View From The Trenches

Duffy’s maxim #33: Any rule or law that is enacted can be and usually is ignored or subverted. Given almost any situation, an alternative solution can be found or created by those supposedly affected.

Auto glass practitioners are an excellent example of Duffy 33. In fact, if glass retailers had a university (apologies to Bob Beranek), perhaps one of the most attended courses and possible majors would be Prestidigitation Policies or “It Ain’t What It Seems”- a study of appearing to do something when you are actually not.

The curriculum would cover all sorts of concepts of fooling either the customer or another billing source that the future owner or installer substituted various parts or practices in order to maximize profits.

Auto glass and body shops are notorious for finding loopholes when it comes to billing for insurance work. For one, it appears it is not an uncommon practice for some to order then return dealer parts then using the delivery invoice as a proof of purchase to bill for a higher priced part. One can assume that the same hanky-panky goes on with every day mouldings.

LYNX Services is the latest at trying its best to verify that the brand or source of glass being paid for is what actually got installed in the vehicles it is responsible for. It is now demanding “Pre-POPs” for OE glass before actual approvals are made along with those included at the time of billing. What idiot thought up this procedure? You would think if fraud is going to be committed, the shop would just make another copy to use twice. Why doesn’t any TPA or insurer demand a video documenting the arrival, the unpackaging then subsequent install of every OE part? Better yet, let’s get LYNX to send out one of its employees to document every OE install. In other words, it is getting more and more foolish to see the steps honest shops have to go through to prove they are being truthful.

The distrust between insurers and their lackey administrators toward glass retailers is a natural one. There is always someone trying an end run to maximize profits or increased business opportunities. Just as any insurer is trying to control costs and minimize fraud. It is a given that either side is so antagonistic and mistrustful of the other, there is little hope conditions can improve. Therefore it becomes a slide into an attitude of “getting them before they get me” mentality which only works to worsen relations.

Yankee ingenuity is a quality that should be appreciated. After all, when is creativity not a valued asset? Yet like the Cold War and its policy of mutually assured destruction when it came to the use of nuclear weapons, glass retailers are beginning to paint themselves in a corner. This adversarial attitude we have toward insurers seems to have spilled over to the general public. Do we ever think about what is best for a customer over our bottom line? Is a low price the only benefit when it comes to cutting corners in quality products?

The root of many problems of auto glass retailing comes down to “good” shops over “bad.” There simply are those who do it right, others who don’t. Some make cutting corners a veritable way of life while others go the extra mile for both quality and service. The sad part is that under our economic system both prosper. It is the customer who is forced to make choices and many times, they are sadly ignorant of what conditions to consider in making those selections or having others steer them in certain directions.

In a perfect world, we would have flawless glass, quality mouldings and clips to be installed under ideal conditions and be compensated properly for both the products used and the expert labor expended. Since that dream is far from becoming reality, you always need to adjust to changing conditions. The dilemma I feel we are in is that all too often we good retailers and installers are painted with the brush of deceit and misrepresentation that are the trademark of others. To do good honest work does not require genius or ingenuity, just a simple, oft-cited maxim: “Do unto others as you wish others do unto you.”