet the repairs done.

I am still trying to master the art of drying out using a paper towel and the uv lamp.

They asl took a large customer off me in Decemeber 07 they offered to do repairs for 1/2 price, it took the company only a few months before they were back with thier tail between their legs, because the replacement ration had shot up.

[Frank EU]

Screenman; and that is what the insurance and leasing industry claims to be an honest business. To me it is one big (global) scam. Yet the insurance companies remain to be blind, most are in bed with Autoglass or with, depending the market, another Belron business. Again; it stinks. Glasseye: The BSAU242 is only ''used'' to do more replacements -certainly not to do more repairs. And definately not to do better quality repairs.

[mcclaine]

I have been in the repair only business for over 15 years. In the mid 90's I was the largest provider of repair services for Safelite in my area. I believed that by providing superior sevice that I was promoting both my business, Safelite's, and repair services for the insurance industry. I was led to believe that insurance companies wanted to increase the percentage of repair vs replacement. In Sept of 99 without any notice, I started to see the first Repair Medics ads in my area and overnight the volume of referrals dropped to almost nothing. I know that I am not the only one to have experienced this. It almost put me out of business and gave me my first insight into Safelite's attitude towards their "partners." Fortunately, I had other marketing avenues which I developed and I was able to stay in business, survive, and do well as an indepenedent operator to the present. I have no problem competeing with Safelite. I find it to be very easy! We have all had to deal with the steering issues since the beginning. What continues to make me angry is when I generate my own customer. I feel obligated to make my customers understand that their repairs can be free and that by contacting their insurance co they can get their deductables waived. I have to spend too much time and feel like "I sound like sour grapes" explaining that they will not be speaking to their insurance company when they actually get to the glass claims area and make them aware that they can request me and there is no difference in pricing, warranty, etc. I am assumeing that when my customer is processed thru the Safelite Network that a referrral fee is generated to Safelite for the business that I have created. Since the suit was dismissed against Safelite and depending on the representative that my customer talks to i find the steering to continue even more aggressively. I have some questions that perhaps other operators can help me with.
1) Do we know how many independent repair only specialists there are in the us. We purchase a considerable amount of insurance from a lot of these companies for home, auto, business, garage keepers, disability, term etc.
2) Does Safelite tell insurance companies that they dsitribute these referrals fairly to all network vendors or do insurance companies know that the majority of insurance referrals are kept in house?
3) Has any repair only provider like Delta, Glass Weld or Glass Technology attempted to set up a referral network to compete with Safelite and Lynx? I believe I know the answers but would be interested in other operators perspective. Thanks! Mcclaine