Mobile Windscreenwepair, A licence to print money!

[4lf4-155]

Another thread reminded me of this:

A while ago I had a small chip in my windscreen repaired via insurance co.

RAC jobbie done in twenty minutes, hapoy days.

About 8 weeks later I recieve a letter from my insurance company in respect of my recent claim with an invoice for nearly £500!!
Insurance co. said I should ignore it as it was not meant to be sent.

But £500 what the fk!??!

I have replaced windscreens on all of the following:

Alfa 155,lotus elise s1, mondeo and a fourtrack and non of them cost more than £200 for a full screen!

Why the fk are insurance companies prepared to pay such exorbitant fees for this service?

We must be picking up the cost via increased premiums?

I used to be a buyer for a mobile repar co. and i know how much the repair kit and consumables cost and at £500 its all paid for in 2 call outs!

[frosted]

It took you all this time to realise all this ?

[EDLT]

Bodyshops do a similar thing, its why many lightly damaged cars end up as CAT D.

[RenPug]

Must have been an error, I work for one of the large windscreen companies and we charge between £30 and £80 plus vat for a windscreen repair. As for the price of new screens it's possible to pay well in to 4 figures now for some of the newer vehicles with all the sensors etc.

Ren

[Anatol]

EDLT said:

Bodyshops do a similar thing, its why many lightly damaged cars end up as CAT D.

Many moons ago perhaps.
Insurers now require a quote generated by one of their approved estimating software packages. Large quotes will be checked by an engineer on their behalf to ensure what is quoted for is necessary. And with there now being relatively few motor insurers acting as the conduit for the repairs that are the lifeblood of a crash repair shop, playing fast and loose would be a very quick way to kill your business.

The power has shifted so much in crash repair that bodyshops are now in the poor position that their customers tell them how much they are going to pay, not the other way around.

[Doniger]

4lf4-155 said:

I have replaced windscreens on all of the following:

Alfa 155,lotus elise s1, mondeo and a fourtrack and non of them cost more than £200 for a full screen

Not sure about the front screen, but I once had the rear window on a honda prelude replaced and an original window from Honda cost around £600.

[Rich_W]

MUST be a misprint. I learnt how to do them a few years back. They took around 15-20 mins to do. So my glorious service manager of the time said. "What we'll do is charge the customer for 10 mins labour" Circa £20 with the resin.

Funnily enough after that not many people did them!