A new bill regulating auto glass repair and replacement, as well as insurance practices, has been introduced in California.
Senator Timothy Grayson introduced the California Motor Vehicle Glass Act, which appears to follow the National Council of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) model glass act, on Feb. 5.
California is one of the most recent states to introduce auto glass legislation.Like the NCOIL text, the California bill prohibits insureds from transferring their rights and benefits under the policy to anyone else. It also requires auto glass repair and replacement companies to obtain a customer’s claim number before officially contracting for a job.
Shops would also have to inform an insured customer if their vehicle has Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), if those systems require recalibration and if the shop intends to perform the recalibration. If the recalibration isn’t successful, the glass company must tell the customer not to rely on their ADAS systems until the vehicle is recalibrated elsewhere.
The bill also bans California glass companies from doing, or encouraging an insured customer to do, anything that would increase the value of the repair or replacement. The bill does not yet list the penalty for violating these regulations.