Why is it,that,most of the people i talk to,do not want to put any kind of glass claim thru their insurance company.Why should they be afraid that their deductible will go up or policy amount may go up or even be dropped completely?Now i'm not talking about customers who have filed a claim or two in the past year,i'm talking first timers.
I would like to be able to tell my customers that it should not change a thing,but i can not say that with confidence anymore.Is this not the reason they have insurance in the first place,to feel safe and secure?
Only to be told after their FIRST stone chip repair that their deductible will be raised or if they file another claim within the year it will go up and they will have to review their policy.
I do not want to have my customers pay c.o.d.(even tho it does help the cash flow)when they are covered by insurance.
So;Hal,why are they afraid?

IMHO I suspect the problem is 'Urban Legends' or more correctly not being fully informed of the real facts.

While Insurance is 'Experience Rated', a windshield claim normally wouldn't lead to any premium increase as it isn't treated as an 'at fault' accident by many companies.

If your customer is concerned, they can confirm possible impact on their ninsurability with their insurance agent.

I do see many folks who would rather pay the smaller claims from their pocket than turn in a small claim to their carrier, and this might make sense for 'at fault' type accidents.

IMHO I suspect the problem is 'Urban Legends' or more correctly not being fully informed of the real facts.

While Insurance premiums are 'Experience Rated', a windshield claim normally wouldn't lead to any premium increase as it isn't treated as an 'at fault' accident by many companies.

If your customer is concerned, they can confirm possible impact on their insurability with their insurance agent.

I do see many folks who would rather pay the smaller claims from their pocket than turn in a small claim to their carrier, and this might make sense for 'at fault' type accidents.

Let's try this wording on the question at hand, Hal:

Does State Auto report glass claims into the CLUE database?

For those that don't know what CLUE is, it's the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange, and while it was mostly intended for property claims, it's most definitely being used for auto claims, we are finding.

Claims are input to guage customer history of claims, not singular to any specific insurer but to the consumer by name. A CLUE history is like a credit history or credit rating, which is being used to calculate insurance premiums in part also.

Some consumers are finding a entry in the CLUE database only for calling and inquiring about coverage, but not actually filing any claim, yet an entry is apparantly made into the database just for asking about coverage as if a claim was made. Some entries specify a claim entered, but zero dollars paid, but still a claim. Of course all this leads to the 'three strikes in the CLUE Report and you're out' scenario, which much of the controversy centers on. Similar with the credit scoring issues.

It's fascinating reading. We're finding many consumers that are just plain scared to file claims. You have to hand it to the insurance industry; pay for a service in advance but be afraid to use it. When was the last time you didn't pick up your phone, or turn on your TV because you were afraid of the bill going up or the service being cancelled because you used it? lol Same thing.......really.

Having the insured consult about their rates prior to filing a claim would be great if the agents would play fair! Most times when customers call their agents and inquire the agents tell them "no problem, I'll handle that for you" then the agent calls up good ol safelite to schedule their appointment. What a Joke!

seems to me i read an article recently where insurance companies are experiencing people filing less and less claims,,,,and they can't figure out why.

after all the news articles i have read telling people not to file claims or they may be cancelled, i am at a loss as to figure out how the insurers cannot figure out why there are less claims.

wish i was selling a product, required by law, but people were to afraid to use, sounds like a gold mine. ha ha

Hal- How does your company handle a rusted pinchweld? We done a job for an agent today on a 97 Mazda 626 that Safelite done 5 years ago.My tech had to spend almost 2 hrs to do a rust treatment . The agent told me that rust is considered wear and tear and the customer is responsible for payment for the treatment. He also told me that in the last 10 yrs they only paid for this once and it only paid $35 per hour no more than 2 hours paid out per claim.

We in the AGR field have been taught that rust is caused by a faulty installation , so if what we where taught is true than how can that be considered wear and tear?

Ralph may be referring to an article to which we linked recently on glassBYTES.com: Accident Claims Plummet, Baffling Insurers (http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=21534)

He's not the only person who felt compelled to comment on what he read. AGRR mag/glassBYTES.com received an e-mail from a reader named Don who also commented on the story. He has granted us permission to post his e-mail here. He wrote:

"It should be pretty obvious to the insurers why there has been a drop in accidents reported.

"Almost without exception, if a customer reports an accident it raises his insurance rates for the next three years or so. Rather than take a chance on having their rates increased, more and more people are not reporting their accidents, but instead paying for the damages out of pocket or just not having the repairs made. The net result is the insurance companies are making extraordinary profits. This will probably continue unless the insurance companies decide to reduce their premiums to gain market share and gamble that the drop in reported claims continues. Most customers feel their insurance costs are too high already, and they don’t want to jeopardize any further increase. Therefore, the only claims that get reported are the larger ones."

AH-A/G
We view rust as a maintenance issue rather than a covered loss. We have had cases such as you described-got one now in fact. The Insured had a w/s replaced 5 years ago, and now has rust.

The original installer is checking their records to see what notes are on their work order regarding the condition of the pinch weld 5 years ago when they did the job.

The installing shop could have liability exposure for an improper installation, and if so-they would cover the rust repairs--not the insurer.

The car I am dealing with is 21 years old and has rust thru in the fenders, doors, and deck lid as well.

We are helping the owner get some answers--but we have no coverage for rust repair.

Certainly it is important to do the job right the first time.

Thanks for the answer.

I had an insured tell me the other day that he called his insurance company regarding a claim, he had backed into someone in a parking lot or something similar and done minimal damage to the other car, after speaking to his insurer he decided to just pay the damages out of his pocket and not file a claim. When he received his next billing his premium had gone up, when he called his agent he was told it was due to the claim he did not file, he was told because he informed them of it, it was applied to his rating experience, or whatever insurance speak would be for that. Can you believe that?!

If it was a reportable accident and a police report was filed, then it still is gonna go on your driver's license record and thus be able to be looked at by the insurance companies, whether you filed a claim or not.

Thanks for the reply GLASSGOD, but the insured told me there was no police report filed, as the incident occured on private property, and the other driver agreed not to call the police. The only info the insurance agent got was the questions regarding a claim from the insured. No police report, no claim, premium still went up. Of course this is heresay, just something a customer told me, could be true, could not. But the way insurance companies are these days, I tend to believe him, and he's a pretty good customer, not a stranger.

There's tons of stuff up about this. It's called the CLUE database.

Google it, and read on for tons of info.