windscreen chip - worth replacing?

[kuruma]

You are posting in the UK & Ireland section of the forum.

also obvious is the fact that we're talking about windSCREENs and not windSHIELDs - bit of a give away

 

[HKP_Tom]

I used Optikleer recently (google them) £55 and you can barely see it - no need to report to the insurance.

 

[kuruma]

hmmm... doesn't look like they do replacements. In the event that a crack develops after they repair, they basically refund you the money for the repair and leave you to it.

 

[Waltagon]

Had a stone chip the windscreen yesterday and formed a crack. Very annoying as got a trip to Manchester at the weekend and Autoglass need to order the glass in. I'm going to have to drive with it until it is in stock. The crack is not impeding vision in anyway but feel uncomfortable driving with it. Anyone got any experience of how long it typically takes glass to become available?

 

[MrT3]

I recently had to wait 3.5 weeks after a failed chip repair for my M3. But the wait seemed to be more related to availability of a calibration slot rather than the glass itself.

 

[Jason71]

Had a stone chip the windscreen yesterday and formed a crack. Very annoying as got a trip to Manchester at the weekend and Autoglass need to order the glass in. I'm going to have to drive with it until it is in stock. The crack is not impeding vision in anyway but feel uncomfortable driving with it. Anyone got any experience of how long it typically takes glass to become available?

I had a replacement MY windscreen 10 days ago. initially I was able to book it in for a couple of days time on the drive then they called me to say
they needed to get the camera calibration equipment to the local branch so I had to go there after they got it + I wanted a weekend appointment so in the end it was about 4 weeks. At no point did they tell me there was a wait for the actual glass.

 

[kuruma]

Autoglass came out yesterday. Although the resin went in, it didn't completely fill the chip and left two 'legs' outside the 10mm circle they define as a fix. It basically shrank from 40mm to about 15mm in diameter. As a result the guy was unable to sign it off as a complete repair even though it def looked better and, in his opinion, he thought it unlikely it would get worse. He also stated that about 4 months ago, it would have met the criteria but they have tightened up the terms of their guarantee.

As a result, he issued me with a waiver that basically forfeits the guarantee on it getting worse. At the time, I was unable to read the terms of the waiver on his phone as a) the screen was tiny and the waiver was long and b) there was no way to scroll through it. Having got a signed copy by email, the terms of the waiver state:

"This waiver agreement (Agreement) is between the customer (You/Your) and Belron UK Limited, trading asAutoglass® (Us/We/Our) and is
effective from the date of signature.
You hereby acknowledge and accept that We have attempted to carry out a repair to your damaged windscreen but that repair has failed to
meet the requirements of British Standard AU 242b 2022 meaning that We have not been able to carry out a successful repair to Your
windscreen.
In accordance with paragraph 7 of Our Terms of Business, We have explained and advised that a replacement windscreen is now required
but You have, for whatever reason, withheld Your authorisation for Us to carry out this work (Refusal). You further understand and
acknowledge that a failure and/or Refusal to replace Your windscreen constitutes a potential safety risk.
You therefore accept that Your Refusal for Us to replace Your windscreen shall be at Your own risk. We shall not be liable to You, or any third
party, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), for breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, arising under or in connection with this
Agreement for any losses or damages caused or exacerbated by Your Refusal.
You agree to indemnify Us and keep Us indemnified on demand against all liabilities, costs, expenses, damages and losses suffered or
incurred by You or any third party, arising out of or in connection with Your Refusal.
If you would like to make an appointment to have Your windscreen replaced by Us in the future please book online at www.autoglass.co.uk
and We will be happy to help You."

My concern now is that, if it gets worse, this term means I won't be able to claim on insurance:

"We have explained and advised that a replacement windscreen is now required
but You have, for whatever reason, withheld Your authorisation for Us to carry out this work (Refusal)."

Any thoughts on that?

He did say there would be a wait for glass which they would order from Tesla. He also said that replacement/calibration appointments are 3 hours long but that the job takes about 90 minutes so they could hand your vehicle back to you at any point during that time.

 

[Jason71]

My concern now is that, if it gets worse, this term means I won't be able to claim on insurance:

All it means is Autoglass will not fix it for free if it does crack.

I don't see how it invalidates your insurance. You have a chip, you have made best efforts to rectify it using a recognised supplier. if it turns into a crack you just claim on insurance as a cracked windscreen. you will not even need to mention on the claim that it originates from a chip you knew about. They will not ask.