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Auto Glass Plus

Auto Glass Plus, located at 132 East 9th, is owned by Don Steele of Trenton. He also has locations in Chillicothe and Brookfield. Steele, in addition to his wife Debbie, are joined in the business by Wes Cook, operation manager, son, Colbi Dixon, and Bobby Watkins.

Steele began this line of work in the Kansas City area in 1984. He saw an opportunity in the Trenton area. After having grown up here and graduating from Trenton High School, he decided to return to the area.

He learned the trade from watching others. He currently trains his employees in a hands- on environment. It takes at least 6 months to learn the trade with on-going training after that to perfect one’s skill.

Auto Glass Plus is part of the Harmon, Safelite, and Lynx networks. These network work much like medical networks in that insurance companies limit their administrative costs, and cost of claims by setting an agreed upon price with Harmon that they will pay for each window replacement.

In addition to the typical windshield replacement application, Auto Glass Plus repairs chips on windshields, replaces any glass such as mirrors, side, and back windows, and repairs and replaces electric window switches and motors.

A windshield replacement process takes about 1 hour but with curing time added, the total job could take up to 4 hours. Customers can take their auto to any of the business locations, or the team offers on-site service as well. Auto Glass plus travels within a 50 mile radius of any of their locations.

Auto Glass Plus’s volume of business spiked due to the hail storm a year ago. They are still seeing several clients a month due to the hail storm one year ago. In recalling his years in the business, Steele claims that the hail storm in 2004 was the weirdest thing that ever happened in his business. His company replaced over 800 windshields in a 40 day time period.

Steele enjoys the hometown aspect of his business after having grown up in Trenton. He came back to Trenton from the Kansas City area because there were no auto glass replacement businesses locally at that time. The only thing that he dislikes about his business is that the selling price is determined by someone else, usually the network providers. Roughly half of all jobs performed are as a result of insurance claims, while the other half is comprised of cash sales to individuals.

The normal price range for windshields is between $175 and $400. When working as part of the network, each insurance company, such as State Farm, American Family, Shelter, Farm Bureau, Allied, and a host of others predetermine what they will pay for a replacement.

Auto Glass Plus is open Monday through Friday from 8 to 5 p.m. and Saturday by appointment.