General Windscreen

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General Windscreen

Joined
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Well, after 'er indoors POP suffered a chipped screen a few months back which was subsequently repaired, I came home today to find she had one of those 'flying rocks out of nowhere' bullseye smash and crack jobs the size of a 50p coin smack bang in the centre of the passenger side.

Going to take a week for a new screen to be ordered in by Autoglass, genuine Fiat one because she's insured with Fiat Insurance. Just a bit fed up she has to pay the £80 excess, but I guess that's life. I suppose she should count herself lucky the offending stone or rock bounced off and didn't damage anything else, including her, obviously!
 
We have had many windscreen cracks in recent years. Every one to date caused by passing coal lorry shedding coal on its way from opencast to rail terminal a short distance from where we live. Daughter has had two in as many months recently, and I have just had another one. I do not tailgate. Just a downside to having to travel the same road as these selfish lorry drivers who do not check that their load is fully secure. I actually confronted one driver after a massive lump of coal just missed me. I chased after him for a few miles and he was using his mobile phone as I was following him. I gave him a right bollocking. Made me feel better, he probably did not give a toss.
 
Ive not having a dig in anyway but does she tailgate?
It's just ive never had a chipped/cracked in 13 years driving. (admittedly I might just have been lucky)

She was overtaking a HGV that threw up a stone. It happens. What is she supposed to do? just hang back a quarter of a mile and not overtake anything?

Me thinks you've just been a bit lucky, because I too have suffered chipped windscreens from stones being thrown up from the opposite dual carriageway. Yes, believe it or not that does happen!
 
Yes, I've had a few over the years and they've mostly been (apparently) from vehicles going the other way.
 
Gritters, lorries in general, and overtakers going like fury on newly surfaced roads, you name it. I've had three new screens in the last ten years, and I don't tailgate either.
 
Well, new windscreen was fitted the other day and a genuine Fiat one to boot perks of being insured with Fiat Insurance.

Not bad, was only a week to wait for AutoWindscreens to obtain one from Fiat, but a job well done.
 
I had new windscreen fitted by Autoglass recently. I told them I wanted OEM but they said couldn't do OEM but the manufacturer of the Glass was the same - Pilkington. The only difference would be Fiat logo.
Well after fitting I noticed that its not Pilkington at all : /
I'm not too bothered about it really but I am really annoyed that they dented the wing (I saw the fitter do it with his knee) and ragged up the headlining : (
In the process of getting quote to make a claim.
ImageUploadedByFIAT Forum1377337109.789336.jpg
ImageUploadedByFIAT Forum1377337126.723222.jpg
 
I realise to some people, the maker of the glass won't bother them one iota and yes probably, the glass may well be made in the same factory as where the original branded windscreens are made, but then again, there will be other glass manufacturers out there whose screens are not made to oem spec.

As I said, the only reason our car was fitted with a genuine Fiat logo branded screen, is because we are insured with Fiat Insurance and any replacement parts used must be original Fiat. Yes, we do pay a little more for vehicle insurance cover than the cheapest out there (about £35 a year more than the cheapest quote we had) but in the insurance market, you get exactly what you pay for and that has already been covered in another thread.
 
You did well getting the OEM glass. It's nice to have all matching glass.
 
Hi I have a chip in my windscreen only a minor one. How much would this roughly cost to fix?
 
Hi I have a chip in my windscreen only a minor one. How much would this roughly cost to fix?

Wow! Holy thread revival!

To be honest, lots of major supermarkets or large out of town retail outlets, often have a guy with a tent camped out in the car park, well, they certainly do where I live, my local Tesco Extra being one of them!

As far as I am aware, you just approach them, give them your insurance details and they charge back to your insurer. It costs around £10 I think. You could of course just go along to a local windscreen fitter and just ask how much they'd charge, but again, it really shouldn't cost more than around £10 to repair a chip/bullseye less than the size of a 5p piece.

Be aware though, if you have a chip or bullseye crack in the drivers field of vision and it's larger than a 5p piece, you'll most likely need a replacement screen and that's usually between £75 to £80 on your insurance excess. My wife has been incredibly unlucky over the last 4 years. She's had three total screen write offs due to flying debris kicked up by vehicles she's either been behind or from traffic coming the other way.

It's slightly annoying when other folk try to intimate that she's been sitting too close behind other vehicles or tailgating. My wife is now travelling in excess of 25k miles per year and unfortunately cracked windscreens can come as part of the deal when you're out on the road for a large part of your working day. I am now officially retired (at a nice young age! :D), but in my last job, I was travelling in excess of 45k miles per year. In one year alone, 3 windscreens were destroyed in my van. I was fortunate enough to have a dashcam fitted and so my employer had nothing to say regarding how the screens were written off. :p
 
You can buy kits to do it yourself. I've got a couple of kits that I intended to use in a chipped glass roof but ended up replacing the roof, but it's an amateur version of how the pros do it.

I believe it's covered on your insurance and is totally free if you take it somewhere. They often pop up in Halfords or Supermarket car parks.
 
Hi I have a chip in my windscreen only a minor one. How much would this roughly cost to fix?

Depends where it is on the screen, and how large the damaged area is. Some damage cannot legally be repaired. This video will give you an idea of what's repairable, and what's not.

I believe it's covered on your insurance and is totally free if you take it somewhere. They often pop up in Halfords or Supermarket car parks.

Depends on your insurer, and probably covered only if you have fully comprehensive insurance.

IIRC Direct Line has a £10 excess for windscreen repairs.

One thing that not everyone knows is that normally it covers all the glass on the car, so the same arrangements apply to the rear screen and side window glass. Lounge owners should note that many policies specifically exclude glass roofs, so if you break the roof glass, you'll either have to pay for a repair yourself, or make a normal 'at fault' claim on your insurance. The cheapest way to repair a cracked panoramic roof is probably to source a secondhand roof glass from a breaker and pay a freelance windscreen fitter to pop it in.

Since most insurers will use the cheapest aftermarket screen they can source, the cost to the insurer of a windscreen replacement is often very little more than the excess on the policy.
 
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Depends where it is on the screen, and how large the damaged area is. Some damage cannot legally be repaired. This video will give you an idea of what's repairable, and what's not.



Depends on your insurer, and probably covered only if you have fully comprehensive insurance.

IIRC Direct Line has a £10 excess for windscreen repairs.

One thing that not everyone knows is that normally it covers all the glass on the car, so the same arrangements apply to the rear screen and side window glass. Lounge owners should note that many policies specifically exclude glass roofs, so if you break the roof glass, you'll either have to pay for a repair yourself, or make a normal 'at fault' claim on your insurance. The cheapest way to repair a cracked panoramic roof is probably to source a secondhand roof glass from a breaker and pay a freelance windscreen fitter to pop it in.

Since most insurers will use the cheapest aftermarket screen they can source, the cost to the insurer of a windscreen replacement is often very little more than the excess on the policy.
I had a glass sunroof on a mondeo pop on the M25 years ago. I thought a bomb had gone off!! I argued with my insurance company as they were saying sunroofs are not included in glass cover. I won in the end and only had to pay the £50 excess.
 
I've contacted my insurance who told my to take it up directly with autoglass. When I went on their website there was a questionnaire. When I filled it in they told me that the chip was too small to repair and even in the harshest of conditions it wouldn't turn into a crack. All good however it is in my drivers side view which I have been told by friends this is an MOT fail! Therefore when I got back in touch with auto glass the man told me there is nothing the can do and the whole screen would need replacing!
 
Whoaa there!

Personally, firstly, I'd find a bloke with a tent at your local supermarket or out of town retail park and ask them first. Of course the insurance company want you to have a new screen, they'll get £80 off you for your windscreen excess. Let someone who knows what they're doing give you some advice before you end up having to fork out on your winsdscreen excess, which I should also remind you, that if you make a claim for a new windscreen, despite the fact the windscreen excess is a separate part of your car insurance policy, you MUST declare any windscreen claims at your next renewal. It's a very very good way of eeking out extra money on the premiums!
 
I've contacted my insurance who told my to take it up directly with autoglass. When I went on their website there was a questionnaire. When I filled it in they told me that the chip was too small to repair and even in the harshest of conditions it wouldn't turn into a crack. All good however it is in my drivers side view which I have been told by friends this is an MOT fail! Therefore when I got back in touch with auto glass the man told me there is nothing the can do and the whole screen would need replacing!

If the chip or crack will fit in a 10mm circle then it's not an MOT fail regardless of location.
see http://www.motester.co.uk/mot-checks/mot-test-of-windscreen




Robert G8RPI.
 
Or the size of a 5p piece, place it over, if you cannot see anything(cracks) you're OK?

Not quite, a 5p piece is about 18mm in diameter. Closest common thing I can think of is the big end of the cap from a BIC disposable ballpoint pen, you have to cut the pocket clip "spike" off though. Or buy a M10 washer from a hardware store and see if the crack fits inside the hole.

Robert G8RPI.
 
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