Isn't it funny that insurers are complaining about being sued by auto glass shops!!! Notice that they never talk about how often they lose in these cases? Keep in mind that if a shop is awarded ANY amount in these lawsuits it proves that insurers are not paying a fair and reasonable price. Insurers will lose again and again but continue to short pay rather than negotiate with the shops that are suing. Can you imagine what they're paying attorneys? They would rather pay ridiculous legal fees than negotiate with shops because they're afraid more shops will insist on being paid a reasonable price.

And if you believe that a certain TPA didn't suggest what insurers could get away with paying you probably believe in the tooth fairy too. Insurers have been told what to charge with the assurance that there's nothing that shops can or will do. That's why every shop should collect EVERY short pay with whatever method available to them.

One more rant. I hate the rebates being offered and personally won't go down that road. But I understand why it's done. When a certain TPA receives first notice of loss for many major insurers how else do you fight steering?

If your paying attention you see one after another article/news story slanting the story about the bad glass companies filing bogus lawsuits causing premiums to rise. Safelite is just building their case via PR and soon they will buy some politicians and you wait assignment language will be changed to exclude auto glass. Then you can blame the harvesters for another blow to the industry.

I've reached out to several auto glass shops in Florida to get their opinion on the matter, so if you'd like to share your input, feel free to email me at kcoig@glass.com.

Thanks!

My input is that insurers are not paying a fair and reasonable price and they know it. The proof is in the fact that in court or arbitrations they lose over and over again. To blame lawsuits for premiums going up is a red herring. It costs ten times what they're saving on short pays to defend what they're doing. There are shops that misbehave, and there always will be. Some don't mind being dishonest, but that includes insurance companies and TPA's.

How about cutting out all TPAs and setting a fair market price for glass replacements across the board.
Let the shops deal directly with the insurance companies as you do with Travelers Ins.
That would probably end lawsuits and help shops make a living.
JMO
Mike

Shops already have the right to deal directly with insurers and do not have to join any TPA networks. More to the point, policyholders do not have to deal with TPA's.

True but most independents don't have the knowledge, the time, the resources or the courage to go up against the Both the TPAs and Insurance companies. They feel if they fight the system, the system will put them out of business.
JMO

Only the open market can be allowed to "set a fair market price". Anyone else, is wrong, especially if it isn't someone who is either buying, or selling, IN that open market. Otherwise, it's NOT an open market, and the price is essentially fixed. No entity could charge more for more exemplary service or innovation. Competition would stagnate and die. (Sound familiar?)

Examples of how that does not, cannot, work, are not singular to collision and glass. (Insurer influenced) There are more. The point is, only the buyer and seller can negotiate price, no one else has a legal right to "set" one.

Granted, profiteering after a hurricane can be an exception, but that's a different discussion.

JMHNLO

Thanks for commenting Mark. I was hoping you would respond and bring some common sense to the discussion, as you always seem to do.

I completely agree with you Mark1. Problem is as as long as anyone weather it be a TPA, Insurance Co. or an Agent has any influence over where a person takes their car there will never be a free market in Insurance replacements. The powers that be will always set a price & then there is always someone who will do it $10.00 cheaper for them and drive the price down. The cash market is the only free market out there.
Maybe setting high glass deductibles on glass may be the only answer.
JMO

Does that mean, S, that now that you're retired, you've capitulated? The only reason that "the powers that be" do what they do is because "the common folk" continue to allow them to get away with it.

This industry has no one to blame but themselves, if they continue to allow bullies to punch them in the face, and then try to set parameters by negotiating with those same bullies as to how hard they may punch?

Sure, that'll work. History has proven it...well, SOMEWHERE in history it had to have worked at least ONCE......(tounge firmly planted in cheek)

I don't mean to talk down to you S, so please don't think I am, but you've surprised me with your reply. The more of you, that know better, that retire, leave more youngsters in the game that haven't a clue what an open business model is. It's like trying to explain to new-born's what life was like on a planet before a nuclear holocaust. Since they have no reference to what an open market is, they just think what we have is normal because they can't imagine anything different, or, god forbid, BETTER. Unless someone who remembers what was IN the "books that were burned", and TEACHES them, and (From George Orwell's 1984), they will look up from their screens long enough to realize what's happening around them.

JMHNLO

Oh, and BTW, to reference what this string was about, Florida Lawsuits and Assignments, if you go back and look, you'll easily find the article about INSURERS saying lawsuits are raising premiums. If you look a bit further, you'll find the Florida DOI director quoted as saying the exact opposite. Insurer propaganda at its best.

Someone pointed this out to me, which describes it very well: "Am I to believe that FRAUDSTERS are going into a COURT OF LAW, and suing INSURERS for FRAUDULENT CLAIMS using ASSIGNMENTS, and getting away with FRAUD IN A COURT OF LAW? Is THAT what I'm expected to BELIEVE HERE? Really??? C'mon...."

I had to concede, that pretty much hits the nail on the head with a 16lb sledgehammer. Fraudsters are walking into a court of law suing insurers, and winning?....yep, makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Unless the fraudsters aren't fraudsters, or the insurers are incompetent, one or the other.

JMHNLO

Exactly my point. Insurers are losing lawsuits and arbitrations time and again. Come on people, common sense says the insurers are doing something wrong. Are they losing money? As one old timer told me years ago, " insurance companies didn't build their skyscrapers with their losses." The sad truth is that they will never be satisfied with being profitable. Greed will always make them want more, which means they have to take it from someone. Might as well be glass shops, right?

Maybe someone should form a company or association where shops could submit their short pays for litigation. There would be no fees or dues but the company would get a small percentage only on monies recovered. Like a collection agency. This would help shops without the time or resources to get their money. If done nationwide it would definitely help get a handle on short pays and bring attention to this issue.
LOoL yes Mark must be getting soft in my old age LOL
As always
JMO