Wagon Lift Gate Auto Glass

[Double Nickels]

Mine was shattered.  A piece of gravel or rock chip of some sort.  I'm lucky that I had tint film holding it all together.  The whole piece of glass is "spiderwebbed".  

 

Safelite's online quote was $100 - $200 higher than every local shop.  And my deductible is so high, that I will have to pay for this myself.

 

 

 

 

[JackGrimshaw]

If you live near a metro area with a few auto dealers,ask who they use.There is bound to be a local shop that can give you a good price.

Back in the late 90's,my daughter backed into a garbage truck and shattered the rear window in the old Taurus wagon she was driving.She and her then boyfriend got a replacement rear lift up door from the bone yard for less than the price of the glass and before she even told me.

It was a different color but that made it easy to find the car in a parking lot.

Edited October 7, 2022 by JackGrimshaw

[Double Nickels]

12 hours ago, JackGrimshaw said:

a metro area with a few auto dealers,ask who they use

 

 

I know who they use.  That shop does most of the work for local area dealerships.  It's a weird arrangement.  That shop doesn't actually do any of the work.  All the dealerships call that 1 shop.  Then that shop subcontracts the work to other affiliated shops.  And the dozen shops in that network all order parts through that one shop, so that the shop is able to renegotiate pricing for the parts, and they all split the difference.  

 

It's not a scam.  Just smart business.  Shop A is getting every dealership's calls by hook or by crook.  Shop A can't possibly do all of the work.  So he goes to shop 1, shop 2, shop 3, and so forth.  In return for the "business to business" exchange of labor, Shop A offers to get all of their parts, at a discount.  Shop A goes to the glass distributor and says, "I order 10 times the volume of any other shop, I want a volume discount on invoices"  Shop A gets $100 worth of glass for $95, then sells it to his affiliated shops for $97.50.  And all of those affiliated shops exchange "business to business" labor when 1 shop gets a little busier.  If shop 12 has too much work, shop 5, shop 6, shop 7, will send over a few guys with their service vans and tools. 

 

Safelite is the 500 lb gorilla.  They have franchises all over the country.  They have an advertising campaign of print media, radio, television, online, physical billboards, et cetera.  There are other chains.  There are other franchises.  None as well known.  And then there are independent shops, who can charge less, because they aren't supporting corporate shareholders' dividends.  Safelite quotes are the bar to measure by.  A lot of shops tell you how much cheaper they are, compared to Safelite.  I compared what I paid, to the Safelite quote.