OldRooster
Get off my lawn!
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2019
- Posts
- 10,433
- Reputation
- 13,048
I need to replace the windshield on my BMW SUV. It has a front facing camera mounted to the windshield (I am not exactly sure what the camera does, but whatever), this doubles the after tax replacement cost from approximately $400 to $800 because the camera system (upper center of windshield) needs to be "recalibrated" after installation. $800 was enough for me to call around and get different quote. So I go on to apple maps and search "autoglass replacement", I get a dozen results within 7 miles. Cool!, surely I can find one of these dozen autoglass installers to give me a lower quote so I can save $70 or so. I start calling. Turns out 75% of those dozen results are just fake names and locations and those calls are all routed to an out of state company called Same Day Windshields, and all Same Day Windshields does is make high quotes (about $1,100) then broker the installation out to local installers if they get you to commit. The same scam is common with other businesses such as locksmiths. The interweb has made such low key scams much easier to implement in 2024, 30+ years ago one would have had to buy advertising in hundreds of markets to perpetrate the same scam.
