Walked out from a mates place the other night to find a crack in the bottom /middle of the windscreen. Figure it was a tree branch, as we have had a lot of wind gusts lately and gumtrees are notorious for dropping branches.

Anyway, long story short I ring the wndscreen place to find a date that suits so I can get a new screen fitted .. quess what .. FIAT have NO STOCK of 500 screens in the country. It will be 2-3 weeks to get the next shipment from Italy.

WHAT!!

Either FIAT don't keep enough stock, or there was a sudden spate of broken screens and all the stock is gone .. either way - NOT HAPPY!!

Bugger!!

Which is going to lead others like myself to ask the question, why does Australia have no aftermarket windscreen business?

Here in the UK, the vast majority of replacement windscreens, are non genuine, aftermarket, mostly Chinese made windscreen replacements. The only way you'll get a genuine windscreen replacement is to either insist with your insurance company that a genuine marque manufacturer screen is installed and then the insurance company 99 times out of 100 will charge you maximum excess for doing so, or you obtain one yourself at your own cost from a dealership or you go to a breakers yard and organise the removal/refitting yourself.

So, I'm very surprised that the aftermarket business in Australia doesn't appear to import non genuine stock from China.......

Maybe old knowledge here ......................

Many many years ago, we had a Hillman Hunter. The windscreen was shattered by a stone flung up from a passing truck. I found a local business who fitted new ones, and was told that the Hunter windscreen was exactly the same as a Morris Marina and an Austin Maxi.

Therefore ....................... back to the present day ............... it COULD possibly be that a Fiat500 windscreen is exactly the same as another make/model. Ford Ka springs to mind.

As far as I'm aware, these car manufacturers don't actually make windscreens. They come from a glass manufacturer, so maybe they are standard across similar vehicles.

Good luck down under!
Mick.

Maybe given the higher overall temp range far fewer screens crack after a stone chip(so don't bother replacing them) meaning that only a very few are kept in stock and he's just unlucky at the mo?

Mick F said:

Maybe old knowledge here ......................

Many many years ago, we had a Hillman Hunter. The windscreen was shattered by a stone flung up from a passing truck. I found a local business who fitted new ones, and was told that the Hunter windscreen was exactly the same as a Morris Marina and an Austin Maxi.

Therefore ....................... back to the present day ............... it COULD possibly be that a Fiat500 windscreen is exactly the same as another make/model. Ford Ka springs to mind.

As far as I'm aware, these car manufacturers don't actually make windscreens. They come from a glass manufacturer, so maybe they are standard across similar vehicles.

Good luck down under!
Mick.

Click to expand...

There is apparently a marked difference between glass made for vehicles in build at the factory and much of the aftermarket windscreen market. As I say, a lot of the glass that is used to replace factory windscreens, is manufactured in China and definitely not always to the same standard. If you Google the subject, you'll soon discover what I'm talking about.

I suspect these days, it is highly doubtful that different marques of vehicle share windscreen glass purely because of the vast array of vehicle designs. After all, we're not in the heady days of BL anymore where you could produce about 3 different makes of vehicle that ultimately all looked the same that used a lot of the same parts but just had different badges on. I personally only know of one modern make of vehicle that shares the same windscreen glass as another vehicle, but both cars were made by Saab, the 9-3 and the Cadillac BLS which a windscreen fitter informed me do share the same windscreen glass.

I could be wrong, but doubtful the KA screen would fit, but happy to be corrected. Not only that, I was under the assumption, that the KA had a heated front screen?

A few months back, my wife had to have a brand new windscreen fitted to her Hyundai i10. Because she is insured with Hyundai, they will not fit anything other than a factory fit screen. She had to wait two weeks for one to come in from Turkey. It was exactly the same when we had the TA and she was insured with Fiat, the insurance company would only fit a genuine Fiat supplied screen and we had to wait over a week for that one too.

I forgot about the Ford Fiesta and the Mazda 121, though you could hardly call those modern cars any more. Basically exactly the same vehicle with a few minor differences. And also the Isuzu Trooper and Vauxhall Monterey.

Someone will now tell me that the Citroen C1, Peugeot and Aygo all share the same front screen.........

I'm struggling here, but I can't see any other vehicle sharing the same front screen as the 500........

Dunno at all, it was just a guess.

Could an eBay seller not source one for you? Even if you had to send them a private message asking if they will ship glass overseas. I'm sure at a cost there will be something you can sort out and a courier who has a suitable safe service

frupi said:

I forgot about the Ford Fiesta and the Mazda 121, though you could hardly call those modern cars any more. Basically exactly the same vehicle with a few minor differences. And also the Isuzu Trooper and Vauxhall Monterey.

Someone will now tell me that the Citroen C1, Peugeot and Aygo all share the same front screen.........

I'm struggling here, but I can't see any other vehicle sharing the same front screen as the 500........

Click to expand...

The 500C might prove particularly awkward, seeing as the radio antenna is buried in the glass...

I've had my car off the road for weeks awaiting parts from FIAT so it wouldn't surprise me if it applies to windscreens as well.

frupi said:

Which is going to lead others like myself to ask the question, why does Australia have no aftermarket windscreen business?

Here in the UK, the vast majority of replacement windscreens, are non genuine, aftermarket, mostly Chinese made windscreen replacements.

So, I'm very surprised that the aftermarket business in Australia doesn't appear to import non genuine stock from China.......

Click to expand...

Yes, but with the volume of many European cars sold here, it's not worth the aftermarket having them in stock either. For a common car, you'll have choice, but for a rare one, it's usually genuine only.