I went on to Glass.net and got 3 prices on a windshield for a 2000 Dodge Intrepid ( DW1324).

Glass One was $286.00
89 Glass was $ 290.00
Windshieldsmith was $ 291.00

Then I went to the S******* website for the same part.
Their price was $284.00

Is it me, or have they raised their own cash prices?


Let us hope............

Maybe in some areas.Not here, they hired a new sales rep and he is dropping prices.Dumb.

AGS quoted one of our accounts $175.00 for DY90072 yesterday, installed with kit.

There was a discusson about those sliders and backs the other day on here.....

I would hate to see the truck afterwards for that price.

Or, assuming it was done right, I would hate to be the installer getting chewed out for taking so long to install it, due to the price quoted. lol

I won't even sell the slider for that, cash and carry.

On the other hand, I would actually install it neatly into the back of the truck for a bit higher than that price/no kit, slid nicely into the truck box, very careful not to scratch the paint on the bed as I slid it in. (have to be careful in these cases that none of the box staples are sticking up out of the slider box, of course.)

I don't see Belron raising prices. If anything they will begin to lower prices. The SGC delivery trucks are already delivering glass from the DCC warehouse to their new partners! The SGC takeover has already begun. The management of SGC is in full control and already barking their orders. "Units Units Units". Price is not important to them. They will do whatever it takes to just schedule the job.
Soon their will be a flood of installers looking for a shop that does not use SGC glass! Be ready!

To make a short story Looooooong:
Hello, my handle is Magician, and ....... I used to work for SGC. [HOLD YOUR HORSES, I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING]
You see, once upon a time we were the biggest (but still the best) glass shop in town; auto and flat. It was a family owned biz. Then this company called SGC made an offer to buy our auto side. Yada, Yada, Yada, the owner took 'em up on the offer. Commercial and residential moved NEXT DOOR and continued to operate under the original name with the owner's son becoming the 'new' owner. The 'old man' (all due respect) and I stayed on as Manager and Installer at the newly named SGC store.
He ran that SGC shop JUST LIKE HE DID HIS OWN. So, needless to say, the DCC and phone ppl loved to try to stack work on us, and lowball the competion, the old man didn't go for it. (heheh, he only sold the biz, not the building) The 'ole man' still had the trump card.... Well, i left after 5 years, and the 'ole man' stayed for 9 1/2 years...... 6 months short of retirement. Well after the 9 1/2 years, he had enough...... Not to mention the lease was gonna be up after 10 years.......Well after the lease was up ( and the no competion clause), he booted 'em out.... a few more details....Yada, Yada, Yada..... And here we are again...STILL....
So, if you can make SGC fit in a pinchweld.....you too can be called a Magician.
Now for the moral of this story.......The point I am trying to make is:

GlassWoman: Units Units Units . Price is not important to them. They will do whatever it takes to just schedule the job.

That's a great story Magician! I too worked for SGC. I started on at Windshields America and then went to Vistar and then to SGC. It turned into a complete nightmare. They didn't believe in having CSR's in the shop (in this area at least) and I refused to go to the DCC or "call center". They were nice enought to keep me in the shop. I stuck it out for about 8 months after Belron split. They have been trying to get me back ever since! They couldn't pay me enough to work there again.
Now I am partnered with the best of the best! My installers are happy and I don't have to deal with uphappy customer's!!
I still don't see "Belron" raising prices. The cost of goods for them got even better. If you pay $50 they are paying $12. Well for an SGC part anyway!!

Watch out for the glass.net website. These three companies that they list are all the same company... as it is just a marketing ploy to think you are getting three seperate quotes. BIG SCAM

I believe you will see changes that will be positive, but it won't happen overnight. Belron will let things run for 4 to 6 mos. and then start to make changes. I could be wrong but I don't think so. Belron has been down the Safelite path before and I'am sure they have not forgotten.

So hacking the prices are going to be positive at anytime?Whatever.They are not ags anymore,they are safelite,In the midwest anyways.Why are so many good techs leaving then,they know something we dont?

I doubt anything has changed - even though Belron bought SGC, they are apperently keeping the existing management in place.

weather related business may have affected cash prices in east & midwest, but that won't last.

Hmmmm The real magic trick would have been to lift the cape and...... ta da a real installer... not just some has been whining about an honest day's work. Everytime SGC comes up it seems all the hacks that couldn't install( read FIRED employees) whine about the employer that taught them in the first place.

i think it is to early to tell, they took over, what a week ago?

Hey Big Glass I think you are way off base in your thinking about SGC employees. I'll grant you there are some hacks there, like anywhere else, but by no means does Safelite have the market cornered on that type of installer. Any nationwide chain is going to have their fair share of sub-par installers. As independents who take pride in what we do as our means of making a living, we have to make sure we have/are the best of the best. Just because someone doesnt tape out the A-piller and hood or doesnt remove a cowl, doesnt mean they are automatically added to the Hall of Hacks and Butchers. Remember just because a glass says "SGC" on it doesnt mean Safelite installed it.

I have no love for the SGC Network by any means and to tell the truth I am really angry that more American dollars will be going over sea's with this buy out. I despise their steering policy which should be illegal in all 50 states.IMHO it is dishonest to allow ANY installation company to be the contact for the insured, and I say that knowing plenty of agents in my area, personally, that would send me buisness directly, if that were still allowed. Say what you like about Lynx, but at least when the customer has no preferance they get a list to choose from (unlike SGC). Its up to you to price yourself onto that list. "Has Belron raised prices?", the question should be, "how much Belron stock does Nationwide own".

I would rather see discussions on how we as independent glass shops are going to deal with the fact that we will, at some point in the not too distant future, have to stop using OEM glass to do our installations. This buyout is going to make that happen sooner than later. Anybody else on here seeing "FYG" glass being called Pilkington or getting "XYG" and it being called PPG. I wonder how many people on here will be able to afford to only buy their glass at the dealerships, to continue to offer their customers a quality product, and how long it will take insurance companies to quit authorizing OE glass. How long will it be before our NAGS discounts to insurance companies price us out of being able to afford to use quality products. I mean I cant speak for others, but I take great pride in showing my customer that they are getting the same manufacturers glass as what came from the factory....APT...Carlite...PPG...LOF/Pilkington..
Sekurit(or however you spell it). Think that doesnt make a difference, tell the person who owns that 06/07, 30K+ car, that you are doing an installation on that you are using a cheap aftermarket glass and see if they ever call you again. Too bad for them they wont know the difference when their friendly neighborhood Belron installer comes by installing those great Chinesse and Malaysian products.

Mudflap,

Go to the mall and buy a $600.00 Coach bag, then open it up and see where it was made. CHINA. In fact, chances are 40% of the glass you are showing off to your customer is from CHINA with a PPG or Pilk bug on it.

Like it or not pretty much everything is from CHINA...

Just say NO,

My point about the glass logo, was that pretty soon we will be paying premium pricing for those types of glass, like one does for "Safeguard" glass. In my area with all the lowballers we have, its nice to be able to justify my pricing for a safe, quality installation with something the customer can see and understand. The may not understand (nor care) about all the subtle things we do to insure this. The training we have, ect.They do understand that if it were body work they would want OEM parts for replacement, and that their windshield replacement should be the same. IE. You put back what you pulled out.

In a world where we hear "what Granny says Granny does..." Its nice to be able to say "Granny never installed any glass, and the glass that they put in wasnt OEM". Its not so much a gripe about where it was made as it is a gripe about the manufacturer associated with the name attached to the glass and the assumption of quality (on the customers part) that goes with that name.

Show me a glass that fits better in a new Honda Pilot or Acura MDX than a APT, a FW822 that fits better than a Canadian made PPG, or a Mexican made Carlite DW1317 or DW1218. I dont care as much about where its made as long as it is the OEM manufacurer, and thats what that branded name implies to the customer. When Belron gets all the rest of the insurance companies because they contract rates at $200 a unit no matter what it is, because they use "FYG","XYG",and "MGX" they are getting for $10 a piece, what will you use then as a way to "show" a NEW customer the difference between you and them. Can you "show" them in a phone call all the safe practices your guys do, using alot of technical jargon they dont understand nor in all likelyhood care about?? But an OEM trademark is something they can...A. Ask about and insist on with other installation companies and B. See with their eyes and understand when the job is being done. Any advantage I can get over the "Big Boys" and lowballers is one I like to use, and I dont like the direction I see things going.

Changes? -- Just when I thought the prices were rock bottom, along comes Belron/Safelite/AGS at $125.00 mobile -- for a DW1217.....

Former Belron shops (Autoglass Specialists, etc.) might have found their prices going down since they can't turn down SGC referrals now.

I would bet Larry's life that within 5 years all Domestic OE manufacturers for glass on new cars will be Asian anyways. Union vs. non-union parts will force our GM/Mopar/Ford, etc makers to outsource to Asia for everything or else they will continue to fold up across the country.

Long winded are we mudflap???

The management has already begun to change in my area. The store managers from the AGS/Elite/Gp stores are now underneath of the SGC big wigs.
I can't help but giggle! Yet I do feel so sorry for them. The ones that have been around long enough should know what they are in for.

I'm sorry Al, I am kind of new here, do you perfer a kiss on the cheek before I vent..or a warm fuzzy hug??

We use XYG, FYG, BSG, Apex Auto Glass.

Buts who's MGX ?

Also do you guys in USA get any encapsulated body glass or door and quarter glass with hardware from XYG or FYG ?

That was my point bqa. Give it a little time.

Hey NZ,

I have used some FYG encapsulated parts and did'nt think too much of them, especially FQ's in 90-93 honda accords. I have also used alot of XYG dw1217's and thought the side mouldings were cheaply made and they always seemed to have a major bow of swag across the top along the roofline.XYG also makes a crap dw1218 and 1460 both are about 1/4 inch short in length and the mouldings on them are hard as a brick. I feel sorry for you if thats the only glass you get to use, but look on the bright side, if you get used to turning chicken poop into chicken salad on a daily basis you become one hell of an installer if/when you ever get to use some good product.

Hey, mudflap. Be as so-called "long-winded" as you like to make your point. Much of what you say makes sense and other of your comments force me to at least think twice before I agree or disagree.

There are many problems in our business and, as far as I"m concerned, none of them can be solved by a spray of Bactine or simply putting a band aid over the wound.

The increasing lack of any decent gross margin within our business is serious! Off-handed comments are counter-productive, insulting, and only serve to reveal less than deep-thinking insight by the author of such.

The only way to get back on a decent profit track is for the independents to organize and forums like this are the first step.

Those who bore easily or perhaps think that surface knowledge opinions impress others in the forum are off base even though they may think that they are clever.

Some of my own comments might even approach the length of Tolstoy's novel War and Peace if that's what I feel is necessary to make a point.

Thanks for taking the time to enter your thoughts as well as your thinking behind them whether arguable or not.

Hey Jim,

I was forced to use XYG for a couple years and I cant stand their product. The film that always seems to be on the windshields as well as the mistakes in dimensions and sup-par mouldings make me question their QC department. On the other hand FYG makes a descent windshield, though some of their tempered parts (doors and quarters more so than backlites) leave alot to be desired. I dont think I am wrong (though I could be) in saying, if price were not an object every installer on here would PERFER to use OEM products.

My final comment is nothing but the truth. I DID have to turn chicken poop into chicken salad for almost 10years, it did make me a better installer and now I am a bit jaded when it comes to using anything but OEM. I lose alot of cash work being that way, but I would rather work for people who care as much about their vehical as I do and I really dont care to prostitute myself in a cash price battle. Like someone else said, there are plenty of people who enjoy seeing how low they can get a price, calling from place to place, LoL, never once thinking, what corner is that shop cutting to get so low. So what if I miss out on that sale, I make up for it in repeat buisness from customers who do care.

In our area there are plenty of companies who are willing to lose money on a job JUST so someone else wont get it. They waive deductibles and do all kinds of other insentives (free steak dinner with installation) to get work. When you have people who are willing to do that, you can bet that they ARE NOT going to enter any agreement to maintain pricing to help boost everyones profit margins. The only way I can see of maintaining these margins and for clamping down the "lowballers" is to do away with deductibles on winshield replacements like it is in Florida, but of course then you get people willing to pay the customer in cash to do the work. There will always be the customer who thinks a quality installation is one that doesnt leak, thank God their are others who understand its a whole lot more than that. I wish the TV show 20/20 would do another expose' on the glass installation buisness again, I cant remember another time when customers actually cared about having a quality installation, demanded OEM glass, and didnt mind paying for it!!!

Just had a customer tell me Belron quoted them $119.00 for a FW2371 (03 4runner). So, NO they are not raising prices but lowering them. What a joke they are to our industry.
I still got the job at MY Price!

I wouldn't sell them even the glass for that!!!!

I can't see how anyone is out there selling that windshield for $119!!!

I MIGHT sell them just the glass for that.

Wouldn't sell it for that, before tax LOL!

That store must be desperate!!!! I heard they are switching over to the SGC computers now too.

Oh My!! Tell me they can't switch over to the dreaded SGC computers.. Run for the hills and kiss your tushie goodbye!! They are using SGC computers. When did SGC start making computers??? If this is true, say no more, I'll be digging my bomb shelter.

Make sure you build an extra room in your bomb shelter for me!!!

they may not yet know how turn them on - therefore all the coverage verification problems.

We all can complain about how things are going, but unless we want to get a new job, we need to find a way to help ourselves. The only way I can figure to do this is by sticking together by means of IGA etc. Make all our voices one and out number them in that manner. Also we n eed to be teaching our customers every chance we get! Use education in our advertising. Make a push to teach our agents what is happening and what can happen to them if their customers are being refered to substandard practicing glass companies, just because the customer may not have been directly refered by that agent it is the agent who will ultimatly be held to blame. They really need to be made aware of how important this matter is to everyone not just us. What is happening now is affecting everyone. Bottom line is still WHAT CAN WE DO to stop it!

Reall too bad that we can't do something like body shops are doing with the "right to repair" act.

Oops! (typo) Really too bad

Am I wrong in assuming that the "Right to Repair" act covers auto glass shops as well?

AGN, I really need to get more detail on this but it seems that the body shops are the ones pushing it. I have seen several articles on Glasbytes but haven't had time to really research it. Anyone else had time to get further in to this?

AGN- I was thinking the same thing about the right to repair act. Why wouldn't it cover us? After all we are "Repairing" damage on a vehicle. Interesting question.

I'll add it to my list of things to research.

Perhaps we should be pushing it as well if it will truly help us.