TAMPA, Fla. — Evan Moritz took his wife's car to a Tampa dealership last year for a routine oil change.
Before he could get inside, he says a Service Pros Auto Glass salesman approached him in the parking lot and began inspecting his windshield.
"Pulled in and this other guy in a different colored shirt came up and started looking at my windshield," Moritz said.
According to Moritz, the salesman told him the minor chips on the windshield were dangerous and needed to be replaced — and that the replacement would be free through his insurance.
"He said well, 'These dots on your windshield here could connect and then just ruin the integrity of your windshield, and that's not safe,' made it sound really dangerous," Moritz said.
The insurance claim
With the salesman's guidance, Moritz filed an insurance claim on the spot.
"And he walked me through like how claims work and how insurance works, and he said it is free," Moritz said.
But Moritz had second thoughts and called his insurance company.
Moritz said a representative from his insurance company told him his rates and discounts could be affected by future claims.
"So if that happens, say they're close together, my insurance will go up, and we all know insurance costs in Florida are just crazy right now," Moritz said.
Florida's comprehensive insurance coverage law — Florida Statute 627.7288 — states that a deductible shall not apply to damage to the windshield.
But that does not mean filing a claim carries no consequences.
Moritz said he called Service Pros repeatedly, leaving messages that he was canceling the claim.
He said the company kept trying to schedule a new windshield installation anyway, which led him to leave a negative review.
We put it to the test
To see what would happen first-hand, we asked a Tampa Bay 28 employee to make an appointment online for a tire rotation at the same dealership shown in a Service Pros promotional video posted on Facebook.
Tampa Bay 28 photojournalist Josh Whitston drove his fiancée's car — which had two small chips on the windshield — to the appointment.
His fiancée, who also works for the station, booked the appointment.
"As soon as I pull in and park, there's one of the service pro guys there," Whitston said.
Whitston asked the employee for permission to record him on his cell phone, and the man agreed. We are not showing his face because he is a low-level employee.
The salesman told Whitston the chips were severe and could not be repaired.
"These are called through-and-through cracks.
So whatever did hit you, hit you hard enough to go through your first pane of glass, your safety laminate, then it hit your second pane of glass," the salesman said.
The salesman also told Whitston the replacement would come at no cost.
"What we do today is just call your insurance company, make sure everything's good to go, and it is at no cost, and you come out to your house or your work," the salesman told Whitston on the video.
When Whitston asked whether filing a claim would affect his fiancée's insurance premium, the salesman said it would not.
"So for something like this, they just, they don't affect your rates at all," the salesman said.
Whitston paid for the tire rotation but declined to schedule a windshield installation and did not file a claim.
What an expert found
Whitston then drove the same car to Linda Rollison, owner of Superior Auto Glass of Tampa Bay.
Rollison is a board member of the Auto Glass Safety Council, which develops and promotes standards for the auto glass industry.
Her assessment of the damage was starkly different from the salesman's.
"It just hit the first layer. It didn't even touch the laminate," Rollison said.
When we showed her the video of the salesman describing the damage as a through-and-through crack, she was direct.
"He was exaggerating highly," Rollison said.
"Those are definitely repairable. There's no reason to replace this windshield," Rollison said.
Under Auto Glass Safety Council standards, cracks shorter than a dollar bill and chips smaller than a quarter are considered repairable.
The cost difference between a repair and a full replacement is significant. According to Rollison, a repair can cost between $60 and $150.
A full replacement, especially on newer cars, can exceed $1,000.
As for the promise that the replacement is free, Rollison was blunt.
"No, it's not free. There's no such thing as free," Rollison said.
When we asked what happens to insurance rates if everyone in Florida with minor windshield damage files a replacement claim, her answer was simple.
"They go up," Rollison said.
The insurance risk
April Wilkins, an insurance agent at the Dennis Insurance Agency in Lutz, said a windshield claim can follow a policyholder for years.
"That claim is going to stick with you for years to come, and your policy is going to potentially go up," Wilkins said.
Wilkins also warned about the risk of filing multiple claims.
"Like, let's say you have one and then a rock hits your windshield six months later and you now have another windshield claim. Now you're starting to build those claims and anytime you have multiple comprehensive claims, you have the potential of the carriers canceling you due to being a high risk," Wilkins said.
Moritz said the salesman never made any of those risks clear.
"I felt like it was just not clear about how my insurance would go up with the claims, and they didn't want to explain that at all when I asked about it," Moritz said.
Service Pros responds
Service Pros' president William Camp declined an on-camera interview, citing pending litigation involving former employees and a competitor.
The company's attorney provided a written statement saying the company reviewed the situation and found the representative recommended a replacement without establishing that the damage could not be repaired, which violated company policy.
The statement said the employee no longer represents the company.
Service Pro's attorney also asked us for our complete, unedited recording of the employee.
That video is below, but we have blurred the employee's face.
Sunbiz records show Service Pros Auto Glass is a fictitious name for At Home Auto Glass, LLC. William Camp is an authorized member of At Home Auto Glass, LLC.
AT HOME AUTO GLASS, LLC (SERVICE PROS AUTO GLASS) STATEMENT
Tampa Bay 28 has told us that on September 2, it recorded an At Home Auto Glass
representative at an automobile dealership offering to replace a windshield, that the reporter posing as a customer declined several times, and that the reporter then left. We have asked the station for its complete, unedited recording. We will not characterize footage we have not been permitted to view.
The station’s own account establishes this: no work was performed, no insurance claim was made, no one was charged anything, and the customer said no and left. Any suggestion that this recording shows At Home submitting or attempting a fraudulent insurance claim is false.
At Home’s written sales training manual sets the standard for its representatives in its own words: “Tell the truth about our products and services,” “Be honest about whether a windshield needs a repair or a replacement,” and “Respect a ‘no.’ No high-pressure tactics.” At Home reviewed this encounter against that standard. The representative recommended a replacement without establishing that the damage could not be repaired, which violates At Home’s policy, and he no longer represents At Home. At Home’s standards are clear, and one encounter does not change them; the company is using it to reinforce those standards with every representative.
No court has ever found that At Home or William Camp engaged in fraud or any unlawful sales practice. In State Farm’s 2021 federal lawsuit in Tampa, the court in September 2024 granted summary judgment to At Home, Mr. Camp, and At Home’s other member on every claim for damages and dismissed the remaining count. A 2025 insurer case in Sarasota County was voluntarily dismissed with prejudice on January 14, 2026. Both are public records and available to the station.
At Home is the plaintiff in more than a dozen pending lawsuits against former workers and competing glass companies, alleging that they diverted At Home’s dealership relationships and, in one pending case, spread false accusations about At Home to its dealership partners. If anyone who directed the station to this dealership, or who is quoted about At Home, is a defendant in those cases, viewers deserve to know that.
Mr. Camp told Mr. Walser he would be glad to speak once he had conferred with counsel. Because that litigation is pending, counsel is responding on his behalf, and Mr. Camp is not giving interviews. We ask that this statement be quoted in full, that the complete exchange be shown rather than a portion, that the full statement be published with the online version of the report, and that any report make clear that no work was done, no claim was made, and no one was charged.
Shyamie N. S. Dixit, Jr., Esq., B.C.S.
Dixit Law, P.A., counsel for At Home Auto Glass, LLC and William Camp
Editor's note:
We sent in a news photographer, not a reporter. He did not pose as a customer. He had an appointment for a tire rotation, which was performed, and he paid for it.
How to check out auto glass companies and file complaints
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has tips for how to check out an auto glass company before giving them your business.
Here is where you can file a complaint against an auto glass company.
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