AGR Reports, AGRR, SeptemberOctober2011

Volume 13, Issue 5 - September/October 2011

AGR Reports
breaking news

COMPANY NEWS
Allstate to Move Glass Claims to Safelite in January 2012
Allstate Insurance recently announced that it will move its auto glass claims administration work to Safelite Solutions, effective January 2, 2012.

Allstate officials say the decision is the result of a “competitive bid process.”

“On a regular basis Allstate reviews our supplier services to determine if there’s a better way for us to do business, enhance customer service, leverage new technology or reduce costs for those services,” says Allstate spokesperson April Eaton. “As a result of a recent competitive bid process, Allstate is changing its administrative glass program administrator from LYNX Services to Safelite Solutions.”

Eaton could not comment on how often the Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer reviews its third-party administrator agreement.

“As a result of a recent competitive bid process, Allstate is changing its administrative glass program administrator from LYNX Services to Safelite Solutions.”
—April Eaton, Allstate

“I don’t actually know long the contract will last,” she says.

Eaton says the Safelite deal includes both handling coverage verifications and shop assignments for auto glass claims. While some AGRR™ magazine readers have expressed concerns regarding how they might be affected by the move, Eaton issued
the following statement (see related story on page 36).

“Even though we will have a supplier change next year, our policy on glass service providers has not changed,” said Eaton. “Customers may select the auto glass service provider of their choice.”

Boyd Group Acquires Cars Collision
Boyd Group Income Fund recently acquired Cars Collision Center of Colorado LLC and Cars Collision Center LLC. The cost of the purchase, which closed in early July, was approximately $21 million.

“We are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of Cars,” says Brock Bulbuck, president and chief executive officer of the Boyd Group. “The acquisition is another major strategic move for us …”

Kryger Glass Re-Opens Distribution Operations in Joplin, Mo., in Temporary Facility
Kryger Glass re-opened its distribution operations in Joplin, Mo., in early July, less than two months after its Joplin facility was destroyed by a tornado on May 22. The company had re-located its operations and employees to Kansas City, Mo., temporarily.
Kryger now is utilizing a temporary facility in Joplin at 510 N. Tyler Avenue.

“Plans for rebuilding at our previous site are in the process,” says company president Bill Kryger. “We thank our customers for remaining loyal during this period of transition.”

KUDOS
Auto Glass Shop Helps Locate Hit-and-Run Suspect
An Arizona auto glass shop recently helped the Tucson Police department identify a possible suspect in a hit-and-run incident involving a 23-year-old cyclist.

The police had been searching for the vehicle and driver that allegedly struck Sam Abate in the Tucson area on Friday, May 20, and within a week arrested 21-year-old Abigail Allin as a suspect, after receiving a tip, according to a police statement. Damon Ashcraft, manager of Tucson, Ariz.-based AAG Auto Glass, says his company replaced Allin’s windshield shortly after the incident and ultimately contacted the police.

The technician who completed the job (whom Ashcraft says has asked to remain anonymous) says he quickly suspected there was something unusual about the job.

“[Allin] backed [the car] out and my installer noticed the damage to the passenger side of the vehicle,” says Ashcraft. “ … When the damage is to that extent [we know] it’s something totally different than a rock hitting the windshield. He asked her what happened and she said a brick hit the windshield.”

Ashcraft says the installer then advised Allin that there appeared to be blood on the windshield, and at that point she suggested a bird might have struck the vehicle.

“He cut the window out and there was a lot of blood in the pinchweld and so forth and he thought something was wrong with it,” says Ashcraft.

When the technician returned to the shop to discard the old windshield, he showed the glass and what appeared to be blood to Ashcraft, who says he remembered hearing about the hit-and-run in local news reports.

“I called 911 and told them ‘I think we’ve got the suspect’s windshield right here in the shop,’” recalls Ashcraft.
Shortly after, the Tucson Police Department arrested Allin for leaving the scene of a serious injury collision; causing serious injury with a vehicle while under a suspended license; and tampering with physical evidence, according to information from the police department.

This is at least the second time this year that an auto glass shop has assisted with such an investigation. In early April, a California auto glass shop assisted the Oceanside Police with locating a vehicle police believed to have been involved in a fatal hit-and-run incident, after reading about it on AGRR™ magazine’s daily online news service, glassBYTEs.com™ (see related story in May/June AGRR, page 4).