The Illinois Motor Vehicle Glass Act has passed out of the Insurance Committee following a May 5 hearing, but not without the promise of further amendment.
Representative Thaddeus Jones introduced HB 4373 on Jan. 12. The bill closely follows the National Council of Insurance Legislators’ (NCOIL) model legislation. It requires auto glass companies to obtain a claim number before officially accepting a job.
Multiple interested parties testified as proponents of the bill, including the Safelite Group, GEICO and the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
The Illinois Motor Vehicle Glass Act has passed out of the Insurance Committee.Adam Eathington, director of government affairs for the National Insurance Crime Bureau, told the insurance committee that “predatory tactics by unscrupulous auto glass businesses continue to be a widespread problem,” both nationally and in Illinois.
“[Some of] these companies charge for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) recalibration when it isn’t warranted … and use high-pressure tactics to convince consumers to assign their benefits to the shop,” Eathington said.
“When consumers are cut out of the claims process, repair shops are emboldened to engage in inflated billing,” he added.
Several auto glass business owners and representatives of industry organizations testified in opposition to the bill: Jason Ludke, owner of N.W. Illinois Auto Glass, was among them.
“We support consumer protection, safety, transparency and stopping real fraud,” he told the Committee. “But HB 4373 is not balanced. It places new restrictions and burdens on independent glass shops while failing to address the behavior of insurers, third-party administrators and other insurance-aligned entities that already control much of the glass claim process.”
Ludke told the committee that the real problem in the auto glass industry is not fraud; the problems are “steering, late payments, short payments, claim interference, pricing pressure, authorization delays and consumers being pushed toward ‘preferred providers’ during the claims process.”
“When a company that is involved in a glass claims administration process also benefits from auto glass repair and replacement work, lawmakers should be very cautious about passing legislation that gives the claim control side even more power,” Ludke said.
Chair Senator Julie Morrison addressed the committee at the end of the hearing.
“Based on some of the testimony we had this evening, I’m asking the committee to pass this bill with my assurance that I will bring an amendment back,” she said. “All parties are welcome to try to develop that together.”
Ludke plans to continue being a voice in the amendment process.
“I’m hoping we can cut this down to an ADAS-only bill, like what happened with legislation in Virginia,” he told glassBYTEs.
The bill is scheduled for a second reading on May 7 to discuss possible amendments, according to the Illinois legislature’s website.