A Florida Senate on Wednesday approved a bill designed to reduce abusive auto-glass claims lawsuits and protect consumers from substandard repairs.
SB 1002, authored by state Sen. Linda Stewart (D-Orlando), passed the Senate by a unanimous vote, 40-0. This follows the bill’s approval by the Senate Rules Committee on April 11 in another unanimous vote. The bill would prohibit repair shops from offering inducements such as gift cards to customers in exchange for making insurance claims for auto glass repairs.
In addition, the measure would bar auto insurance policyholders from entering into an assignment-of-benefits contract for an auto glass or windshield repair. A discount for the insured party would also be required when the insurer provides a policy for a managed repair arrangement, according to the state Legislature`s analysis of the bill.
“While the consumer’s goal is to ensure their windshield is repaired and that they are driving safely, unscrupulous glass repair shops are knowingly committing insurance fraud,” Tasha Carter, Florida’s insurance consumer advocate, said in a statement emailed to the Florida Record. “I’m grateful to Sen. Stewart and the Legislature for taking action and recognizing that this type of scheme impacts insurance consumers and the industry as a whole.”
The number of Florida legal claims filed over windshields and auto glass went from 591 in 2011 to more than 37,000 by 2022, according to statistics provided by the measure’s supporters. And in just one year, from 2021 to 2022, such litigation jumped by 30% in the state.
And the average cost of an auto glass repair in the U.S. in 2020 was $294.37, while the average cost in Florida was $435.56, according to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). Such legal claims filed in Arizona and Florida represent nearly three-fourths of all “questionable” auto glass claims filed nationwide in 2020, the NICB reports.
The number of attorneys filing the vast majority of these lawsuits in Florida is relatively small (20), according to a database maintained by the Florida Department of Financial Services.