The True Cost of Managing Glass Claims In-House
Carriers often underestimate the true cost of managing glass claims internally because many of the costs are distributed across shared resources. A full cost accounting reveals the real picture.
Call center time is the biggest direct cost. Glass claims require dedicated phone handling — intake, verification, scheduling, follow-up. Calculate the loaded hourly cost of your call center staff and multiply by the average handle time per glass claim.
Adjuster involvement adds up. Even if adjusters only spend ten to fifteen minutes per glass claim, multiplied across annual claim volume, this represents significant adjuster time that could be spent on higher-value claims.
Technology costs are often hidden. The claims management system, shop network tools, payment processing platform, and reporting infrastructure all require ongoing investment. How much of that cost is attributable to glass?
Management overhead is real. Someone manages the glass program — negotiating shop contracts, reviewing pricing, handling escalations, producing reports. This management time has value even if it is not a dedicated role.
Training and turnover costs are ongoing. When staff turn over, the institutional knowledge about glass pricing, shop relationships, and program procedures walks out the door. Retraining is expensive and creates quality dips.
When carriers add up all of these costs and compare them to a TPA per-claim fee, the outsourcing option is almost always more economical — and that is before considering the quality, speed, and fraud prevention advantages a specialized TPA provides.