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Soccer ball 1, windshield 0

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On our way home from Victoria, BC, we stopped to visit my daughter and her family near Portland for several hours. There's limited parking in her neighborhood, so we ended up several houses down the street from hers. Later when we were out front playing with the grandkids, we heard a car alarm honking down the street, and thought nothing of it. You always hear bogus alarms going off, right? A little later I pulled my phone out to check something or other, and there was a Tesla alert telling me it was my alarm we'd been hearing. I had my phone on buzz-only mode, and I rarely feel that in my pocket when I'm doing something like running around with grandkids, so I hadn't noticed the alert in realtime. So I walked down the street to check out the car, still figuring it was something benign, like someone bonked the car while walking by.

Nope! The windshield was shattered in a lovely sunburst pattern, centered almost perfectly in the glass, radiating all the way to the edges in the case of a few of the cracks. S***! I hopped inside, and pulled up Sentry. The video shows two boys about 10 kicking a soccer ball back and forth along the street. Then comes the fateful shot. One shot goes left of where the kid intended, lofts out of the field of view of the forward camera, then comes back in bigger than life and bounces off the glass. You can actually see the glass flex a bit at the moment of impact. The last frame of the clip is the other kid running into view, looking straight at the window, mouth open in a circle, with an expression that says, "Oh no!" It's kinda cute, actually.

So I recruited my son-in-law, and he recognized one of the boys, and led me to the right house. I met his mom. Kid IDed the other kid, and we went over together and met the other mom too. Much discussion and phone calls to the moms' partners. Bottom line is the two families have promised to reimburse, though they were discussing among themselves the distribution of responsibility, and whether to file an insurance claim or pay out of pocket. I don't care so long as they come through.

Here's the view from inside at a Supercharger after we got back on the road.
2023-05-27 14-38-49.jpg

Look closely and you can also see the shadow of the crack pattern on the dash.

We made it the 300 miles home, but the cracks are pretty annoying, especially when the light hits just wrong. One crack goes in front of the cameras, causing the car to intermittently think it's raining, and turn on the wipers.

Tomorrow I'll work on getting it replaced. (Safelite has given a price of about $1900, including over $600 to calibrate the cameras, which seems crazy--I mean, what's their hourly labor rate?)

I'm really surprised a soccer ball could beat a windshield. Shows what I know!
 
Now that the cows have left the barn, when I reported a small crack in my windshield, the glass place told me to cover it with clear packing tape to help prevent it from spreading. This was because they were planning to repair it. I would have taped those large cracks shown by the OP to keep them from spreading.
 
Now that the cows have left the barn, when I reported a small crack in my windshield, the glass place told me to cover it with clear packing tape to help prevent it from spreading. This was because they were planning to repair it. I would have taped those large cracks shown by the OP to keep them from spreading.
I think that one is a little much to repair.
 
Yea, that is a replacement right there. Highly doubt it's repairable.

Also, OP, don't you have comprehensive insurance or whatever coverage your state uses to cover glass repair? I've had multiple windshields replaced over the years and never paid a dime out of pocket.
Why invoke one's own comprehensive coverage, which might not cost out-of-pocket but might increase your rates, when the other party has admitted fault and either they or their insurance will be paying the full amount?
 
I would have taped those large cracks shown by the OP to keep them from spreading.
It would make no difference to the OP - that glass will have to be replaced, even if the crack doesn't spread any further!

Also, OP, don't you have comprehensive insurance or whatever coverage your state uses to cover glass repair? I've had multiple windshields replaced over the years and never paid a dime out of pocket.

Comprehensive claim will cover the glass, minus the deductible.
Technically, the insurance could go after the kids' families to subrogate the costs, but in practice, who knows. And it will take months or years to get resolved, either way.

Why invoke one's own comprehensive coverage, which might not cost out-of-pocket but might increase your rates, when the other party has admitted fault and either they or their insurance will be paying the full amount?

If one has separate glass insurance clause, which is optional in some states and mandatory in others, then the repairs may be covered with zero (or minimal) deductible, and guaranteed no impact to future rates.
If that was OP's situation, I would be VERY tempted to make a glass claim and get this fully covered with no cost to either the OP, or the kids families, and no processing/reimbursement hassles.



HTH,
a
 
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Why invoke one's own comprehensive coverage, which might not cost out-of-pocket but might increase your rates, when the other party has admitted fault and either they or their insurance will be paying the full amount?
A) I don't think glass claims increase your rates. At least, some states have regs that prevent companies from doing that.
B) Having dealt with people who damaged my car and agreed to pay for repairs. . . . .never, ever again. Ever. Unless it's something not covered by any insurance.

You *cannot* trust that they will pay, or will pay within a reasonable amount of time. And their insurance will not cover their kid damaging a car on the street. If it wasn't on their property or involving their car, it's out of pocket for them. I'll bet a dollar that when they see the cost of replacing a Tesla windshield they balk and claim they're getting taken.
 
Now that the cows have left the barn, when I reported a small crack in my windshield, the glass place told me to cover it with clear packing tape to help prevent it from spreading. This was because they were planning to repair it. I would have taped those large cracks shown by the OP to keep them from spreading.
We drove about 300 miles home, and didn't notice any further spreading beyond the initial incident. I've seen windshield cracks spread before in other cars, but so far, this is stable. But I'm worried the next soccer ball will pop right through! :)
 
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Yea, that is a replacement right there. Highly doubt it's repairable.

Also, OP, don't you have comprehensive insurance or whatever coverage your state uses to cover glass repair? I've had multiple windshields replaced over the years and never paid a dime out of pocket.
Sure, and I'll use it if I have to. But there's a deductible and it's then on my claim history. The other families so far are cooperating and owning up to their responsibility. They may handle it as a claim on their insurance, which is fair and appropriate.
 
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A) I don't think glass claims increase your rates. At least, some states have regs that prevent companies from doing that.
B) Having dealt with people who damaged my car and agreed to pay for repairs. . . . .never, ever again. Ever. Unless it's something not covered by any insurance.

You *cannot* trust that they will pay, or will pay within a reasonable amount of time. And their insurance will not cover their kid damaging a car on the street. If it wasn't on their property or involving their car, it's out of pocket for them. I'll bet a dollar that when they see the cost of replacing a Tesla windshield they balk and claim they're getting taken.
One of the moms did a quick Google during the story I first posted, and found Tesla windshields in the $1000-$2500 range, so they do have an idea, and I've passed on the estimates. She's looking at her homeowner's insurance, not her auto insurance, BTW.
 
Sure, and I'll use it if I have to. But there's a deductible and it's then on my claim history. The other families so far are cooperating and owning up to their responsibility. They may handle it as a claim on their insurance, which is fair and appropriate.
A comprehensive glass claim has very little chance of affecting your premiums unless you have multiple within a short time. If you file it as collision that would have much more chance of affecting premiums.

I don't see how their insurance is gonna cover it. If it wasn't on their property I don't see how their homeowners insurance would apply. And considering that many people have much higher deductibles on homeowners policies (mine is $2k), I think they'd be nuts to file it like that. Hopefully they pony up, but if I were you, I'd make a call to your insurer and ask hypothetically how long you have to file a claim. You don't want them to string you out so long that you miss the window to file. It doesn't matter how cool they seem or how many times they admitted fault and said they would pay, do NOT trust them until the money is in your hand. Take it from someone who learned the hard way by being a nice guy.