State Farm\'s Decision For The Industry - Your Thoughts

[dragwurm]

look we save the insurance company millions a year on repairs you think they are just going to start to loose money i think not, what everyone dosnt know is thier fixin to stop all deducs for replacment and repair and make the windshields normal where and tear witch is good for me, because then the replacment guys are going to have to start compiting with repairs guys and we know they cant do that, another thing once the insurance companys get out of controlling cost for repairs i see me incresing the cost by 20 to 30 dollers a repair, now if your a repair man this is all good news this is what we want, if your in replacment then say goodby to your free money and get ready to start compiting. and yes i know my spellings bad good luck to you all

[CGlenn]

well I guess it is official. I just received a fax from State Farm/Lynx saying exactly what is being discussed here. They are stopping their free WSR in the trial states. It will be interesting to see what happens.

[Sneck]

CGlenn

Which states are the trial states?

Sneck

[Sneck]

Looks like my state is in the trial state list. (Washington).

Thanks Blind Squirrel

Sneck

[cure4glass]

My state too...We'll see how it goes and deal with it!

[ruffburr]

Just a thought but i can see that if this is a move by ins.co's to make glass an owner responsibility issue ie: brakes tires etc. that would be the best thing that could happen for the wsr. business as people would much rather pay for a repair than buy a new windshield so personaly i hope they stop covering glass entirely

[mafsu]

I don't think that's what you're seeing at all. The total cost of glass claims has gone up over the last decade as their has been an influx of new repair techs. This will eventually even out given enough time. State Farm is being impatient as all insurance companies tend to be when you see more money going out this year than you did last year. This is a prime example of why operations people should make the decisions in a company instead of accountants.

[ctannehill]

For what it's worth, my 2 cents:

I for one am totally against this. In my area State Farm makes up roughly 30% of my business. This will be a big loss. I don't know about competing with replacement companies I do know that people are more apt to repair w/ lifetime warranty and with no out of pocket expense. This is going to hurt.

Furthermore, here is my warning to those that are primarily using insurance.
Get ready, State Farm is the biggest insurance agency (if not, close too) in the country. Keep in mind this could be a trend. If State Farm does this, what makes you so sure all insurance companies won't follow suit.

State Farm is doing this because of insured deductables are now averaging $500. When they first endorsed waiving the deductable for WR the average deductable was between $0 and $100 dollars.
It is more cost effective for insurance companies with a high deductable average charge the deductable, no out of pocket money from the insurance company.

Take that for what it's worth.
Chris

[Repair1]

Hello All,

I

[mafsu]

It can only have a positive effect if at the end SF sees it as being the wrong way to go. The true disaster in this is that even if it is not so, it appears wsr is being doubted by the one large entity who endorses it(the insurance companies).