View From The Trenches

Independent glass shops these days usually have a reason to be apprehensive. Profitability, much less survival, is not a guarantee that exists anywhere in their future. We face many conditions, some well out of our control and some not, which can influence our own actions and business models. The question for too many is: Do we act or just react to our largest challenges? Who or what are those challenges?

Some folks will automatically point to corporate glass. No doubt it presents a formidable obstacle to many independent auto glass companies. Their use of slave third-party administrators has funneled a substantial amount of higher profit insurance glass claims internally, depriving independents of both the work and even the opportunity, in some cases, to even compete for those jobs.

Corporate glass has several advantages over any independent. One of the larger concerns may be that corporate glass has both manufacturing and distribution resources that reduce basic material costs. For the largest, they have much deeper financial pockets and resources that can be used to overcome, some say even overwhelm, any sort of competition or improve infrastructure.

However, they are extremely vulnerable when it comes to flexibility and creativity due to their large multi-layer operations. An independent shop has the ability to provide flexibility and in many cases instant pricing and scheduling alterations that may influence consumers in a more positive manner.

With that being stated, a very slippery slope appears and far too many independents ignore its pitfalls. Take any urban area and it just seems that auto glass degrades into a war zone for both pricing and installation methods. An ignorant consumer with a need for economy becomes either an unwilling or complicit player in this dance of death.

Let’s look at comparison shopping. If a Tower of Babel ever exists, it could be found right here in Auto Glass Land. It is literally impossible to discern what a customer will actually get when quoted a price for a windshield. Most callers wouldn’t know OEM from ABC or XYZ for that matter. Far too many are under the illusion that all auto glass is the same, as are installation practices. With those false presumptions present, the barn is indeed full of sheep that are ripe for shearing. It appears that far too many independents are ready and able to apply those shears to consumers.

Would a multi-state corporate glass shop purposely replace a non-acoustic windshield in a customer’s car when it called for one? Would they use double back tape to hold a client’s rain sensor in place instead of using the correct bracketed glass? Would they filet an expensive molding and re-install it instead of using a generic or OE one? While there may be isolated incidents of such misdeeds, no rational or financially responsible corporation would indulge in such consistent behaviors and bill the customer for full value. The liability and reputation of a company would be recklessly exposed as well as its economic relationship with insurers or other corporate fleet customers. However this is not the case with many smaller shops. That fact alone causes a further erosion of trust between vendor and payer.

Free enterprise should not mean a free-for-all, but the fact is this country would rather embrace a “buyer beware” philosophy than a “nanny state” one. That opens the door for both fraud and abuse and it seems that there are far too many “Main Street” proprietors more willing to cut corners than anywhere else. Corporate glass is certainly no paragon of virtue or of craftsmanship, but it is far less likely to engage in the worst sort of practices that this industry is capable of.

As an owner, I am fighting two wars on opposite fronts to gain customers. I have to deal with well-funded corporate competitors who put forth a slick advertising message of professionalism and ease of service. The undertone of those ads is to provide a sense of stability and safety to consumers over the unknown of what they may get from an independent.

In my area, I have to endure shops who promise 20 minute installs at unworldly prices by similar techs using 10 year mini pick-up trucks that look like losers in a destruction derby. To a consumer who views them on a freeway or a parking lot, it may certainly validate the fear of the unknown that a Madison Avenue ad may invoke. Sad to say, they may certainly be correct.

Perception may certainly not be reality, but we as independents have to be very aware that it is equally as powerful. The more professional we become in all areas of operations, the stronger we become in resisting the pressures coming from both the top and bottom of this industry. It takes years to build a reputation and it may take a single misstep to lose one. Let consumers, not greed, guide our choices and actions.

For almost four years I have been writing this column. I have castigated certain companies or practices, railed against poor quality parts and tried to provide a little humor at times in a tough industry.  No doubt, this writer has repeated several maxims or has restated on many occasions how we in the auto glass business can improve. However, I have had a Tarsus moment where I have been struck by a blinding light and certain truths have been revealed to me. All of our problems are not industry-related. It has nothing to do with us. It is the public’s fault.

You guessed ‘er Chester. You read it right. What is wrong with auto glass installation has nothing to do with greedy corporate glass, steering, inferior or substandard parts or the hacks that profess craft competency, it is the general public who blindly and blithely thinks that all auto glass and installs are the same and that getting a “good deal” is based solely on pricing and immediate service.

I have never been surprised at the ignorance of the general public when it comes to our trade. In fact, it seems that there is an ostrich style of mentality that comes with the territory. It could be raining cats and dogs and a caller will demand mobile service within the hour to replace a windshield that has been cracked for months. If one cites the fact that under such wet conditions that job integrity would be better served if they waited 24-48 hours when forecasts predict drier weather, their response is that they want it done now and will find someone who will. The very sad fact is that someone would.

One wonders if anyone remembers the maxim: If something seems too good to be true, it is usually not true. Acoustic inner layers cost money or at least give a manufacturer and distributor a reason to charge more. I have had conversations with callers who chide me for being too high on glass with such features. Many times I am being given prices that won’t even cover acquisition costs and if I suggest to such callers that checking on what glass is actually being quoted by a competitor may be a good idea to them, usually I get a defensive response. Whose fault is it when a rain sensor falls off a windshield due to not having the proper bracket? Is it the fault of the shop that used a non-bracketed glass and applied double back tape to hold a sensor in place or the fault of the customer who thought they were saving $75 and getting a great deal?

What I have observed is the growth of the “I want it now” mentality within the general public. I recently got a call at 4:30 on a Sunday morning from an obviously inebriated person who just broke a door glass to recover his keys from his locked vehicle. Sorry to say, I did not accommodate his wishes much less take the time to give him a quote. I did give him an opinion of what I thought of his timing.

I truly believe the Internet has contributed to the impatience and the immediacy factor. One can Google auto glass and be awash in toll free 24/7 numbers or DIY quoting sites. Of course the brands of glass they are getting for that price or installation quality are factors that are usually ignored or incorrectly assumed.

Consumer ignorance or fear has allowed insurers, via TPAs, to direct work to particular shops for financial security. Without that factor present, today’s steering would not exist to the extent it does. The same thing is true for many marginal quality shops or mobiles. If consumers had any inkling of the variable quality of every facet that exists in today’s auto glass industry there would be an outcry of reform. Both corporate and far too many independents depend on the reluctance or inability of their customers to think or care about the service they are choosing or being steered to and the actual quality they will eventually receive.

Most auto repair services are immediate. If brakes fail, they get fixed and the customer knows soon enough if that repair was satisfactory. Same goes with engine or transmission repair. Body and paint work is as subjective as glass replacement because only time may reveal inadequacies or shortcomings. Potential customers have far too few benchmarks to use in both sectors to attempt to decipher enough data to make a proper choice, so they fall back on using price alone to make decisions. Is this part of a consumer’s DNA a natural area that can be exploited?

Sadly, many of us in this industry know that our product quality has fallen along with wholesale pricing. Windshields are lighter, seem to crack easier or contain distortions. Glass hardware may be misplaced or simply break or fall off. It is also impossible for consumers to compare products because auto glass is not like buying a box of Cheerios or an X-Box. There are far too many product and craft variations that exist to prevent any sort of reasonable comparison. Most of the general public is either too ignorant or lazy to perform their due diligence and sub-standard shops prosper because of that fact. There seems to be a universal ethic of “buyer beware” and if one accepts that philosophy, one is giving the green light to all sorts of fraud. Personally, this writer detests a “Nanny State” style of regulations for anything, but I have a persistent anger towards those whose business model consists entirely of exploitation of consumer ignorance and misplaced faith.

I like telling my potential customers what they are getting, like it or not. On late model cars, I ask if they want OE glass pricing. If available, I mention that perhaps I can get the OE brand without a manufacturer’s logo. After that, they have the choices of various aftermarket brands, sometime at varying prices. Regarding mouldings, I offer three choices—OE, aftermarket and generic. For adhesives, I have been a long time user of a brand name that is non-conductive and high modulus with a one hour SDAT. No other cheap option exists there. I try to explain to callers that usually they have little choice from other shops for the simple reason that many count on consumer ignorance for brands and workmanship. For some, the choices are appreciated, for others it’s far too confusing … they simply do not want selections.

So I want to apologize to those in the auto glass industry that I may have ruffled their feathers over the years. It is not your fault for being you. The general public is entirely to blame for the present state of auto glass. They are the ones demanding and accepting what we give them. They seem to be taking it well. The question I have is if the public ever has a blinding light revelation that reveals all, should we all make haste for the city of Tarsus (it’s in Turkey)?