Working in the automotive glazing industry, I can say with some insight that this has been a long time coming. Look at how many times they have changed hands over the last few years. Technicians have been jumping ship over the last 12 months, the current owners did away with middle management when they took over to run everything from a callcentre.
The immediate effect of this is that poor workmanship, timekeeping, productivity etc has basically not been dealt with, as there has been no line management! Technicians have been doing a third of their allocated workload, without so much as even informing the customers that they can't be bothered. Cashflow problems have meant staff haven't been paid on time, or the contracted amounts for months now. It's been fairly dismal. The beginning of last week, the company's fuel cards were cancelled, and the technicians were instructed to take cash payments only, using them to keep diesel in their vans. A number of vans have been stuck outside of depots, simply unable to move.
Major fleet and insurance customers who have historically been very close with AW's have lost confidence over the last two years, and been moving to alternative suppliers and as far as I can tell from my position, one contract too many has been lost and that's it!
Couple this with consumer experiences being seemingly far better with alternative companies, and frankly it's a recipe for disaster. I have dealt with members of the public over the last few weeks who have been waiting for 4-6 weeks for Autowindscreens to supply them replacement doorglasses or heated rear windows, when the competition are able to offer same day.
I'm in full ramble mode now - Over the years I've seen technician's workmanship from a range of different automotive glazing companies, from Autowindscreens, I have seen both some of the best, and some of the worst (potentially deadly windscreen replacements). I hope for the consumer's sake, those excellent technicians find employment with one of the good firms.
/ramble over
Don't you have windscreen cover?
Most insurance companies will tie the insured into one specific company. Presumably those insurers exclusively using Autos will have the other suppliers scrambling to mop up the mess!
