Windscreen Crack!

[blackb9er]

Driving home from clitheroe on the motorway a few days ago when I heard that all familiar pop sound you get when a stone hits the window, it was louder than usual but had a quick look around didn’t spot anything...until I pulled into the drive and there it was...the biggest crack I’ve ever seen on a windscreen (on the drivers side)

Its cracked the glass so I don't think this can be fixed the normal way so looks like I'm going to need a new windscreen. That being said I have a few questions.

1. Am I right in saying that I'll need to get it replaced direct through Audi as they use special acoustic glass?

2. Will this be covered by the warranty?

3. Will this increase my insurance premium if it goes through them

4. If I decide not to go through my insurance how much is going to cost?

5. How safe is it to drive in the meantime?

Absolutely gutted, but it is what it is

Any info/thoughts would be much appreciated

 

[JG220]

1 No, autoglass (for example) can change acoustic glass.

2 No, warranty does not cover damage.

3 No, it will almost certainly (only track day covered car get windscreen exemptions)be covered by your policy with £50-75 excess. There will be no effect on future premiums

4 £1,000 to £1,500. I had 7 (bad luck) in my golf and they always came out at about that on the paper work from autoglass. So no point in paying yourself

5 perfectly safe, especially as that one has not created a long crack. But even those are ok to drive.

 

[Riko0073]

1 No, autoglass (for example) can change acoustic glass.

2 No, warranty does not cover damage.

3 No, it will almost certainly (only track day covered car get windscreen exemptions)be covered by your policy with £50-75 excess. There will be no effect on future premiums

4 £1,000 to £1,500. I had 7 (bad luck) in my golf and they always came out at about that on the paper work from autoglass. So no point in paying yourself

5 perfectly safe, especially as that one has not created a long crack. But even those are ok to drive.

I'm not sure about point 3, I also had a large number of windscreen claims over last few years, these coupled with 1 fault and 1 non fault claim meant I had 7 claims in total and as more and more companies ask how many claims you've had including windscreen this meant that most companies refused to quote!

I'm 44 with a clean license but saw my premiums increase quite a bit with the windscreens claims due to the overall amount of claims seen.

However given the cost of replacing the screen myself it was the only viable option really to claim on the insurance.

 

[blackb9er]

So my options are: go through my insurance and risk a premium increase or shell out £1500 for a replacement (Autoglass say there's a camera in the windscreen of all A4s that needs recalibrating which is included in the price).

@Riko0073 Looks like insurance may be my only viable option aswell


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Daggerit]

In my limited experience these don't count as a claim as such, which is why the excess is different than the rest of the policy. I've had a couple replaced in the past and my insurance hasn't gone up as a result, that's sticking with the same insurer as well so they knew about it specifically if they'd wanted to use it as an excuse to increase my premium. You could always just call and ask them of course?

 

[Riko0073]

In my limited experience these don't count as a claim as such, which is why the excess is different than the rest of the policy. I've had a couple replaced in the past and my insurance hasn't gone up as a result, that's sticking with the same insurer as well so they knew about it specifically if they'd wanted to use it as an excuse to increase my premium. You could always just call and ask them of course?

Not sure how or if it does impact premium, my experience seemed to indicate it did, however what did impact me the most was being declined to quote by a few companies due to having 7 or more claims in the last 5 years, 5 of these being for windscreens.

I didn't want to say nothing about the windscreens as no doubt if I ever needed to claim they would use this as an excuse not to pay out!

Maybe my premium increased due to the market as the only claim I did make in the last year were 2 windscreen claims, no points on the license and a year older?

However given the cost of the increase weighed up against the cost of buying a new windscreen the insurance increase was still the cheaper option overall.

 

[SteveMcB]

I recently had bullseye chips on my A4 and Golf (latter was a big one as well). I tried this repair kit and the results were very impressive, the A4 has no visible damage, the Golf only a tiny scratch. Quick and easy to do, probably the best tenner I've ever spent.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/...productId=1083511&categoryId=165580&langId=-1

 

[RaZ A4]

Try the repair, nothing to loose and at a tenner no brainer.

 

[Fridarey]

I had this happen twice on my Volvo, Autoglass both times and no effect on premiums. Cost me £75 including re-calibrating the camera.

One of the problems I noticed was that (for the Volvo, no idea about A4) the various possible options meant there were lots of possible windscreen configurations. First time, the guy arrived (in rural NE Scotland, in January, in the snow, in the dark) with the wrong screen. The second time it took lots of phone calls to make sure the correct one came up.

 

[cuke2u]

I am sure you can request an audi original screen, or oem...

 

[Kestrel]

I've often wondered...what is `oem`?
Thanks.

 

[Riko0073]

I've often wondered...what is `oem`?
Thanks.

Original equipment manufacturer