 
Industry Responds to Completion of Allstate Move to Safelite
January 19, 2012
by Penny Stacey, pstacey@glass.com
The move of Allstate’s auto glass claims administration to Safelite Solutions, which took effect with the New Year, has drawn a heated reaction from across the industry. Many have expressed a slowdown in referrals since the January 1 move.
Just shortly after the move took effect, a Connecticut-based auto glass shop owner who preferred to remain unidentified told glassBYTEs.com™/AGRR™ he quickly saw a drop-off in referrals from the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer as the move took effect.
“Safelite has yet to dispatch a single job in three days, with LYNX I was getting ten jobs a day,” he told glassBYTEs.com on January 5.
Just this week, a Salt Lake City-based auto glass shop owner, who also requested anonymity due to concerns about negative impacts toward his business, says he’s seen a similar decrease.
“We have only seen two Allstate [jobs] so far this month, compared to 15 a month last year,” he says. “I’m very concerned about what Safelite is telling Allstate customers when they call in to file a claim.”
He adds, “I don’t know what to do or how to stop it.”
A North Carolina shop owner whose company has gained “Tier-One” status with Allstate has seen the same.
“I have received only one dispatch through SGC (Safelite) and that was only due to a returning customer requesting my services,” says the shop owner, who also pointed out that he feared being identified could cause this to drop further. “I’ve called the Allstate agents in my area and they say they’re not supposed to recommend any [shops].”
Others say pricing has been an issue since the move.
“Allstate, now through its [third-party administrator] now has the most atrocious pricing in the industry from my standpoint,” says an Arkansas-based shop owner who also asked to remain unidentified for fear of reprisal. “ ... Soon Safelite will have all the insurance companies under its thumb and will have to do all the glass work since the company will be hard-pressed to find any independents to do it.”
One Fort Myers, Fla.-based auto glass business has a different concern.
“The majority of the work that [we] receive is from body shops in the area [with whom] he has been working and they have come to rely and trust him with their glass needs,” says the representative, “ but we are not able to install windshields and bill them to Safelite through the body shop.”
“The shop is on [the Allstate] list and approved by the company and is able to do R&R work in the body shops, but has been banned from the installation of windshields because it is a fledgling company, not yet in business a year to be considered an affiliate,” adds the representative.
Though a variety of concerns have been expressed, one thing is common among those who have shared concerns: many are fearful of reprisal from speaking out.
“I’m scared—I can’t tick these people off anymore,” says the owner of the Fort Myers, Fla., shop. “They’re big—they’re so big, and you’re just a little tiny business.”
This story is an original story by AGRR™ magazine/glassBYTEs.com™. Subscribe to AGRR™ Magazine.
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