The glass vendor an insurer names on the claims call is usually a suggestion, and you can generally give the job to a company you picked yourself. After that call, drivers who already booked a mobile company often ask whether an insurance company can make them use a specific auto glass shop instead. Under A.R.S. 20-469, you have the right to choose any glass repair facility unless your contract says otherwise. Fla. Stat. 627.7291 bars an insurer, agent or adjuster from requiring a particular company or location for windshield work.
The two laws are built differently, and the gaps between them change what you check before you book. A mobile auto glass replacement happens wherever the car is parked, so the vendor on your claim and the company that drives to you can easily be two separate businesses. The deductible rules sit in other sections, and they set which glass the policy pays for in full.
Steering: When an Insurance Company Tries to Make You Use a Specific Auto Glass Shop
The belief runs like this: the insurer pays, so the insurer picks the glass company. Lawmakers have a name for the practice behind that belief. A Florida House staff analysis of the 2023 glass bill, CS/CS/HB 541, approved May 25, 2023, defines steering as an insurer requiring a claimant to use a specific repair shop for covered repairs.
Under that definition, steering is a requirement. A claims rep who mentions a preferred vendor, offers to transfer your call or sends you a shop's number is making an offer. The problem starts when using that vendor is presented as a condition of your covered repair. For a windshield claim, A.R.S. 20-469 and Fla. Stat. 627.7291 both leave you room to turn the offer down, with different limits.
The recommended shop's name often arrives early, while you are still describing the damage. You do not have to use it just because you heard it first. You can thank the rep, say which company you want, and ask that your choice be noted on the claim file. If you have not picked a company yet, you can also say you will call back with a name once you have one.
Naming your own company does not end the conversation about money. Under Fla. Stat. 627.7291(2), an insurer, agent or adjuster may provide an explanation of your comprehensive coverage benefits and any applicable limit of liability. That part of the call is allowed, and it gives you facts you need. Let the rep finish, then ask two things back: what the comprehensive coverage pays for on this loss, and whether a limit of liability applies. Write down the answers with the rep's name and the date.
Arizona's Right to Choose and Its Contract Exception
Under A.R.S. 20-469, "unless otherwise prescribed by contract, a person in this state has the right to choose any glass repair facility for the repair of a loss relating to motor vehicle glass."
Two parts of that sentence shape your claim. The right covers a loss relating to motor vehicle glass, with no limit to the windshield, so a broken door window or back glass sits under the same right. The opening clause matters just as much. Those words mean your policy can set a different rule, and the statute yields to it.
Before you name a mobile company, read the comprehensive or glass section of your policy. Look for wording that names a vendor, a program or a required way of handling glass losses. If nothing like that appears, the statutory right is your starting point. If a term does appear, call the insurer and ask how it applies to this loss before you set the appointment.
The same statute also governs the claims call itself. If an insurer recommends or provides information about a glass repair facility, it has to inform you of your right to choose at the same time. The timing is part of the duty. A rep who reads you a shop's details should mention your right in that same conversation, and a later email does not meet the timing.
Keep a short record of that call. Note the date, the rep's name, the vendor you were given and whether your right to choose came up. That record matters if you later believe the disclosure was skipped. The Arizona auto glass insurance page sets this A.R.S. 20-469 right beside the 20-264 option below.
Florida's Ban on Steering Windshield Claims
The rule is a ban. Under Fla. Stat. 627.7291(1), Florida's windshield steering law, a person "may not require a claimant to use a particular company or location" for windshield glass replacement, repair or calibration services. That person includes an insurer, agent or adjuster, plus anyone acting on their behalf.
The word location matters for a mobile job. The section bars a required place as well as a required company. An adjuster cannot make a covered windshield replacement depend on taking the car to one particular site. Calibration services sit in the same list, so the ban reaches that work as well as the glass. Windshield glass products are covered too, which keeps the insurer from requiring a particular supplier's part on a claim.
Subsection (5) sets the edges. The section applies to windshield glass claims under the comprehensive or combined additional coverage of a personal lines motor vehicle policy. Three limits follow from that wording. The glass is the windshield. The coverage is comprehensive or combined additional. The policy is a personal lines auto policy.
For a cracked windshield, the instruction is short: name the company you want when you open the comprehensive claim, and repeat it if a vendor is offered. A door window or back glass falls outside the windshield wording of this section. On those claims, ask the insurer how it handles your choice of company and read what your policy says before you book. The Florida auto glass insurance page pairs Fla. Stat. 627.7291 with the deductible rule below.
Arizona's Full-Glass Option Versus Florida's Windshield Waiver
Shop choice and the deductible are separate questions, and each has its own section of law. Under A.R.S. 20-264, the deductible answer depends on an option elected when the policy was bought. Under Fla. Stat. 627.7288, it is set for one piece of glass.
Under A.R.S. 20-264(A), the option belongs to the insured. An insurer writing private passenger auto insurance with comprehensive coverage must provide, at the option of the insured, complete coverage for all damaged safety equipment without regard to any deductible. That elected option is the full glass coverage Arizona drivers ask about. It sits on your policy only if it was chosen.
Subsection (B) defines safety equipment broadly. It means the glass in the windshield, doors and windows, plus the glass, plastic or other material used in the vehicle's lights. If the option was elected, a broken door window or back glass falls within the same coverage as the windshield. Check the declarations page for it before you book. If you are unsure, ask your agent to show you the election and have it explained. Without the option, the policy's own deductible terms apply to the glass claim.
Fla. Stat. 627.7288 reaches policies with comprehensive or combined additional coverage. Their deductible provisions "shall not be applicable to damage to the windshield." Nothing has to be elected, and the rule names the windshield alone. Side windows and the back glass are not named in that section, so a claim for one of them follows the deductible terms in your policy.
| Question | Arizona | Florida |
|---|---|---|
| Who picks the glass company | You, unless your contract prescribes otherwise (A.R.S. 20-469) | You; no one may require a particular company or location (Fla. Stat. 627.7291(1)) |
| Glass the shop-choice rule names | Any motor vehicle glass | Windshield glass on comprehensive claims (627.7291(5)) |
| What the insurer must or may say | Must inform you of your right when it recommends or gives information about a facility | May explain comprehensive benefits and any applicable limit of liability (627.7291(2)) |
| Glass the deductible rule covers | Windshield, doors, windows and light materials, as safety equipment (20-264(B)) | Windshield only (627.7288); side and back glass not named |
| How the deductible rule starts | An option the insured must elect (20-264(A)) | Set by statute, with nothing to elect (627.7288) |
| Repair-arrangement discount | Not named in 20-469 or 20-264 | Required when an insured accepts a policy with a repair arrangement (627.7291(3)) |
| Remedy for a violation | Administrative remedy to the director; no private right or cause of action | No private cause of action (627.7291(4)); no other route named in the section |
Who Enforces the Shop-Choice Rules
Neither statute gives you a private cause of action against the insurer. A.R.S. 20-469 creates no private right or cause of action for any person. It provides solely an administrative remedy to the director for a violation. Fla. Stat. 627.7291(4) may not be construed to create a private cause of action.
That shapes how you use these rules. The protection works best at the start of the claim, before any glass is ordered. Name your company when you report the loss, and repeat it if a vendor comes up again. If the rep pushes back, ask which policy term they are relying on, and ask them to point to it.
The follow-up differs by statute. Under A.R.S. 20-469, the question about a policy term goes straight to the contract exception. A missed disclosure, or a requirement you believe broke that section, is a matter for the director. Bring the dates and names you wrote down. A windshield claim under comprehensive coverage sits inside the ban in Fla. Stat. 627.7291(1), and you can quote its words if a vendor is presented as required.
Your written record does double duty here. It shows when you named your company, what the rep said about coverage and whether a vendor was framed as a requirement. If a question comes up after the work, that page answers it faster than anyone's memory of a phone call.
Managed Repair Discounts in Florida Policies
A different arrangement can come in at the policy stage. Under Fla. Stat. 627.7291(3), an insurer may offer a policy that contains a repair arrangement for windshield glass replacement, repair or calibration services, or for windshield glass products. If the insurer offers one and the insured accepts it, the insurer must provide an actuarially sound discount.
The choice happens when you buy or renew the policy, long before a rock hits the glass. Whether the subsection touches your claim turns on two conditions. The insurer had to offer the arrangement, and you had to accept it. If both happened, the arrangement is part of your contract, and its terms are the first thing to read when the windshield cracks. If you never accepted one, the discount subsection has nothing to say about your claim.
To find out which case you are in, look for a repair arrangement or a related discount on the declarations page or in a windshield endorsement. Then ask the insurer to confirm in writing whether your policy carries one. Ask how the arrangement bears on choosing a mobile company before you set the appointment, and keep the answer with your claim notes.
A.R.S. 20-469 reaches a similar point through its contract clause. A contract can prescribe a different rule, so there too the answer sits in the policy text you agreed to.
Booking a Mobile Visit After the Claim Is Opened
The deductible picture differs by state before the appointment is made. The same House staff analysis concludes that a Florida consumer often qualifies for windshield work with the deductible set aside, because the comprehensive deductible does not apply to a damaged windshield. Often is the honest word there, since the policy still has to carry comprehensive coverage. Under A.R.S. 20-264, the same question turns on whether the option was elected.
A workable order of steps looks like this:
- Report the loss to your insurer and say at the start which glass company you want. If the rep names a vendor, repeat your choice and ask that it be noted on the claim.
- Ask what your comprehensive coverage pays on this loss and whether a limit of liability applies. Confirm whether the deductible applies to this piece of glass.
- Get the claim number and pass it to the mobile company with the vehicle's year, make and model.
- Pick where the car will be: a home driveway, an office lot, an apartment complex or a roadside spot. An adult needs to open the car and give approval for the work, and usually does not have to stay with it.
- Keep every page the installer leaves. A separate guide covers what a mobile installer owes you in writing.
We help you file the claim, and your policy sets what is covered. We come to the address you choose, so the claim never has to include a trip to a shop. Our workmanship warranty covers the installation for the whole time you own the vehicle, whichever vendor the insurer suggested, and it does not extend to a new chip, a crack or a glass defect.
With the claim number noted and your choice on record, the remaining decision is where the car will be parked. Schedule a mobile glass appointment for that spot, or see how mobile auto glass replacement at your home or office works before you book. General info, not legal or insurance advice — coverage varies by policy.
Choosing a glass shop on an insurance claim
Does the right to choose a glass shop cover a cracked door window in Arizona and Florida?
In Arizona, A.R.S. 20-469 speaks of any loss relating to motor vehicle glass, so a door window is within it unless your contract says otherwise. Florida's steering ban in 627.7291 applies to windshield glass claims, so for a door window ask the insurer how it handles your choice and read your policy.
Should you call the insurer or the mobile glass company first on a windshield claim?
Either order can work. Opening the claim first gives you the claim number the mobile company needs, and naming your company on that call puts your choice on the claim file. If you booked the visit first, give the insurer that company's name when you report the loss. In Florida, Fla. Stat. 627.7291(1) bars requiring a particular company or location for a windshield claim; in Arizona, A.R.S. 20-469 leaves the choice with you unless your contract prescribes otherwise.
Do you have to use the auto glass repair shop your insurance recommends for a windshield claim?
No in either state, with different limits. Arizona's statute yields to a contract that prescribes otherwise, while Florida's section bars requiring a particular company or location for windshield replacement, repair or calibration. A recommendation by itself is an offer; naming your own company at the start of the claim keeps it simple. General info, not legal or insurance advice — coverage varies by policy.
Sources
- Arizona Revised Statutes 20-469, choice of glass repair facility
- Arizona Revised Statutes 20-264, damaged safety equipment deductible optional
- Florida Statutes 627.7291, windshield claims and practices
- Florida Statutes 627.7288, comprehensive coverage deductible and motor vehicle glass
- Florida House of Representatives staff analysis, CS/CS/HB 541 (2023)