State/Lease Inspections & Your Warranty

[SGT]

[FONT=Times New Roman]Wanted to throw this out there to see what some of you currently cover warranty wise. We offer a lifetime warranty that damage will not spread and pass state and lease return inspections. My concern is geared towards those that also include the state inspection coverage in the warranty. Over the years I can count on one hand, specifically three fingers the amount of times I have had to honor a failed inspection issue. My warranty states they need to provide written explanation of why the repairs fails but I never get it or enforce it. I just take care of the customer. These failed inspections have not been due to an improperly repaired windshield either; structurally they have been fine and cosmetically as good as possible. In all cases these have been near the acute area and customers were very happy with the work but the inspector was not.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Most recently, approx four weeks ago I had a network referral for a chip repair. Client failed her state inspection for the chip and before they would pass her it needed to be fixed. She advised me it was down by the near the lower left corner. Of course it was just outside the acute area when we arrived. I did the work, customer was very pleased and signed as satisfied. She went back to get re-inspected and the mechanic said it was not repaired because he could still see it. I was called and personally spoke to the mechanic and to no avail, he would not change his position that repairs will disappear. Bottom line here I found out is customer called insurance, job was cancelled and I am out gas, supplies, time and anything else that it takes to run a business. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]Now in my opinion the big picture is, insurance related incidents are extremely far and few in between and not worth perusing so just I will just eat it. I am though considering chagrining my warranty moving forward for primarily non insurance work; it will continue to offer the lifetime money back clause and will only warrant repairs to meet industry standards for repair. This eliminates a third parties subjective opinion about repairs. The concern I have here is on the network side, The way I read my Allstate Agreement Chapter II Section V a customer must be satisfied and there is no language to specify time period for insured to claim otherwise or that all repairs must pass inspections. Now in this case the customer signed they were satisfied but due to failing inspection called back for replacement.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]In this scenario, what is the GSP (Glass Service Provider) to do? Seems as if an insured a year later after repair decides they are not happy can just say so and the network will hit debit future payments for that job. Perhaps any networks reading this could expand on this. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Times New Roman]I am not looking for negative network bashing comments. Trying to get a better understanding of this specific and vague, at least to me language in the agreement and what your thoughts are with regard to uncontrollable / uneducated inspectors subjective opinions . [/FONT]

[Glassdoc]

Brian, its instances like this that swayed me to bill the customer direct for ALL insurance work.. I did an Allstate job, the customer was extremely satisfied, even tipped $20... 3 years later, the inspection mechanic would not pass the repair. Of course, Allstate called my shop and I offered to go back out and look at the repair to see if there was anything that could be done, Allstate refused, said it had to be replaced.. So, I had the customers name and phone number from the original job referral and proceeded to call the customer. Customer still very friendly stated that the mechanic fresh out of school would not pass it so they opted to get a replacement.. I explained I warrantied my work, and that maybe it just needed to be resurfaced and would be good to go again.. They said Allstate told them that their deductible was waived and a replacement was on the way.. A week later, I get a letter from Allstate. They are going to with hold payment for a more recently completed job because the original job had been paid.. I asked about the contract that stated "all work must be warrantied for at least 1 year".. I explained it had passed 3 previous State Inspections and just because one mechanic was having a bad day that I should not be held liable.. They disagreed. Long story short, I have not "billed" Allstate or any other Insurance company since.. I still do the work, but the customer pays me direct.. And my warranty now states all work guaranteed for 90 days and its entirely up to the customer to ensure the repair will pass State Inspection from their garage.. If they take it to the garage and the mechanic says its fine, they are good to go.. If the mechanic says no, it won't pass I will give them a refund.. So far, no refunds have been needed. And i have picked up alot more work from local garages, that actually totals more than the referrals from the Insurance jobs i don't get by phone.

[StarQuest]

Glassdoc,

I've been through the same stuff here with networks! Although we don't have state vehicle inspections here in Michigan, we do have some very picky lease return inspectors. I've had a few 2-3 year old repairs that failed lease turn backs. Didn't matter that original repair held and cosmetics still looked great to customer. The lease inspector found it, wanted a new shield and network back charged me for the repairs. Not much you can do if your signed up with these guys. You'll take everything they give you but always remember they can take back what they want!

[splitpit]

Taking what they give (nearly 60%) is worth the risk of a rare warranty refund. I get a lot of referal work that I would not get if I were not a network shop.

[StarQuest]

Splitpit,

Enjoy it while it last..... because it won't last forever!

[splitpit]

That's for sure. Your preaching to the choir! Good thing that I have a well planned strategy for when the waiving of deductibles no longer exists! But in the meantime, I'll enjoy the gravy.

[Glassdoc]

quote:splitpit I'll enjoy the gravy.

I like my gravy smooth, no lumps.. Which is why I prefer to bill the customer, get my cash, and move on.. the insurance company is not going to hassle the customer when they seek payment for the invoice regardless of what I charge. Why? Without the customer, they would not be in business.. Customer satisfaction, and approval.. Another line they used when they back charged my account for a 3 year old repair that failed an inspection..

[StarQuest]

That's for sure. Your preaching to the choir! Good thing that I have a well planned strategy for when the waiving of deductibles no longer exists! But in the meantime, I'll enjoy the gravy.

Plan on putting up a tent in the future Split? You know when free windshield referrals are no longer available it's going to be dog eat dog environment. Are you prepared for that?

[SGT]

I think we all can pretty much agree on positives and negatives associated with the networks and have each made decisions that are right for us.

If you are a GSP, has anyone read there O&A agreements? Specifically Allstates and how it relates to my original post? The way I read it, I do not see language that prevents you from going back to the customer if they signed that they are satisfied and then go for an inspection and becuase the mechcanic subjective opinion they fail, she inturn is now not satisfied. You might get booted out of the program becuase I believe they reserve the right to do so at any time and this would probably not sit well.

[FONT=Times New Roman]On the retail side now what your thoughts with regard to uncontrollable / uneducated inspectors subjective opinions of repair that fail and send a customer back with a negative outlook on repair?[/FONT]

[Coitster]

Reminds me why I don't do insurance work anymore.
Coitster