View From The Trenches

One of my pet peeves is how our industry has changed over the years. I sincerely feel that auto glass has moved more toward a corporate mentality whereby people are clients and cars are mere units of revenue.

With that said, this curmudgeon in waiting, armed with a keyboard has to admit that the American consumer has changed as well, making it hard to determine who is leading the charge into mediocrity. In short, why has this country become a place of lowered expectations in terms of value and quality?

Why and how did this happen? Was the quest for a 15-cent hamburger in the ‘60s responsible for the destruction of the American value system that we see today? How about General Motors’ “planned obsolescence” of its vehicles? I’ll leave the final determinations to some social scientist that will most likely receive an over-sized government grant to discover those findings.

I have been truly amazed at what I see out here as I inspect apparent installs. What I hear over the phone when I talk to a shopper convinces me as well that the “end is near” or that Lincoln was right about “fooling some of the people all of the time.” The one absolute maxim that should be stenciled onto the forehead of every American is that “you get what you pay for” when it comes to auto glass.

Technology shares a lot of blame for this decline in quality. The world may now be a village, thanks to the Internet, but it is becoming increasingly clear that desktop shoppers target price most over all buying factors. Those who are computer-deficient pick up a phone and call us for our “best price.” That perhaps is the best strategy when buying toilet paper or a certain model plasma TV, but I will question their wisdom when trying to determine auto glass cost comparisons when glass brands and mouldings are of an unknown or generic type and it appears that consumers oftentimes don’t factor in or even consider the wide range of human quality that makes up the labor part of an install. Our industry should be condemned for doing very little to dispel those disparities.

How many large corporations out there that control much of our industry really care about safety, proper installation and providing the American consumer with the very best of products and service? I wish I could dismiss the effect that Wall Street and shareholders seem to have had upon that area.

What I see on an every day basis is the use and installation of marginally made glass and moudings made even worse by production-driven techniques or just plain incompetent, ignorant, unlicensed hacks.

In my little fantasy world, I would like to see domestic windshield manufacturing companies take the lead of drug companies and advertise their products directly to the American public. We see couples staring at sunsets sitting in bathtubs, why not in cars looking through windshields?

Cheap imports or the cost containment policies of our nation’s insurance claims department are trampling brands like Carlite, Guardian and Chrysler’s Safeguard, along with PPG, who are the actual OE manufacturers of our domestic car brands. Would it help to promote their labels? I believe it would for some potential customers.

Distributors and manufacturers could get together and imprint parts that can be traceable for legal purposes.

As for safety and structural integrity created by proper installation procedures, I wish our own industry would promote and enlighten the American consumer by broadcasting public service ads that educate the public on the factors that constitute making an informed decision on choosing the best company to install glass in their cars. AGRSS would be a natural choice to become that voice of integrity.

Last of all, I wish only competent qualified techs that have pride in their work would be the only ones allowed to install auto glass.

(Hey, if you’re going to dream, dream big.)

I just know this. As a small independent, I’m being squeezed from both the top and from the bottom parts of the install industry by the only way it knows how to—by price. I can compete against large chains by providing better and more flexible personal service, better products and I believe a higher quality install. As for the hacks, like cockroaches, they are exceedingly hard to kill. I have my ways of competing but oftentimes, especially in a corporate market, I have to wait until these small hack companies damage property or otherwise shoot themselves in the foot.

They thrive on the ignorance of the consumer and the present-day easy entry/easy exit nature of this industry. Hopefully some day that will change and the higher majority of the public will become more aware of what is involved and what should be expected of their choice of auto glass installers.PT Barnum’s axiom, “A sucker is born every minute,” should not be the motto that becomes our industry’s trademark. I think we could do much better. However, as Harry Truman declared, ”The buck stops here.” It does with us as well.

A non-event occurred Friday when Belron US announced that its purchase of the assets of Diamond Glass’ would, in its attorneys’ opinion, “not need” to invoke reporting for anti-trust review to the U.S. government. This statement could be compared to the fox’s interview after he stepped out of the henhouse with a large squawking bag uttering the words, “What chickens?”

I am no legal beagle nor am I professional odds-maker, but it’s my guess that somewhere out there in our industry, there is either a company or an organization that will step up and challenge that opinion and seek some sort of regulatory redress to stop the Columbus Colossus from attempting to get exceptionally bigger.

If I had my way, I would not be so concerned with market share and possible divestiture of shops based on geography. First and foremost I would demand dissolution of Safelite Solutions and ban ownership of any third-party administrator (TPA) by any entity having financial connection with any vendor who provides a trade service to an insurer. The existence of this TPA is almost a license to print money for its shareholders and puts Belron US in such a position of strength that will ensure its ability to remain unchallenged in size and in scope.

Simply put, Safelite Solutions is the funnel of financial love to Belron US. There is no doubt that Solutions is the gatekeeper that provides daily the manna from heaven, which supports the glass installation operations of Belron. Without it, Safelite would have to struggle much harder to hit its sales goals. At the start of each day, it is assured of having X number of installs based simply on the sheer numbers of its captive insured customers that simply were either blissfully unaware or deceptively steered into using Safelite to fulfill their auto glass claim.

I understand how the TPA concept started. I applaud the creativity of the person(s) that invented this diabolical device. Insurers know that human resources cost them money. Agent hanky-panky does too. If insurance companies no longer have the need to employ claims person to answer, create, process and audit glass claims, they would be relieved of those expenses, increase profits and take fiduciary responsibility out of the hands of its agents, reducing the possibility of internal fraud.

For any glass company of size, this desire to downsize is a godsend. Instead of having to try to influence every agent in every burg, they could concentrate first at the corporate headquarters and then use most of those resources by handling the insureds’ claims from the very start by posing as being employed by the claimant’s insurance company. Like lambs being led to slaughter, the insured acquiesce to the scripts being read to them by TPA employees and unless there exists a strong choice for an outside shop, claims are directed internally.

When efforts are made on a state-to-state basis to ban or limit some of the most outlandish steering practices that Safelite Solutions and others use daily, there come howls of protest from their insurer clients citing the intended reforms impinge on the freedom of its clients. Belron employees with Cheshire cat grins have appeared as well, solemnly agreeing with the insurance lobbyists exhorting the need for “freedom” and decrying the regulatory effort for real choice.

Irony abounds here. For every shop that has voluntarily agreed to an offer-and-acceptance contract with a network or the remaining shops that are forced to bill direct to a TPA, much of their proprietary privacy has been lost as far as pricing and market penetration. There are fears that the TPA is sharing information with its related installation company in order that to refine its own marketing efforts to increase glass sales. Numerous rumors of such reports abound, making one suspect the worst. Safelite’s president and chief executive officer Tom Feeney vigorously denied Safelite Solutions data-sharing action in his appearance at the Independent Glass Association conference this year.

Other financial benefits are accrued by a TPA when they are contracted to handle glass claims. They use your money to make more money for themselves. First of all, they have helped to set “fair and reasonable” prices. What those prices actually are, or how much they state they are, is a million-dollar question asked by many. What they keep for themselves above and beyond those prices is a corporate secret that is getting to be one on par with the Coca Cola formula. One assumes they are paid processing fees to handle claims and as far as payment goes, they benefit from the “float” between being reimbursed from the responsible insurer, to the time you are issued and actually cash one’s client’s claim check. It is indeed a profit-generating machine in every respect and, in fact, it is most likely the lynchpin of Belron’s success here in the United State (which makes losing Safelite Solutions the best industry-wide leveling device available to regulators).

Is this outcome probable? I won’t raise any independent’s hopes by declaring this penalty a likely one. Not unless Hades undergoes a climate change similar to the Arctic, I’d surmise. However, the goal of any challenge to the Diamond auction sale should be directed at limiting the unchecked and unchallenged growth of Belron. In my opinion, the best way to do so is to target its TPA, a vital nexus of its strength.

If that action ever occurs, count on having it resisted by the full powers of this international corporation along with its insurance client-allies making this a classical David-Goliath struggle with much at stake. This is a battle that also has to be fought now or later, because many a regional chain or shop’s future may be jeopardy. My advice to my fellow shepherds is: Choose the rocks for your slingshot well and make sure your aim is true. You can’t afford to miss.