Way to go Glass Service, and Chuck Loyd. If you haven't read the article on glass bytes, do so. Here in MN arbitration is working! It's got me thinking,,, statute of limitations,,, hmmm 7 years,,,, short pays,, good go for it tpa's and ins co's,,,I wonder if the independent shops added up ALL the NONREVENUE NEUTRAL invoices since feb 28th,(nags rebalance) what a sizable class action suit that could bring??? I think this shows shops should not be scared to charge what they believe to be FAIR. If it was fair in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, and so forth, why isn't it fair now??? I think the courts would see it so. Major kudos and hats off to all those involved. THIS WILL EFFECT THIS INDUSTRY! THIS is BY FAR the best news in a long time!!

This is huge!!! Now hopefully others will follow suit as some have already begun to and not let this victory go to waste!

WOW, I haven't followed this from the beginning so I don't understand the differences in the discounts over the 2-3 year period. I mean I wonder if the AG shop in the case was billing at different rates based on their cost per part or individual job as opposed to the "approved" discount structure at the time of referral, and the case of underpayment occurs when what is billed is paid at set insurance company discounts as opposed to actual glass shop invoice amounts. I read the entire article and the billing through the four arbitrations ranges from -14% to +43%. Obviously this glass shop did not belong to network, or he wouldn,t have a case right?

By selling our souls to the we agree to be screwed. Maybe now is the time for all independents to bail out of networks and start submitting our invoices our way, at our "fair and reasonable" rates.

This is great news! As far as I know Glass service was not on any networks, They decided to market to the consumer. Not that I agreed with George's marketing, but he did more for the independents than just about anyone in the history of auto glass. I believe the invoices are all from 02 and earlier and he billed at rates that were set from the first rebalance, when nags decreased the lists by around 68% and there was a small mark-up and basically before discounting started up again. As the tpa's and ins co's started to control the work and the price, Glass service hung in there, direct billed, kept track of all the short pays and is now about to reap the seeds they sowed. I say PERFECT! ARBITRATION WORKS! We have only 1 short pay, not collected,(allsnake) but at the time we were on lynx,, our own fault, since we got off the networks, no short pays, no discounting, some jobs yes we have to turn down, but I say let them have the non profit jobs, we'll take ones with profit or go fishin!

To the 'not on the networks' part:

If true, this would be a GRAPHIC representation of BIBLICAL proportions that there is LIFE outside the networks, I would say. 5700 short pays with only ONE insurer? Assuming even that EVERY job was short paid, you are still only speaking of ONE insurer/job reference.

The ability to go direct to the consumer and sell your services without network membership......

Gee, what a concept.

Now, if they were network members, well, an event of biblical proportions does not even BEGIN to describe this news, for obvious reasons. It would show that from a legal standpoint, the network contracts are just so much toilet paper.

hope this has a ripple effect

I believe he was not on the networks and started out billing at or close to network prices (NAGS -14%) and they short paid him anyway, much like has happened to me in the past.

It seems he may have then decided to bill a higher rate, since they were going to short pay him anyway, so he raised his billing to NAGS -0%.

They still short paid him, so he then raised his prices to NAGS +35%.

Of course they still short paid him, so he raised again to NAGS +43%.

He has now won all four cases, with the judge saying that insurance companies do not have the right to tell glass businesses what to charge. INCREDIBLE CASE and INCREDIBLE PRECEDENCE.

I will be sending Farmers a final warning by next week, via certified mail, on my short pays, and letting them know they can pay everything up or it's going to an attorney. Maybe they will pay attention now

Precedence. No question.

JAC, the person in charge of the glass program and deciding the rates is Mike Keller. Here is his e-mail
E-mail Address(es):
michael_keller@farmersinsurance.com

As I stated I haven't followed the case, and have been trying to read it a little bit at a time, between phone, and customers etc, etc.. I've only been in the biz for 28 months, but billing is part of my job. But it would make sense to me that he raised his prices from -$% to +$%, as NAGS kept lowering the list and suppliers kept raising prices, and TPA's and ins co's took larger discounts. If we all started bombarding and I mean every invoice to every network billed at at least NAGS list, we could bog them down in some way. Think of the time spent "rejecting" and recording error messages to shops. If we then as someone suggested in a previous thread began sending statements of unpaid insurance claims to the insured (in a way similiar to what Dr.'s do with patients) with the insurance company listed as debtor not TPA that the insureds would begin ringing the agents phones off the hook regarding timely payment of their claims. Bam hit em' with both barrels just a thought, a very fun thought

I would also send copies of those letters to the insurance head office, the local agency, the state insurance commissioner, and state attorney general office as well. Make sure the CC: is visible so that all parties know exactly who is aware of the letter.