The Auto Glass Safety Council (AGSC) is actively engaged in opposing certain requirements in the California Motor Vehicle Glass Act. The bill is currently making its way through the state senate.
California Senator Tim Grayson (D) introduced SB 988, also known as the California Motor Vehicle Glass Act, on Feb. 5. The bill appears to follow model legislation created by the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL), which has already been adopted in several other states. Senator Grayson introduced the bill as an addition to the state’s insurance code, but on March 23, he amended it to apply to California’s civil code instead.
The Auto Glass Safety Council has submitted a letter to the California State Senate objecting to some of the requirements in SB 988.SB 988 requires auto glass businesses to obtain a claim number from customers before officially accepting a job and allows insurers and their third-party administrators to “recommend” shops to customers. AGSC submitted a letter objecting to these provisions, signed by Association president Jacques Navant, on March 19.
“First, requiring auto glass shops to obtain the consumer’s insurance claim number before they can even begin the repair or replacement work places small and independent glass shops at a distinct competitive disadvantage because their major competitor, the largest glass repair/replacement company in the business, controls the dissemination of those numbers and is incentivized to impede their receipt,” the letter reads. “Second, authorizing insurance carriers and is affiliates and representatives to ‘recommend’ the consumer use specific auto glass shop undercuts the consumer’s ‘right to choose’ his or her own shop … [This] so-called ‘recommendation’ of the insurer or third party administrator carries far too much weight with the inexperienced, unsophisticated consumer and is tantamount to designating the preferred shop to be used.”
AGSC commended other provisions in the California bill while urging legislators to incorporate AGSC certification into any legislation regulating auto glass business practices.
A coalition of California AGSC-registered members’ shops also submitted a letter outlining potential problems with that claim number provision and educating legislators about the auto glass industry. The coalition includes Jimmy Saldana, owner of Showcase Auto Glass in Highland; Raul Plascencia, owner of Direct Quality Auto Glass in San Bernardino; Isaac Escobar, owner of Apex Auto Glass & Tint in Santa Maria; and Navant in his role as technical director of Don’s Mobile Glass, headquartered in Modesto, California.