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Long delay replacing Model 3 Windscreen

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Y

yasn77

Member
Dec 6, 2021
5
3
London, UK
#1
I thought I would post this here as an FYI...

I took my car up to Birmingham at the end of Jan, the north and midlands had been experiencing high winds at the time and unfortunately, a stone ended up chipping and cracking my Model 3 windscreen :( Thankfully it was on the passenger side, and doesn't affect my driving the vehicle (other than looking a little ugly on a lovely car). At the time I contacted Autoglass but they said they had no Tesla windscreens available and they would have to source one.

Fast forward a month and Autoglass still can't source a windscreen. I just rang Tesla to find out if I can get them to do it directly, the adviser on the phone told me that they also don't have any replacement windscreens. That they are changing suppliers and the earliest ETA they have is the end of March :eek: Right now the crack hasn't gotten bigger so I am fine, but I asked him if the crack gets worse and I am unable to drive the Tesla, then what? He replied that he isn't sure what can be done, that usually they only provide replacement vehicles if the car is in service.

So, right now I am ok, but TBH, it's something that is making me nervous. It's been a month and the chip + crack are the same as when it first happened, but *if* it gets worse, I am not sure Tesla will do anything about it :(

Anyway, I thought I would let you all know. I hope none of you crack your windscreens before April.
 
#3
I remember back in the late '60s a friend of mine bought one of the early Japanese cars. He had a problem with his steering wheel, unable to drive. It took 6 months for a replacement. This is the problem with 'foreign' cars, parts can take ages to be sourced.
Still, am thoroughly enjoying my M3. Have a spare bike in the shed.
 
#5
MrT3 said:
Unfortunately you aren't the only one:
teslamotorsclub.com

New windscreen fitted - Model 3.

Not great. Do you have a courtesy car or something? Goggles, Biggles hat and scarf and he'll be fine 😈🤣
teslamotorsclub.com teslamotorsclub.com
Click to expand...
Yup, you are not alone!
Birdstrike smashed my windscreen on 15th January and I reported to Churchill insurers who pushed me to Autoglass.
It took Autoglass a week to find out there was no glass and it's been 5 more weeks since then.
The screen is too crazed to drive but doesn't qualify for an insurance loan vehicle presumably because you can normally get a replacement screen within 1 day, 2 tops.
Probably by pure luck my windscreen is not leaking ... yet.
Last I heard was that Tesla were getting a batch of screens mid-March - not happy to hear it might not be until end of March :(
 
#9
I've had the situation where Autoglass told me they couldn't get a screen. I phoned Tesla and they said they had them in stock and could fit that day. Of course my insurance company has a deal with Autoglass and wouldn't entertain the prospect of paying Tesla for one ... but if you find Tesla have them you might be able to apply some pressure.

Every time I've used Autoglass its been a comedy of errors. Drop car off, having arranged a lift to work with colleague, and 10 minutes later get a call saying they've (only then ...) unwrapped the windscreen and its the wrong one. They repeated that the following week too. Then said they couldn't calibrate it (having promised me they could) and that I had to take it to Tesla ... and so on.
 
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#10
WannabeOwner said:
I've had the situation where Autoglass told me they couldn't get a screen. I phoned Tesla and they said they had them in stock and could fit that day. Of course my insurance company has a deal with Autoglass and wouldn't entertain the prospect of paying Tesla for one ... but if you find Tesla have them you might be able to apply some pressure.

Every time I've used Autoglass its been a comedy of errors. Drop car off, having arranged a lift to work with colleague, and 10 minutes later get a call saying they've (only then ...) unwrapped the windscreen and its the wrong one. They repeated that the following week too. Then said they couldn't calibrate it (having promised me they could) and that I had to take it to Tesla ... and so on.
Click to expand...
Just for an alternate experience, back when they had stock Autoglass replaced my windscreen with no issue. The fitter had done many Model 3 before, pointed various things out then with a colleagues was done in about an hour. Then I took the car to Tesla for calibration that was also painless.
 
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#11
GRiLLA said:
Autoglass replaced my windscreen with no issue.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sure that's more often the case than not

I've had 4 Tesla windscreens since 2015. 3 of them have been hard work ...

In addition to the above windscreen I collected a flying rock on an almost new car. I already had a service visit booked for a couple of things, including a dashboard rattle. Got there with my top-to-bottom crack in the screen (Autoglass already booked)

Tesla said they needed to take the windscreen out to fix the rattle, but were reluctant to do that with a two-part windscreen :cool: as it was pretty unlikely that it would go back in. (Tesla had screens in stock, and would fit, but insurance would not pay)

Suggested to Autoglass that they might like to fit the windscreen at Tesla's ... they agreed but said they couldn't do that for a week. Tesla said that I would need to pay for the Loaner given that the delay wasn't their fault. Insurance said they wouldn't pay for that. So collected the car, with rattle unfixed.

After further cockups and escalation within Autoglass they decided to do something about it. That was along the lines of "We'll collect the car, get the screen replaced, take it to Tesla for them to fix the rattle and calibrate, and get the car back to you".

They collected from home, and then Tesla said "We can't take the screen out until the "glue" has hardened" ... I've forgotten exactly, but that was a few days I think. Would have helped if Autoglass had realised and planned for that (taking the screen out, at Tesla, and Autoglass then fitting the new one after Rattle fixed would have been good joined-up-thinking and service). Anyways, when it was ready Autoglass arranged to get the car returned. Most convenient was to get it to work location to avoid getting a ride / taxi home.

Made it clear it had to be there by 5PM (or whatever). APP showed that the car had not left (London Heathrow service from memory) within enough time to get to work, so made arrangements to get home.

Turned out that they were using AA-relay. The driver got to M25 / A1 services (what's that, 30 - 45 minutes from Heathrow?) and then said his hours were up (he didn't know that before he set off?) and he was camping there. First I knew about this was when I got a call from Manchetts (somewhere out on the East Anglian coast) saying he had been asked to go to South Mimms to collect my car for me. He was very helpful, eventually arrived about 11PM.

I had a rear quarterlight replaced too (Model-S). They did that on the drive. Wind noise was horrendous. Someone else, more senior, came out to sort it out. So much glue had been used that (he showed me) it was nowhere near flush. He had to replace all the chrome trim, destroyed in his attempt to get the glass back out.

Time was when they would do the work on the drive / work car park. Now seems to be that have to take the car to them, which increases the hassle.

P.S. Having typed all that I now also remember that the very first windscreen I had replaced (Model-S) had "creak" in the headliner after a couple of weeks. I figured that EV was a new thing, and fixing noises that would be inaudible on an ICE was probably an early-adopter snag, so I took it back to Tesla had had them fix the creak-noise.
 
Last edited:
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#15
GRiLLA said:
Great sympathy, completely unacceptable. How far up inside Tesla have you been able to ask? This shouldn't be kicking around with parts folks.
Click to expand...
I'm not chasing Tesla for the screen - only Autoglass not least because Churchill insurance will cover all but the £75 excess.
Last I heard was Tesla would charge circa £900 for the windscreen.
I believe others have been in contact with Tesla service centres and found them in the same boat with no spare screens.
This is why mine is undrivable... :(

Neilman said:
Update on my broken windscreen, or rather no update. :(

So the AA got me back to Southampton on a relay truck. I chased Churchill insurance who pushed me straight onto Autoglass.
Web access didn't help much so I phoned Autoglass and they said they'd order the glass and keep me informed - but haven't done other than replying to my weekly calls for progress.

I'm just shy of 3 weeks since the screen was busted and Autoglass have *still* not obtained a replacement screen and clearly cannot set up an appointment for fitting until they do. Due to the damage I can't drive the car anywhere - including anywhere to get it fixed.
I found a local car transporter company that could take me 4 miles to the Autoglass place in Hedge-End (for £50).

Fortunately, so far there's been very little rain and what there has been has not leaked into the car ... yet.
See picture of what happened to the glass when a big fat blackbird bounced off my windscreen.

View attachment 764932

Only afterwards you think that could have been a whole lot worse if it had managed to punch through the glass!

Has anyone else managed to need and get their windscreen replaced this year?
Click to expand...
 
#16
Neilman said:
Coming up to nine weeks since my screen busted rendering the car undrivable and still no word (other than not available) from Autoglass. :(
Click to expand...
At this point I would be looking to pay Tesla to get the screen replaced and then taking the insurance company to small claims court for recovery.

Don’t know how viable that is, but how long are you supposed to be expected to do without a car for?
 
#18
Surely if Tesla have stock and Autoglass don't, your insurance company can’t hold you to ransom indefinitely until Autoglass may get stock. Especially if the car can’t be driven. How long do you wait? 9 weeks already…. 9 months? 9 years?

I think I would be documenting everything. If Autoglass have no timescale and Tesla can do the job I would be paying Tesla to get me back on the road and sending the invoice to the insurance company. If they don’t pay…. Court to reclaim.
 
#19
Neilman said:
I'm not chasing Tesla for the screen - only Autoglass not least because Churchill insurance will cover all but the £75 excess.
Last I heard was Tesla would charge circa £900 for the windscreen.
I believe others have been in contact with Tesla service centres and found them in the same boat with no spare screens.
This is why mine is undrivable... :(
Click to expand...
I would be complaining to Tesla that Autoglass can't get stock, and so your car is unusable. It's not acceptable that Tesla's have some major parts issue that no one can replace screens. If Tesla had screens I would be expecting Autoglass to buy it from them.
 
#20
Maybe the 3 is different but when my MS needed a screen a few years ago, AG got the part from Tesla. That went wrong, AG showed me the paperwork, Tesla said a different part was equivalent but the camera location area was completely different. Thankfully the guy doing the job had his suspicion before he started and visually checked before he started removing the old screen. There might be 3rd party glass now on the market. The question to ask AG is whether it’s OEM glass they intend to use. If so, ask Tesla for a quote although rumours are there are none there either.

Going back even further back, if there is glass at Tesla, my insurance agreed to for BMW to replace mine (on the BMW I then owned) after multiple AG delays as the MOT had become due. If you can argue the car isn’t roadworthy then they might be more willing to budge. It might be an interesting argument if you’re entitled to a loan car if the car is undriveable, say after an accident, as if the insurance company is getting a bill for hire car they’ll be on the back of everyone to sort the issue, and Tesla can’t really afford to have too many insurance companies hiking prices or refusing to cover
 
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