Imagine if the AGRR industry had a wealthy benefactor and funding a big, expensive campaign was not an obstacle. What would be the best strategy to employ to put pirate TPA’s like Safelite Solutions in their place?...in the trash heap of rigged commerce.
Please...no goofball replies. But if you have a serious thought, we’d really love to hear it.

I'd like to see TPA's done away with and a tiered pricing structure for OEM, OEE, and Aftermarket glass. Some type of third party licensing and accountability of techs and shops, nothing done in-house. That's a start

Best strategy is to ignore the TPA's. When your customer wants you to bill his insurance company, take quality digital pictures, have him sign an ironclad assignment, get all the necessary information as to who, what, where, when and why the loss occurred and then submit that info along with a reasonable invoice to his insurance company (NOT the TPA). Do not accept short pays for any reason.

Bring the heat to the insurance industry's doorsteps. Force the head offices to comment on the price fixing and claims handling practices that favor one retail company. Ask why the companies choose to funnel all their claims through one retailer at the expense of many small businesses. Does the insurance industry "use" Slite to control pricing and drive rates lower and lower? Of course.

Hire a big, worldly PR firm to take on the squirrels at Belron. Challenge Feeney to explain the tricks that Belron plays on the Network participants. Where has Thomas Feeney gone? He seems to make himself pretty scarce these days. Make them account for the marketing money that all their sales reps spend on insurance agents, staff and the execs from the insurance companies. Challenge those companies execs to explain the baseball, Football , Hockey tickets. Then move on to the golf rounds and gifts that end up at the execs offices.

Hire a savvy law firm to tie up Belron's legal team for the next ten years. Frustrate the lawyers with guys that make $500 an hour and are worth every penny. Send the lawyers back to divorces and custody cases.

Perhaps ... someday.

I think a grass roots start up of a CO-OP set up within different regions of country.We could bulk purchase , handle warranty assistance nationwide and with the savings pool our money to get a national lobbyist/ sales team to put us front & center with the decision makers for the major Ins. company's ,have our in house billing service, and what about a TV commercial showing guys with 20 or more years experience as a small business owner operator highlighting the fact that we offer that personal touch to there prized vehicles.I khow this sounds far fetched but its not a dream of a money donor putting up $ to help us indy,s its a plan wrote up on a napkin at some Diner anywhere USA.

Start getting every customer involved. Point out the two corrupt business models in use today. The first is the GAI (guaranteed average invoice) Model where Insurers hire TPA's that will agree to settle claims on a specific pre-determined average invoice whether the claim is only for repair as opposed to replacement. The insurer gets to set prices instead of negotiating them. The TPA becomes the enforcer and a competitor to the service providers because it now has a vested interest in keeping prices low in order to stay under the GAI.

Second is where the TPA is also the service provider which is an obvious conflict of interest and puts the TPA in the position to lord over its own competition and clearly violates the public policy set clear back to the 1963 Consent Decree where auto insurers said they would not steer and then have ever since.

The most egregious is when both business models are used by the same TPA. The TPA gets to negotiate an acceptable GAI for its service providers and enforce depressed rates on its competitors to keep them at bay and then gobble them up when they succumb to the unfairness.

Both models depend upon the use of coercion in order to get lazy or tired independent shop owners to sign network agreements in order to keep TPA's from telling their customers that they are not on "the list" of preferred providers and unfairly and deceptively suggesting to the policyholder that they may have to pay more than their applicable deductible and to keep the TPA from caddishly calling into question their warranties.........

Hopefully, the pendulum will start to reverse course.

That's what 'they' want...wealthy...funding...expensive...

You've had all of this at your fingertips, and it's absolutely free. Because you don't want to leverage it, don't blame or beg somebody else for it.

What you're looking for is easy, BUT if you don't have enough vision the OP will always be making the same statements.

Spell it out? Sure. Absolutely not in this medium.

Why not start a push to have insurance companies quit covering windshields. Most deductibles around here are $500 or more. Treat the windshield like a disposable piece of the engine, oil/air filter, belts, brakes etc. That way, we don't have to bill insurance at all, except in the case where the windshield is covered in an accident. With that scenario, all TPAs are out of business overnight, and with a comprehensive education campaign, customers will take their vehicle to whomever they like, and get what they pay for if they use a bottom feeder.

Great idea, but many years ago that was tried in New York and it was shot down. There may be some states that have it, New Jersey comes to mind, but the insurance rates aren't any lower. In New York, it was determined to be anti-consumer and it is also something that would have to be handled on the state level. But, be careful, you may get what you wish for, but not like it. Compare cash prices in urban areas, where there are many who do not have full glass coverage, to suburban areas where many do have full glass coverage. If is all a cash market, the urban cash prices will move quickly move to where you are.

Fubar, I always read your posts with great respect to your knowledge.

You threw me a curve ball on this one.

First, why would you want a tiered structure to include a totally ambiguous conjured up, invented, created, obfuscated term such as "OEE"?? A term that has no relevance, no quantifiable proof, nothing but a name conjured up out of thin air?

Second, why do you want anyone to tell you how to price the products and services you sell? How's that worked out so far? What makes anyone think that it, in any fashion, by anyone or any entity, will do it any better in the future? (See: HEALTH CARE, HMO, PPO)

Third, I may concede to licensing, in that barbers have to be licensed, but we don't, but past that, any entity so far attempting to do such has been overrun by insurers and their cronies. So serious sa f e guards to stop such interference and influence politically must be put in place.

I have no idea why I needed spaces in sa f e guards to stop the bleep police from allowing f e g in the middle of sa f e guards.

As always, this is JMHNLO.

The reason for the tiered system is simlpy this. I see 3 levels in our industry when it comes to glass. There is the dealer parts (OE), the aftermarket from OE manufacturers (OEE)such as PGW (DOT904), Pilk, etc, and strickly aftermarket such as SGC, XYG, and so on. I don't understand why they should have the same list. If I'm buying parts for my truck such as brakes, I expect to spend more for dealer parts than if I go to Autozone or Advance. That's my whole point behind it. I'm not an owner of a shop and I don't intend to be anytime soon. Quite the contrary, I plan to get out this mess. Getting a little tired of it.

Thank you for the kind words at the beginning.

I know the whole system would have to be based on DOT numbers and traceable. Only way it would work as I see it. I've heard to term, OEE for several years. To me, it's putting a PILK or PGW glass in a Ford instead of Carlite. Just an example.

As for licensing, I know that would be a nightmare in implement and enforce. I'm sure it would involve some type of committee that would not only set standards, but have inspectors that would enforce them. Inspect a percentage of vehicles to ensure that the standards are met. I feel that if we, as an industry, could do this, we could tell and show the insurance industry that we are setting a quality standard and need to be paid accordingly.

The whole thing was just a thought.

Please allow me to abbreviate your reply to two relevant parts, to form one sentence. I believe/hope that what was in between won't be lost after I make my point.

You said: "The reason for the tiered system is simlpy this, we could tell and show the insurance industry that we are setting a quality standard and need to be paid accordingly."

The only folks we should be telling anything to, in reference to your details regarding the difference in the parts, is the buyer, the person contracting us to repair the car, the property owner, the car owner, THE customer.

The insurer, nor the network, nor the TPA, is any of those. So, since there is no such thing as "insurance business" in our business, and that simple fact and our industry's lack of recognizing it, is what has caused all of the problems, or, "the mess", that you speak of, we should not be chasing our tails trying to prove our worth to folks that want to pay for cubit zirconias when they sold a policy to replace diamonds.

It would be a loss for us to lose someone with your experience, and I certainly don't disagree with your assessment of the difference between parts as you described it, save for the "OEE" designation, that was invented by Safelite to describe their own parts, but never was proven as accurate in any way. That all of those different parts are all lumped into one NAGS price, I couldn't agree more. Of course, I believe NAGS has designed it that way, and I believe that's where Solera will go as well.

The insurers already know what you are speaking of, and don't care; they're laughing all the way to the bank and have been for several decades. Savings have been cited into the millions in the pilot phase of insurer glass programs alone.

My point is, simply, to borrow YEAF's sig line, that you're right to educate on the differences in what you're selling, but you're thinking of telling the wrong person, that isn't buying anything from you, and simply does not care to hear it, because things are working exactly as they designed.

"Who's the Customer?"

JMHNLO, and have a great weekend.

Well put Mark. Insurers would be happy if we use cellophane to cover the windshield opening if it means saving them a few bucks. And I hate safelites oee designation. I refuse to adopt that language, and I'm saddened by how many who have been willing to accept that there is such a thing. It's oe, it's oem, or its aftermarket. Period. And if we don't know the difference that doesn't bode well.
Who is the customer? The car owner of course! If they choose to use their insurance policy to pay us that's as good as cash, check, or credit card. But it will never make the insurance company my customer. And the TPAs? Don't get me started.

I agree with you Smiley. It's either Original or not. It's just a term I've heard for years, that's why I used it. To me, the end game is customer education. Insurance companies don't care about quality, only the bill. They want it cheap!! So, how do we, as an industry, educate the public? Maybe that's what we should be addressing.