First rock chip on my windshield.

I recently showed one of my insurance customers the result of an $85 rock chip claim when I was quoting his auto and home as a new customer. I can challenge the reporting of a claim as an error and eliminate the upcharge for the claim when I do people's auto and home quotes because sometimes there are claims on you CLUE report that simply are not yours. We can see the pricing with and without the claim factored in to your insurance pricing. So if the claim is fraudulent and not yours we can challenge them, but must substantiate with evidence. That $85 rock chip claim added $303/year to his quote. Stays on there for 39 months after the claim in Texas, so that's $303 (or even more during years 2 and 3) for three years: AT LEAST $909 more he is going to pay because he claimed the $85 rock chip. Paul pays for it himself now. Expensive lesson. Even so, we still saved him a substantial amount of money over the company that paid the rock chip claim.

Twenty one years in the insurance business here. I represent seventeen auto insurance companies. And yes, one way or another USAA will roll your glass claim into your yearly premiums. You armed services guys are just fooling yourselves about USAA. Excellent marketing they have done, probably better than any other insurance company, but they have ya'll believing they don't have to weather the same economic forces and realities of turning a profit that every other insurance company has to face to turn a profit. As a group it seems that you are just more easily influenced by their marketing. And you believe it. Ya'll definitely drink their Kool-Aid. Don't believe me? Look: you just defended an insurance company!

 

I'd steer clear of Safelite even with the “OEM replacement” option. I went through this with them earlier this year with my 4Runner... requested OEM glass, got one price. The morning of the install, they send another email upping the price because they said the OEM windshield cost more than they’d anticipated. After sitting on hold forever, I finally get the price back to the original quote. Tech comes out and has a different color tinted windshield than I’d requested. I check the part # on it and it’s for the entirely wrong Toyota vehicle anyways. He says he can still install it, no thanks.

Safelite brought the wrong OEM windshield (which cost hundreds less via Toyota vs the windshield that actually fits my car) and tried to charge me more for it while trying to convince me that it’d still fit. To say that was an enormous waste of my time is an understatement.

 

Nice when that afternoon sun illuminates the thousands of tiny chips like a stary night haha.

 

At the end of the day, there is no way for the end user to know. But you know what? You get insurance and you might never use it, or you might as well do. I don’t lose any sleep over my premiums “maybe” increasing or if the world will end tomorrow.

like I said on a previous reaponse, I’ve had them pay out multiple claims (hail) and haven’t seen an impact on the renewals. They most likely have a contract with safelite due to the THOUSANDS of repairs they get claims for a year.

Also its better for an insurance company to spend $85 than to spend your deductible on a $1k plus oem unit with calibration.

accidents and tickets will probably get them to look at you.

 

Yeah, there is no way for the agent to know either on the renewals. They don't tell us the formula they use to come up with renewal pricing, they just renew it. Insurance goes up most years anyway. It really goes UP after a claim of any type. If it doesn't that's an indication that you were already paying too much for insurance last year! What part of that pricing us due to a claim? I don't know on a renewal. They don't tell us. I can only tell you when I shop my customers around for new insurance, not the renewing policy. Been doing this long enough to know that people that don't have claims get better rates than those who do. And once your rate goes up because of a claim it is not coming back down. (That is called being re-tiered, and you never get tiered back down to a lower tier by the paying company, even when the claim ages past 39 months.) You have to jump to another company to get better rates, They will award you a better tier once the claim is off your record.

Any of you who have had insurance claims and haven't switched companies, you are paying too much. Seek other quotes. There are savings to be had out there.

 

I used to work in a glass shop. Most of the time chips can be fixed as long as they are around a quarter size or smaller. And haven't run yet. Lots of times they will almost completely disappear. It's cheap to. We charged 35$ and some insurance will pay for it since its cheaper than a windshield

 

I only quote majors every 6 months. Never a rinky dink insurance company(saw friends get burned when it came to responses during claim time). It really sounds like kool aid but USAA has always come out on top in terms of price next to the majors. The other problem is when you switch you will get a good rate and after the first renewal it flies up.

To anyone eligible, highly recommend checking out USAA.

 

Symbol, what company were you insured with that the rate "flew up" on the first renewal? Rates go up, always up, but which one renewed your policy with especially high rates?

 

I see that reality as nauseating. What are we actually paying for then? Then again, money isn’t real anyways. It’s just dirty paper that has “value” because we’re currently all inclined to agree that it does. Zoom out far enough, none of it matters.

 

Geico, I’m 99% sure that living in Miami for 4 years scarred my insurance profile for life (highest rates and lots of ambulance chasing lawyers). What I meant to say that if my policy was $1000 for 6 months, the renewal 6 months later would be $1200 without a claim. I don’t remember the exact amounts back then but I quoted USAA and got a rate that was around $150-$200 less. Thats when I started with them and I haven’t been able to leave due to price. I also left Miami and moved to Oklahoma and its been better.

again, I only do major names because I don’t want any BS when it comes to claim time, except to be taken care of unlike a close friend who had to wait almost a week to get a car rental approved and a month for his car to get fixed while they “investigated”.

I want the lowest price around well established companies, thats all. No loyalty to any except the one that gives me the best service and price at the time being.

 

Here is what you are paying for.

1. Daughter's boyfriend has an at-fault accident driving her car, a car that I owned. Because he is at-fault I AM AT FAULT, AND PRIMARILY LIABLE even though I was sixty miles away, because in Texas (probably in your state too), liability FIRST follows ownership before it looks to the driver as the secondary at fault. $197,000 settled it out of court. THAT I DIDN'T HAVE TO PAY A PENNY, OR SHOW UP A DAY IN COURT, OR PAY AN ATTORNEY.

2. My dog bites a guy standing on my boat trailer, trying to steal my rods inside the boat. Got him on video doing it. Little fucker sues me. I DON'T HAVE TO SHOW UP A DAY IN COURT, OR PAY FOR A LAWYER TO DEFEND ME.

3. My wife has Stage 4 cancer. Two months of medical bills total over $200,000 and counting. My part has been less than $10,000. Other than monthly premiums, I'm done. That out of pocket maximum on you health insurance policy? They are serious about that. Meet it and you are DONE. I don't have to pay another penny the rest of the year.

THAT's what you are paying for. THAT'S why you buy insurance.

 

I had a rock strike my windshield a few days ago driving on 90 outside Boston resulting in two small chips on the driver's side middle- right in my line of sight. I had my truck at the dealership on Friday to have the fuel pump recall taken care of, and while I was there I asked their collision and glass shop next door to check my windshield out. The chips are small, but they wouldn't glue them because of the location.

It's a good thing that I have good glass coverage on my insurance policy with no deductible. This shit gets expensive when you have to recalibrate the tss stuff too. How that can cost $300 I have no idea. My insurance company, Liberty Mutual, is partnered up with Safelite, so they tried to get me to go that route. It took some extra work to convince them to let me go with another company of my choosing. Here's the estimate for the replacement (w/ oem glass):

 

That's insane man. 13$ and 10 minutes and you're on the road again.

 

Yeah, completely nuts. Were it not for the fact that I'm totally covered by my policy I'd be gluing the chips myself and moving on.

 

$16 RainX Fix a Windshield Do it Yourself Windshield Repair Kit, for Chips, Cracks, Bulll's-Eyes and Stars

https://www.amazon.com/Windshield-Y...22946689&sprefix=windshield+re,aps,217&sr=8-7

I used this a few years ago and did it myself. Filled it almost perfect and you wouldn't see anything unless you were really looking for it.