TCG Launches Windshields.com

Burnaby, British Columbia-based TCG International has launched a new consumer website for auto glass referrals, www.windshields.com. According to windshields.com marketing manager Doug Young, the company purchased the domain name in the early 1990s and began working on the referral site about a year ago.

Currently, the site, which went live on Friday, November 30, has about 250 shops signed on and is looking to grow these numbers. While TCG, which also is the parent company of Speedy Auto Glass, Novus Windshield Repair and Shat R Proof Corp., will automatically include all its Speedy and Novus locations on the site, Young notes that the site is designed for the entire industry.

"This is really not designed to promote Speedy or Novus, but to bring the industry and the consumer together," he says. "We're seeing more and more people going to the web."

Likewise, Young says the company hopes the site will provide a service to smaller shops that aren't necessarily equipped with websites or online quoting systems.

"We look at this as a way for the local mom-and-pop and mid-tiered glass shops to get access to a lot of the Internet traffic that this business has," says Young, who previously served in a marketing role with Speedy's flat glass segment.

Young says what sets the site apart from other industry referral sites is that shops can decline a job if they're too busy or don't have the part-without incurring the referral fee. In this case, the customer would receive an e-mail (if the job was declined) noting that the job had been declined and listing other shop options for them.

For shops to be listed on the site, there's a $5 set-up fee, a $9.99/month standard fee, along with a $19.99 referral fee for replacements and $5.99 referral fee for repairs. The site also offers "Featured Vendor" options with a different pricing scale.

While the site was only launched on Friday, Young says windshields.com has seen some jobs processed through the site-and prior to launch the site had hits from consumers looking for work.

The company is looking at adding an additional feature to the site that would allow consumers to compare the cash price for a job with their insurance deductibles.

CLICK HERE for the full text of the press release from Windshields.com.

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