Track Car Windscreen Replacement

Gaverick

Gaverick

Gaverick

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Joined
21 Jan 2006
Posts
2,171
Location
Seaham, Co. Durham
Good morning,

I'm hoping somebody can give some advice about windscreen replacement on a track car I have.

The car is a Ford Puma with a heated screen, so it's quite costly to source and fit a screen outside of insurance, however, as the car is a track car it doesn't have any insurance.

Is there anything stopping me from insuring the car, getting the screen replaced for the £75 excess and then cancelling the policy immediately? Obviously there will be a early cancellation fee of about £50 and some costs for the few days the car is insured for, but ~£125 for windscreen replacement is a lot cheaper than any other way I can think of.

Am I missing something? I'm thinking I must be.

Thanks in advance.
 
Surely the obvious option is to source a non heated screen? - I would be very surprised if heated is the only screen available, I'd hazard a guess the screen is shared with other cars in the Ford range.

I'd imagine the cost to be similar if not less than insuring, claiming and then cancelling - you'd have to pay to cancel early surely and I would also imagine you'd pay more if you've made a claim.
 
Scania said:
Surely the obvious option is to source a non heated screen? - I would be very surprised if heated is the only screen available, I'd hazard a guess the screen is shared with other cars in the Ford range.

I'd imagine the cost to be similar if not less than insuring, claiming and then cancelling - you'd have to pay to cancel early surely and I would also imagine you'd pay more if you've made a claim.
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This. I'd be surprised if in the Fora Puma era, the heated screen was standard, so there must be a non-heated version available.
 
Yup,

Also look at scrap yards, as in physical ones, the online ones that find parts for you tend to be pricey.
I had to source a new wing mirror cover after mine got bashed, after much messing about I ended up getting an entire electric mirror unit for £20.
 
Mr_Sukebe said:
Really? Hadn't known that.
Is that true of many cars (I assume Fords) with heated front screens?
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Yes to a degree! My Mk4 Mondeo has issues with de-misting using just the fan. The center blower to the windscreen is in the middle and doesn't reach the edges - heated windscreen is a godsend!
 
Yes it used to have a heater matrix with fans etc, but all that was removed in the aim of weight saving. The heated screen does such a great job the blowers aren't needed really. Just a shame they are so expensive to replace!

Rally car would be more appropriate.

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I'd be very surprised if this worked, as you've then made a claim against the insurance policy. Frankly, I'd hope that their fraud team would look into it too.
 
I got a second hand heated screen for my ST220 the other week for £100 fitted. There easy to come by from scrap yards or a lot of companies can source them and fit them for u.
What people don't realise now is even if u have windscreen cover on your policy it still has to be declared as a claim when getting quotes for the next 5yrs so can have an effect on what some companies will quote u for your car insurance.
 
That's a really good price. Looks like the insurance job is a bad idea, I'll have to keep hoping a screen comes up second hand.
 
Heated screens seem to fluctuate in price quite a bit, from not bad to bonkers.

I had the same issue with my race car, on which I probably have to change the windscreen every 2nd season on average.

It's very easy to build a demisting solution using a small 12v heater tapped in to your cooling system, it's basically PC parts! Has the advantage of heating as well as demisting and is very light.

Some images below, let me know if you want any info on where to get the bits from.

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IMAG0924_zpsea5b129b.jpg



IMAG0929_zpsbe3c2495.jpg
 
Gaverick said:
That's a really good price. Looks like the insurance job is a bad idea, I'll have to keep hoping a screen comes up second hand.
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I got told I could have had a normal screen fitted for even cheaper but they said my heated screen and auto wipers wouldn't work but surely that wouldn't matter on a track car?
Just google your postcode next to windscreen replacement it's surprising how many small firms are out there that can source from scrap yards etc. you should be able to bag a used one for well under £100 providing you're not bothered about the heated screen
 
Not sure how you would insure it as they will ask for the registration details and I presume now it will not be registered. Good luck with the section "Does the vehicle have any modifications".:D
 
They all come like this from the factory don't they...:D

It could be insured easily enough with a competition insurance company such as REIS, it's only declared as SORN. It will be getting an MOT and insured for rally purposes at some point as the MSA says they have to be MOT'd and you need insurance for road sections on rallies.

I'll ring round local windscreen companies see what price the can give me. Really want to keep the heated screen though as it works so well.
 
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Looks like I'll have to dig deeper in to my pockets then. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so expensive building the rest of the car!
 
Gaverick said:
Good morning,

I'm hoping somebody can give some advice about windscreen replacement on a track car I have.

The car is a Ford Puma with a heated screen, so it's quite costly to source and fit a screen outside of insurance, however, as the car is a track car it doesn't have any insurance.

Is there anything stopping me from insuring the car, getting the screen replaced for the £75 excess and then cancelling the policy immediately? Obviously there will be a early cancellation fee of about £50 and some costs for the few days the car is insured for, but ~£125 for windscreen replacement is a lot cheaper than any other way I can think of.

Am I missing something? I'm thinking I must be.

Thanks in advance.
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Yes, you're missing the concept of deception; an erroneous claim, and putting all the legal stuff aside, it's morally wrong.

It's your track toy. Pay for it.
 
Try some of the smaller companies, rather than the bigger ones.

I had a heated screen replaced on mkII mondeo I am sure for somewhere in the region of £150-£180 when I found out that I did not have windscreen cover. Auto glass wanted twice that!
 
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