Safelite Busted Using Shady Tactics...
Okay so we have all heard of Safelite glass company right? Well, if not, they are a multi-faceted international glass company that handles glass claims (insurance), glass replacement and manufactures their own glass. To give you some perspective on how large and influential this company is, consider this: Safelite is a subsidiary of Belron and replaces about 12 million pieces of glass per year. They also have their own manufacturing plant so they sell their own glass as well as market their glass to independent shops. They also own a Third Party Administrative firm (TPA) that handles glass claims for certain Insurance carriers such as Allstate and Geico. This is all well and good. A company that is huge and growing is exactly what every businessman wants from their company.
Here is what I have a problem with. Being that Safelite runs their own TPA, they are able to refer or steer the insured to whatever glass company they want. Now take a guess at which company they are steering the insured to? Yep. Themselves. They have the control to get all of the customers insurance information and use that to send themselves the job. A TPA is supposed to be a third party that handles the administrative duties of the transaction and act as a liaison between the glass company and the insurance company.
So let's say your windshield got broken. You call Geico and tell them you want to file a claim to get it replaced. Since it is just a glass claim they send it to Safelite Glass Company (SGC) which handles all of their glass only claims. You give them all of your information and they are supposed to refer you to a trusted glass shop in your area that is in the glass network. What they do is tell you that you need to use Safelite to replace the glass because Geico will warranty all of the work if you do. If you choose a company on your own they tell you it won't be warrantied and that you should go with Safelite.
I must point out that such conflicts of interest are illegal under the same scenario in medical coverage. So, what is the difference? None.
In February of 2007 Nationwide Insurance testified that approximately 80 percent of all its glass repair and replacement work in South Carolina is performed by it's TPA's (Safelite's) retail arm. Safelite did not deny this testimony. There were 200 glass shops in the state and Safelite got 80 percent of the work! What? How could they have possibly gotten 80 percent of the work without directing claimants to itself? How is this possible when carriers do not contract any one auto glass company to repair or replace glass? The answer is obvious.
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