TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — After allegations of fraudulent insurance claims or non-performance by Arizona-based auto glass repair companies earlier in 2020, the State of Arizona released a newly evaluated contractor list who have been approved to provide glass and tint services to nearly 400 state agencies and over 800 co-op members. The three approved vendors, now published on the new Arizona Procurement Portal, include locally-owned Matrix Auto Glass and Tint in Tucson.
Bill Richards, 29-year veteran and retired captain of Tucson Police Department (TPD), former Logistics Commander, was responsible for TPD squad cars purchasing. He says:
“It is imperative police officers have clear vision and the National Highway Safety Administration has standards in place that are enforced so that we don’t put our officers or civilians in a dangerous place. Service is a big thing for me and Tucson is a service oriented community. Hearing that Matrix Auto Glass was evaluated and approved for this contract was assuring because Charlie, the owner, has always taken care of law enforcement and my family.”
The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) published in 2020 that Arizona policyholders had allegedly filed 2,655,567 auto glass claims from 2015-2019. Insurance industry data shows that during that time, 10 percent of the total auto glass claims in the US were in Arizona, beating out California and Texas. NICB’s government affairs director, Howard Handler, said this was due to fraudulent glass companies scamming consumers:
“The fact that auto glass claims have increased 26 percent over the last five years suggests that there may be a rise in fraudulent activity in Arizona. Fraudulent auto glass companies are convincing consumers to file the insurance claim on behalf of consumers…inflating the insurance claim, and collecting the money for themselves.”
With a market size of $5 billion and over 16,629 businesses nationwide, choosing a local auto glass company (when compared to Safelite) has many benefits.
The State of Arizona website explains the difference in public and private procurement, where private procurement does not have the transparency requirements, is less sustainable, and not focused on social responsibility. The strategic use of state procurement to vet contractors for insurance-based glass claims and window tinting will help each agency (and co-op member) to choose companies like Matrix Auto Glass and avoid doing any business with fraudulent vendors.
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