Will my auto insurance rates go up if I make a claim?

Vehicle glass repair is also a good value. If you have comprehensive coverage, and if you choose to repair your windshield rather than replace it, most insurance companies will waive your deductible and consider the windshield repair claim no fault, leaving no cost for you.  In many cases, insurance companies will not count auto glass damage as a claim on your policy.  To be certain, please refer to your policy or contact your agent and/or insurance provider to confirm your specific coverage. 

Other places offer free repairs, do you offer it too?

Yes… if your insurance company waives your deductible we can bill them directly.  You see the free repairs the other windshield repair guys in mall parking lots are advertising is only when your insurance covers the cost of the repairs.  We prefer to say “No Cost to you”.

Can you file the insurance claim for me?

Yes, we can initiate the call to your insurance company at the time of the appointment.  However, most of them require they speak with their policy holder for a few minutes to collect certain information.  A few auto insurance companies will not need to speak to you and thus we can process everything for you.

Most insurance companies will waive your deductible and gladly pay our small fee to save a costly replacement.  We made using your insurance as simple as possible.  In most cases, we can process your insurance during your appointment.

Make sure to have your current certificate of insurance (Proof Of Insurance) with you at your appointment.  The insurance representative may need to ask you a few questions, which takes a few minutes, then we will be given an authorization number, that’s it.  We will bill your insurance directly.

Note: Windshield Repair is covered by your insurance under the comprehensive portion of your policy.  If you do not have comprehensive coverage your insurance will not waive your deductible.

Making a claim before your scheduled repair appointment.

If necessary we may need to process the windshield repair claim before the appointment if one of the following applies:

• We don't recognize the name of your auto insurance. 

• Requires agent confirmation of coverage. 

• You will be too busy at work during your appointment.

Processing the claim before the appointment is almost as fast by doing a three way call to your insurance company.  We have direct phone lines to most glass dept of insurance companies, which avoids long wait times on the phone. 

Please have available the following available during the 3 way call.

• Insurance Policy number – which is on your Certificate of insurance, and also know as “Proof of Insurance” 

• The Loss Date: (the date the damage occurred If you don’t know the exact date use your best estimate, the insurance just needs a date for their records.) 

• A Pen and paper: To write down information you would like to have. 

If calling your insurance to file a claim by yourself, beware of steering.

Making a glass claim by yourself can be a hassle for the following reasons: 

1. You will find yourself spending more time than you want on the phone: 

2. The T.P.A rep can and do make statements that you might not understand. 

3. Certain Insurance Third Party Administrators, (T.P.A) have been known to “Steer” policy holders to other auto glass shops. This is illegal, but they do it anyway. 

For more details about what “Steering” is and how to handle it, continue reading below.

If you decide to call in the claim without a repair technician on the phone with you, please read the following:

Steering Explained:

It’s important to know that almost all insurance companies uses a TPA (Third Party Administrator) called glass networks to handle their auto glass insurance claims.  This means you are not actually talking to a representative from your insurance company but a representative from a third party vendor.  Some of these TPA companies are also financial affiliated with national auto glass companies.  In other words they own a huge auto glass company, (Yes, this is a conflict of interest).  It has been documented in the past that certain TPA’s have influenced policy holders (by various methods) to use their financially affiliated auto glass shops (for example) telling the policy holder they must use a particular auto glass shop.  However, Federal Law states: You have the right to choose any auto glass shop you wish to perform services to your vehicle.  They also have more subtle ways to sway your decision such as, tell you that the shop you have chosen is not on their “recommended list”.  However, the list they refer to is their list, not the insurance companies list.  Most TPA’s own a large auto glass company, which are independent technicians competitor that wants to convince you to use their service over our small, independent, hard working and successful small business.  This is pretty shady, I know.  This tactic, is called “Steering” and it is illegal in most states, class action lawsuits have been made in the past because how often it has been practiced.

Things to know when calling your agent:

Since most insurance carriers use T.P.A.’s – your agent might say that you need to use “This Company” for auto glass.  What they mean is – they use “This Company” as their Third Party Administrator to file your glass claim.  Once you call the TPA, you can select any shop you wish to repair your vehicles windshield, according to state and federal law.

The Third Party Administrators they may name as “This Company” could be the following: Safelite Glass Network, GNC - Gerber, Lynx Service, or Quest inc. to name a few.  Not all of these companies steer policy holders, but a couple have in the past. You can read about it here.

If you decide to call your Auto Insurance / T.P.A. by yourself: Here are a few things to have ready.

• Have your Auto policy number available.  This can be found on your certificate of insurance. 

• Know the date of loss.  This is the date that the damage happen. The TPA needs a date to place in the system, so your best guess is fine if you are not sure. 

• Make sure you say that you need a "Windshield Repair" (as oppose to a windshield replacement) 

NOTE: When they ask what shop you would like to use. Give them the shop’s phone number and name that was given in your email after you submitted your request form. T.P.A’s use the shop phone number to easily bring up shop information from their computer database.

The TPA may say that a shop is not on their recommended or “Preferred list”, or try to tell you that you must use a certain auto glass shop.

We find this is a subtle way of steering you to another shop. Not to worry – we warranty our repairs for as long as you own your vehicle, which exceed their warranties of their recommended list.  And under Federal and State Law states: “You have the right to chose any glass shop you wish to do service to your vehicle".  If they continue not to allow you to file a claim with the shop of your choice after you state what the law says: Allow one of our repair technicians to call in the claim with you on the line and the claim will be processed without a problem.