The other day I did a windshield repair for a customer with a 2007 Saturn Aura. Really sharp looking car with a silver metallic paint that had a blue tint.

In talking with this customer they told me a story about their former insurance company. They gave me permission to pass this information on. This should stand as a warning to watch your insurance company.

It seems when they bought this car they got a surprise thanks to their insurance company. To set the stage, they had been with this company sometime. They had never purchased from them roadside service, as they had triple A. With the purchase of this new car they received from GM free roadside assistance. Once they took delivery of the Aura, they notified the insurance company and everything was cool until they got the bill. Their insurance company had added on coverages that they didn't need or had requested. Of these coverages was among other things roadside assistance. Even though most new cars come with roadside assistance and that they had never purchased it with their former car a 2004 Taurus.

When the insurance company was contacted, how fast did they react to fix the issue they created? Well my customer was able to shop around for insurance, get quotes and buy a policy before they fixed the problem.

Did the insurance company make an honest mistake?

Well lets see, they never had purchased roadside assistance before.

They should know that many new autos come with free roadside assistance.

This company has been caught in the news taking roadside assistance requests and filing them as claims. Further they use the roadside assistance claims to set rates. The more claims, the higher your insurance premiums.

Do yourself a big favor when you purchase a new car. Check your insurance policy and make sure they're not trying to slide some extra coverages by you that you don't need or want.

At one time I sold and did a lot of windshield repairs in which I billed the customer's insurance company. That was a time when people had low deductibles and windshields were expensive.

Then in February of 2005 things began to change. Tired of glass shops waiving deductibles for free windshield replacements. The insurance companies reacted by by slashing what they would pay for a windshield replacement. Most part numbers were reduced  between 68 to 72 percent. Simply put a windshield that the insurance companies paid $600 for, was reduced to nearly $200.

Add to this that around 3/4 of the insurance policies written with a $500 deductible or higher and a change was due.

State Farm, the giant in auto insurance eliminated paying for chip repairs. In doing so things changes at other insurance companies. If you've read some of my past posts, you've seen how by filing a small chip repair claim, it can cause you to have your insurance bill to go up. In fact any small claim is fair game to the insurance guys when they need more money. Worse by just calling about filing a claim you risk a rate increase.

Case In Point: The other day I did a windshield chip repair for a customer. They told me the following story and said I should share it, that it should stand as a warning.

They had been with an insurance company sometime. I won't state which one, but it was one of the big boys. They had been with them for years. All of their insurance policies were with this company. (Auto, Home, Life, Jewelry, etc.) One day they lost a ring down the drain and called about filing a claim. For one reason or another they chose not to file a claim. The insurance company paid nothing. When they received their insurance bill later the rate had been cranked up. The threat to move all their insurance policies did nothing. So they switched to a different insurance company.

This story did not surprise me. I've talked to many that found out that by merely having their agent coming out to look at damage or calling their insurance company they got a claim filed against them. Even when the cost was below the deductible and the insurance company paid zero. CBS reported last year these very facts.

With insurance companies filing phone calls about filing claims as claims and increasing rates.

When they offer road service and many of them count running out of gas, a flat tire or locking your keys in the car as an accident claim. Some go so far as canceling you if you use the road service more than twice in 3 years.

When some claim windshield chip repairs don't count against you. But file them on a data base like CLUE, that is used to set rates or whether a new insurance company will cover you. Not calling them for the small stuff like windshield repairs seems very wise. If you don't show up on their radar screen your risk of a rate increase is low. What they don't know won't hurt you.

I've been asked lately, how many chips can be repaired on a windshield before it must be replaced?

Legally there is no limit. Unless several repairs are done in the driver's vision there is no reason to replace a windshield based on the number of repairs.

No independent test has shown the windshield being weakened due to a high number of chip repairs. I know of 4 vehicles that were in accidents that totaled them, yet the repairs held up. Even with the windshield being badly cracked the repair held. Below is a picture of one of those vehicles.

 The damage was caused by the passenger airbag deploying. The chip was what I call the maximum size, 1/2 dollar size with a large pit. Even with this damage the chip was near the deployment area and it held.

So what is my record? An imported truck I did 11 chip repairs on over the space of 2 years. The fleet manager told me a replacement at that time cost $1100.

I have done 8 chip repairs on a F150 Ford pick up. That owner told me the last 2 windshields he had replaced leaked.

I did a BMW, X5 the other day and that was number 7 over a 3 year time frame.

As I see it there are only a few reasons not to repair a windshield. The number of chips isn't one of them.