Initiative Launches to ‘Fix the Cracks’ in Auto Glass Claims

A new initiative launched by insurance and tort reform groups is taking aim at assignment of benefits agreements for windshield repairs.

Assignment of benefits, or AOB, is a legal process that allows policyholders to sign over their insurance benefits to a third party in exchange for a quick repair.

Companies on the other end of AOB agreements often sue insurance companies to collect fees. Insurers say those lawsuits are often for inflated claims.

Insurers say that AOBs, coupled with the one-way attorney fees statute requiring insurance companies to pay the cost of litigation if they lose, are driving up auto insurance premiums.

The new initiative, ‘Fix the Cracks,’ is a partnership between the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), the Florida Justice Reform Institute (FJRI), and the Personal Insurance Federation of Florida (PIFF).