AGRR - November/December 2007 - AGRR Magazine

Independent’s Dayan iga viewpointdavez@autooneinc.comSteering Clearby Dave ZoldowskiMOST AGRR READERSunderstand steering. I donot need to explain steering’shistory or definition to you. Butaverage automobile owners knownothing about steering, nor do theyrealize their rights in choosing anauto glass service provider. In manycases, they simply defer to their insurancecompanies for direction insuch matters.This ignorance has allowed competitive-administrators(CAs) to developexclusive contracts withinsurance companies to handle theirclass claims. Technology allows theseCAs to handle all aspects of a glassclaim including assisting the insuredwith choosing a replacement shop. Inmany cases, the insured does notknow that a CA is processing his claiminstead of his insurance company.For most of its existence the IndependentGlass Association (IGA) hasdirected a good deal of its time, energyand money towards anti-steeringmeasures. For many of theassociation’s growing membership(up 30 percent in 2007) steering istheir number-one concern. Our effortshave often been successful.Every year, a few more states passlegislation to help educate and protectthe auto glass consumer. And,every year the scripts used by customerservice representatives (CSRs)when handling auto glass claims arealtered as a direct result of publicpressure created by groups such asthe IGA.Now for the first time in the association’shistory, we have expanded ourefforts to alert consumers to these issuesand tactics.Take OffAt our first ever Fall Conference thisNovember in Las Vegas, IGA launchedits anti-steering consumer educationcampaign, Don’t Get Steered. You canalso see excerpts online atwww.iga.org.The purpose of the campaign is toeducate the auto glass consumer thata competitor to the IGA member shopof choice may actually be processingthe insured’s glass claim and that thisprocessing is also a way for that competitionto take an auto glass sale awayfrom IGA’s members.The IGA, with the assistance of itsmembership and industry experts, hasproduced literature and marketingtools that will be used nationwide toinform the current automobile-owningpublic that they have a right tochoose the auto glass shop of theirchoice. All items are available to IGAmembers for their exclusive use. Suchtools consist of educational pamphlets,give-aways, t-shirts and sampleadvertisements. The heart of the campaignis the newly created Don’t GetSteered comic book.At our 2007 trade show and conventionthis past spring in Las Vegasour guest speaker, consumer advocateRalph Nader, suggested that independentssimplify the steering issue ina consumer education campaign bycreating a comic book. Nader explainedthat steering is a hard conceptfor anyone—consumers, lawmakers,judges, and others—to understand.He suggested something simple, like acomic book, to explain it. The IGAtook his advice to heart and commissioneda fully illustrated comic bookexplaining steering.The IGA discussed its upcoming“comic book” about steering at itsFall Conference in November.A New FrontierDon’t Get Steered represents anotherway IGA is combating steering on behalfof independents. Through theDon’t Get Steered program, we arecombating steering in the free andopen market. Even though steering isby its very nature, an attempt to controlthe free market, we feel that consumersonce educated will understand thatcompanies that try to dupe customersaway from competitors do so becausetheir product could not survive an honestcomparison.For a copy of Don’t Get Steered contactyour local IGA member or becomeone yourself.■◗Dave Zoldowski is president of AutoOne in Brighton, Mich., and serves aspresident of the IGA. Mr. Zoldowski’s opinionsare solely his own and not necessarilythose of this magazine.10 AGRR November/December 2007 www.agrrmag.com