moosejaw

I dont know about most and it varies by state not companies.

For a fact all florida insurance companies offer windshield replacement "gratis" with no increase in deductible. You must have comprehensive coverage to receive this entitlement. This does not apply to headlights or foglights. Insurance company isnt required to use OEM products such as moldings, trim bits etc....

As i said before he may have a policy where this no deductible on comprehensive. If thats the case he wont have to pay and also his insurance rates wont go up. Now if he filed a claim under collision, then his rates would likely increase.

Even with the accident forgiveness plan offered by some insurance co's. All that is a racket to get you to pay more. Its an option and it costs money to get the accident forgiveness rate. Nothing is for free. All your doing is paying into your future accident beforehand. And if youre accident free for 10 years, its a even bigger waste of money.

You would think after 20 years of no claims, an insurance company would refund your money back bc they never paid out on you? No of course not that wouldnt happen.

rory breaker

Of course if he has a zero deductible he wont pay. That's not what's being debated here. What is being implied is that his insurance company's non-deductible coverage extends beyond windshields (which as you note is included in some policies/states) to fog lights...which would be a surprise to most of us.

If we were talking about a zero deductible policy you could input <part of your choice> with fog light and the thread wouldn't make much sense would it. Just want to be clear why most are questioning this - if a zero deductible policy is in play this thread is pointless, hence why we are all assuming it isn't.

avery.whss

$680 for a fog light!?!?! I just had mine fixed and it was 349 (In Canada too)

moosejaw

with up yours taxes included?

avery.whss

539 with taxes/installed..took it to a MB dealership too. I should note also that was with 2 hours labor (65/hr) - IMO thats crazy cheap because I know mechanics who charge 100+ and work on crappy cars all day long

moosejaw

Well i found out five states in the nation cover windshield replacement without deductible and without rise in premiums. You must carry comprehensive insurance.
FLorida, Massachussets, Arizona, South Carolina, and Kentucky.
Out of those five, only two cover all laminated glass .....South Carolina and Kentucky.
The only exclusions i found are mirrored glass. This could be interpreted as including foglights(which are by default glass)..... Could be OP lives in either one of those two states?

rory breaker

Define "laminated glass"...

Because if it means like glass that has been lamin-x'd that's pretty funny that they would call that out specifically. "If your unbreakable glass breaks, we will cover it bc we're nice guys" - insurance companies are a trip.

jvanbrecht

Well, I have had 2 windshields replaced in the last 10 years, both free, and I have a 500 deductible, with no increase in rates. 1 was done with Geico when I lived in Virginia, and 1 was with Progressive when I lived in DC.

hawtheric1

I hope you have a better day today:-) Name calling over the internet is not very nice. Good luck to you.

Hawth

hawtheric1

What a great discussion:-) Thank you all for your respectful comments.

Here is the latest.

Got a call from State Farm today. They said the dealer wants too much money to repair my lights (~$680). State farm will only pay ~$510 total. State Farm is going to call the dealer back and strongly encourage them to take the $510 and fix it completely. If they refuse, State Farm or I will contact another repair shop. State Farm suggested an hourly rate of $49/hr but the "Stealer" wants $105/hr. State Farm said that the "Stealer" will likely fold and fix my repair based on State Farms estimate. If not, just find another repair shop. Still a WIN-WIN for me.

There is NO DEDUCTIBLE for this repair. In AZ you are allowed 2 free windshield repairs a year with no out of pocket. I don't know how many fog light repairs I can get per year but I'll find out.

So, if you have State Farm and live in AZ and your C63 fog lights are busted, call State Farm, make a claim, get a claim number and call the dealer and/or a repair shop and get those lights fixed:-) AND PAY NOTHING OUT OF POCKET. ZIP, ZERO, ZILCH:-)

Cheers to everyone and safe driving.

Hawth.

JonMBZ

Well you can now see why the dealer did him a favor, normally a service advisor would not want the headache of dealing with insurance. A dealers normal labor rate is between 150-170 an hour and it looks as if they already lowered it a lot for insurance, but they are still grinding them. I don't think they would do it for $50 an hour, that pulls the advisors person sales goals/bonuses down when they lower it that much. Maybe they can get parts to lower the parts or something. Either way you will get it done so congrats to you!

moosejaw

A windhseild repair/glazer's service rate is appropriate @ $50/hr
A dealer cannot approach that low.

It aint going to be done at the dealer.
If that foglight was plastic, he would be on his own.

Sincity

Take it to a StateFarm approved bodyshop and they will still order the same part from the dealer. Dealers charge a "Mechanical" rate which is higher even if they do "Bodywork" functions like replacing a fog lamp.

Better yet, have them pay the car owner and DIY it.

JonMBZ

If you take it out of the dealer it will be used or after-market. I agree with the DIY if possible or payout and pay the dealer to do it.

ChrisC1100

First time poster....had to respond here as I am an insurance agent in NC... Fact is all states have different laws regarding glass coverage. NC does not have blanket glass coverage as an automatic option, but other states do. Everybody's policy will be different. Obviously anyone with no deductible for comprehensive will pay nothing out of pocket for repairs like this.

Not surprised OP's carrier balked at dealer estimates, all dealers will try to run up the estimate for an insurance claim. Typically the claimant would have to pay the difference to have the dealer perform the work, which isn't a bad option here.

JonMBZ

Are you sure Chris? I have been a dealer employee for about a decade and we don't up the prices for insurance because they never want to pay anything. Just look at the situation above. The insurance company wants to pay $50 an hour which is a joke to a MB dealer. There would be no point to over charge insurance because they have all the parts prices and book times and even with that they will still grind you or threaten to supply aftermarket/used part to the dealer to try and get them to fold to their pricing. I deal with insurance companies all day and it's the same story.

splinter

Insurance companies vs. repair shops = mutually exclusive interests….sometimes. :)

ChrisC1100

Maybe I should rephrase... Dealer labor costs are always higher plus they use OEM parts (which is good). Most auto insurance contracts do not require the company to use OEM repair parts when repairing vehicles unless the policyholder has an OEM endorsement (which I recommend for any high end car). Since the companies aren't required to use the OE part, they are used to the pricing for the aftermarket version.

Secondly, ALL shops charge a premium for an insurance claim due to the additional documentation necessary. That's my personal experience anyway. One of our trusted body shop owners openly explained to me the difference in process and frankly it is a lot of extra labor on their end providing documentation, so it does warrant a higher charge, but some places will go overboard.

amdeutsch

Unfortunately a sampling of 2 does not qualify as most. At least moosejaw did research.

hawtheric1

The "Stealer" has accepted State Farm's offer of ~$510.

Winning!

Thanks,
Hawth