FBI and Insurer Investigations Intensify Focus on Auto-Glass Fraud Schemes in 2023

The legislative changes in Florida in 2023 — including the passage of SB 1002 eliminating AOB — were partly a response to a sustained period of escalating auto-glass fraud that had drawn the attention of both state legislators and federal law enforcement. The NICB, which coordinates with the FBI and state insurance fraud units, had been building cases against organized auto-glass fraud schemes for several years leading up to 2023.

NICB data used in the May 2023 SB 1002 legislative debate showed that auto-glass lawsuits in Florida had increased by nearly 4,000 percent from 2011 to 2021. The bureau classified Florida and Arizona as the source of 74 percent of all questionable auto-glass claims filed nationally. These concentrations reflected the presence of organized operations that systematically recruited policyholders to sign AOB agreements, then filed inflated or fabricated claims on their behalf.

The fraud investigations that intensified in 2023 targeted the full spectrum of fraudulent conduct: fictitious repairs on undamaged vehicles, inflated invoices for real work, billing for parts or services never provided, and identity theft schemes using policyholder information without their knowledge. Investigations frequently involved coordination between state insurance departments, the NICB, local law enforcement, and federal agencies.

For legitimate auto-glass shops, the fraud environment of 2023 created a reputational challenge. Legislative debates often conflated all independent glass shops with the fraudulent actors at the margins, and the perception that auto-glass claims were systematically abused led some insurers to increase scrutiny of all glass-claim invoices — including those from shops with clean compliance records.

The antidote for legitimate shops was straightforward documentation: thorough work orders, before-and-after photographs, part-number-level billing records, and customer signatures confirming that work was authorized and performed. Shops with strong documentation practices were demonstrably distinguishable from fraud operations and could present that distinction to insurer representatives, adjusters, and in any dispute context.

The NICB actively partners with legitimate industry stakeholders — including AGRR trade groups — to help identify and prosecute fraud operators while protecting the reputation of law-abiding auto-glass businesses.