Why Do Windshield Repair Places Lie to People About "free" Repairs?

[badkitty]

why do windshield repair places lie to people about "free" repairs?

sure, the $50 repair ends up being an insurance claim.... the customer pays nothing for now... but what if the insurance premium goes up the next year?
(especially for folks whose claim history or driving record is less than spotless?)

 

[djs]

Badkitty - you seem to be asking a lot of questions about claims lately. To be honest, this raises redflags with agents. They are minor things, but I'm a bit concerned about the number. Or maybe I'm confusing some posts.....

I would suggest talking to your agent about the issues with filing 'several' claims. A single windshield repair won't affect anything, but at some point, you have to look at the total picture, not just the one incident. Insurance carriers tend to have a limit before they will non-renew your policy, though that limit varies drastically.

Dan

 

[badkitty]

Badkitty - you seem to be asking a lot of questions about claims lately. To be honest, this raises redflags with agents. They are minor things, but I'm a bit concerned about the number. Or maybe I'm confusing some posts.....

I would suggest talking to your agent about the issues with filing 'several' claims. A single windshield repair won't affect anything, but at some point, you have to look at the total picture, not just the one incident. Insurance carriers tend to have a limit before they will non-renew your policy, though that limit varies drastically.

Dan

I've always had a bunch of questions, just never got around to asking them.
Note: neither one of my cars currently has anything that needs to be done, so
all of my questions are hypothetical.

What set me off was the car dealership service dept who marked with my
windshield with little pink circles and tried to get me to use their "quality"
windshield repair.... what really ticked me off was that I noticed the guy
had taken my insurance car out of the glovebox and wrote down all my
insurance info on his clipboard WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. I gave him the
3rd degree because I felt that it was just wrong. After I went back to
the customer service lounge, I noticed that he continued doing this with
other cars that came in for service. Guess I need to find another place
for service. :(

 

[VolAgent]

A bit off topic, but it has always amazed me the number of people who drive around with huge cracks in their windshields. I even see people who should know better doing it, police officers.

I've always understood that to be a huge safety risk, and illegal as well I thought. Once it is cracked, it doesn't take much force to shatter. Then you are going through the windshield or have a lap full of glass.

 

[Aram Fingal]

One of the really big considerations with windshields in modern cars is that the passenger side air bag depends on the windshield to direct the air bag towards the passenger. If the windshield is damaged, it might just pop out and make the air bag useless.

While I'm not necessarily opposed to the "free" windshield repair places, I definitely don't like some of the deceptive practices I see going on out there. They should be up front with people about how this works, letting them know that it's an insurance claim (if for no other reason than giving their insurance company some credit). The big problem is these places that do "repairs" to what is normal pitting due to age. You also have to wonder with the previous example, how many times that place files a claim even if they don't do the repair, since they already have the insurance info.

 

[badkitty]

One of the really big considerations with windshields in modern cars is that the passenger side air bag depends on the windshield to direct the air bag towards the passenger. If the windshield is damaged, it might just pop out and make the air bag useless.

While I'm not necessarily opposed to the "free" windshield repair places, I definitely don't like some of the deceptive practices I see going on out there. They should be up front with people about how this works, letting them know that it's an insurance claim (if for no other reason than giving their insurance company some credit). The big problem is these places that do "repairs" to what is normal pitting due to age. You also have to wonder with the previous example, how many times that place files a claim even if they don't do the repair, since they already have the insurance info.

I did some more searching online and apparently some windshield repairs
don't even tell customers that it's not really free. They just tell customers
that they'll take care of everything and then reach into the gloveboxes
to get the customer's insurance information. The customers don't find out
about it until policy renewal time.(assuming it has an effect on the next
year's premium) Isn't that borderline illegal or fraud?