A.R.S. 20-264 is two sentences long, and most Arizona drivers have never read either one.
The first sentence says any insurer writing private passenger auto insurance with comprehensive coverage has to provide, at your option, complete coverage for repairing or replacing damaged safety equipment without any deductible. The second defines safety equipment as the glass in your windshield, doors, and windows, plus the glass or plastic that covers your lights.
The words doing the work are "at the option of the insured." The carrier has to offer it and you have to choose it. If nobody ever asked you, there is a fair chance it is not on your policy.
It also rides on comprehensive. A liability-only policy carries no glass coverage of any kind, so a cracked windshield on a liability-only car is a bill you pay yourself.
Source: A.R.S. § 20-264, coverage for damaged safety equipment
Drive 69 between Prescott Valley and Mayer behind a gravel truck, or take 89 north past Chino Valley with the wind blowing across the shoulder, and it is easy to see why the legislature wrote this statute. Newer windshields also hold the cameras for lane-keeping and automatic braking, and replacing one often means recalibrating those cameras, which adds to the bill.
When I was writing policies as a producer, I let this one slide. The customer wanted a lower monthly number, the glass election added to it, and I did not push. I should have asked every single time. That is on me.
Arizona law also gives you the right to choose the glass company that does the work, unless your policy says otherwise, and a carrier that recommends a shop has to tell you at the same time that the choice is yours.
Source: A.R.S. § 20-469, motor vehicle loss and choice of glass repair facility
The same chapter makes it unlawful for a glass shop to add to the damage before repairing it, to do work substantially beyond what the repair needs, or to advise you to falsify the date of damage so that it falls inside a policy period. If someone approaches your car in a parking lot offering to handle the whole thing, drive away.
Source: A.R.S. § 20-463.01, unlawful practices in auto glass repair and replacement
Checking takes five minutes:
- Find comprehensive on your auto declarations page. No comprehensive means no glass coverage.
- Look for a line reading full glass, glass deductible, or safety glass, and see whether it shows $0.
- If the glass line shows your regular comprehensive deductible, or there is no glass line at all, the election is not on your policy.
Call (928) 499-6644 or bring the declarations page to 1781 AZ-69 Ste #3, Prescott, AZ 86301, and we will tell you in one sitting whether you have it and what adding it would do to your premium.
More on Auto insurance in Arizona.