I just got off the phone with a Colorado Farm Bureau customer who said she was told to get three quotes and then take the cheapest one, pay the full amout to the glass shop and then send it to the agent and they will waive part of her 100.00 deductible.
I thought it is illegal to waive deductibles.
I called the Colorado Farm Bureau's auto glass rep.
Scott Krug at 970-245-8107 and he said he was told by their attorney that is their new policy.
I have been trying to get ahold of the Colorado State Insurance Commissionaire David Rivera at 303-984-7490
to see if this latest move is legal.
Anyone else seen this kind of activity?

Thats a load of BS !

just make sure you quote people and insurance jobs the same, that should put an end to it.

Pat, please post your email address.

I like it, at lest well will be able have a fair chance at the job. If all the insurance companies did this we could say goodbye to the TPA's

Two things:

First, estimates and bids are opinions. INVOICES are all that matters. Further on this issue, WHAT is IN the estimate or bid MUST be considered by the insurer. Case Law, insurer must consider quality of glass, quality of materials, quality of installers and level of services provided.

Also, in our state, the insurer MUST assure that work is being done in a skillful manner when the shop and the insurer are affiliated. This affiliation is defined as simple as an understanding between the shop, and the insurer. I am not sure that this will get them around the affiliation issue, but it will really put a dent in the "insurer warranty" claims, now won't it? I'd be using each of these things with the insureds if this happens here. Also, remember Allstate got in some pretty serious trouble a while back, by running their insureds out to the lowest bidding lawyers, when Allstate had the duty to defend.

It's not about the lowest BID or ESTIMATE, their contract is to indemnify the insured against loss. BIDS and ESTIMATES are old wive's tales, no policy I have EVER seen said such a thing about getting three bids and taking the lowest.

Farm bureau here has a written policy clause that says the insured MUST give WRITTEN NOTICE OF LOSS before any claims will be paid. LOL Wonder how they do that when they tell folks to call the 800 number?

Now, the second point that this brings up: INsurers can break their own 'policy' as in 'company policy' whenever they choose. What they cannot break is the CONTRACT of insurance, that is the INSURANCE POLICY that is a CONTRACT with the customer.

An insurer may choose to waive a deductible whenever they wish, because that waiver constitutes an action that financially does NOT benefit them. Now, if it DOES BENEFIT THEM, well that's another story.

If this action on their part is to get the consumer to a lowball shop, in order to save the insurer more than the amount of the deductible reduction or something to that effect, well, they still have the contractural obligation to indemnify the insured against the loss. The lowball quote may not DO that.

This brings us to the end of my tirade, and that is with this information in hand, and after you read your state laws surrounding bad faith claims practices, CO has some good ones, contact your state DOI and PUSH the issue. IS Farm Bureau FULFULLING their contractural obligations under State Laws AND the insurance contract with this practice?

Hope this was helpful.

Sounds like they will reimburse the insured for their expenses. I bet anything they short pay the insured by the full deductible amount. Promises promises

I am in Florida, and state law requires the insurance company to waive deductables for windshield replacements. So we have to deal with TPA's here quite a bit. Now anybody in this business who knows me, and that is quite a lot of people in this state knows that I am NOT a sell out to the TPA's. I do have to say that of all of the TPA's here, the easiest to deal with is Lynx. The worst is safelite. While State Farm and Allstate do represent a pretty large customer base to go through Lynx, it sure seems like most of the other major insurance companies go through Safelite. That sucks. Now, if the insurance companies told the insureds to get 3 quotes and they would pay the lowest, if that meant getting the jobs out of Safelite's hands, I could live with that. After all, that is what capitalism is all about. It will then be the jobs of our CSR's to actually sell the jobs and our workmanship to our customers. I personally will not work at Progressives rates for good glass. When a Progressive insured calls, I explain to them that Progressive is under contract to deal with Safelite. Safelite uses glass that they make. Then I tell them about the quality of the product. Then I tell them that if they want me to do the job with that particular product at Progressives rates, I will. Now if they would like to have their car restored back with OEM glass, there will be a surchage above Progressives rates the the insurred must pay. I make sure the insured knows this before a claim is ever set up. Needless to say, I can't recall the last time a customer has requested of me to use the Safelite glass. They always want the OEM. The key here is to SELL YOURSELVES if you have something to sell that is. Around here, it is not just the major chains poor quaity workmanship and poor products. I replace broken windshields all the time that were replaced by local independents. I can say this, more that 50% of the time, when I remove the old glass, there is level 2 rust under there or worse. I am in independent who is the most anal retentive ***** when it comes to quality that you will ever meet. And nothing ****** me off more than seeing poor workmanship by anybody. If you step up, do good work and sell what you do in a capitalistic society, you will be fine. So back to the beginning of this post. If the insureds what the customers to get 3 quotes, bring it on. I bet I won't be the lowest, and I still will get the job.

It is illegal to waive deductibles in CO. (for anyone). The law is enforced and there is case history that backs it up.

Don't know what state law is, but it's forbidden in contract with TPA's to waive deductibles. Yet here in our market there is one company that does alot of TV advertising and yells louder than a used car salesman "if you've got a $100 or $50 deductible, we'll pay it for you". Now I don't know how or if they actually do it, maybe they are one of the companies that exists without signing on with the devils (tpa's), even if that's the case and they direct bill, the insurance companies see their TV ads just as the public does...Al I know for sure is that they are making it hell for the rest of us to try and explain to insureds that we CAN'T waive their deductible, you get "but G____ M______ does".

I live in Colorado and just had a chip repaired the other day. My insurance company waived the deductible. The insurance company set up the appointment for someone to come to my office. The only thing I did was make sure the car was there and sign that the work was completed. I am missing something about this conversation?

yes