Cracked Windscreen - Solution?

Nitefly

Nitefly

Nitefly

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Joined
24 Sep 2005
Posts
37,379
Hi all, I'm a bit of a car novice so your help is much appreciated.

I noticed today I have a crack in my windscreen. It's about 4-6 inches long on the opposite side to the driver (it's obscured by the rear view mirror from the driving seat), and it goes to the top of the windscreen. The car is a 2000 VW Golf 1.6.

As it doesn't obscure my vision, I'm slightly hesitant about having it replaced. How much should I expect to pay for a replacement and for service? I've been driving for 7 years and haven't claimed on my insurance - I haven't checked the paperwork yet but I wouldn't like my premiums to go up dramatically as a result of this.

Also, I'm under the impression that it isn't illegal to drive with such a crack, but my car will fail its MOT next time around. Is that correct?

Finally, is the car still safe to drive?

Any advice appreciated, thanks :)
 
Claim on the insurance - you will have a glass excess much lower than your standard excess (normally £50). This will not affect your NCB, so your premiums won't be affected.
 
To add to what timbob has said,

You will even be able to have the windscreen sorted at work whilst you wait.

Best to get it sorted as soon as you can.

Kind regards,

David
 
I believe that if it is within the area cleaned by the wiper sweep then it is a fail, or that could be chips over a certain size.
*Just checked and it needs to be under 40mm to pass an MOT.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I'm with Admiral insurance and as far as I can see it will cost me £75 to replace the windscreen and this won't affect my no claims bonus.

Sucks, but I guess these things happen. I guess I'll go ahead and make the call.
 
Nitefly said:
Thanks for the advice guys. I'm with Admiral insurance and as far as I can see it will cost me £75 to replace the windscreen and this won't affect my no claims bonus.

Sucks, but I guess these things happen. I guess I'll go ahead and make the call.
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No worries :)

It's one of the cheapest things to go "wrong" with the car I suppose... every cloud, and all that!
 
Deep said:
Don't some companies now make you lose your NCB if you replace a windscreen?
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I'm with Swiftcover and my windscreen cracked on Tuesday night. Turns out they freeze your NCB for the next renewal so essentially you lose a year :(

I cant complain, should be more careful about who I choose to insure with and read the T&Cs, especially when going with cheap quotes. I currently have 5 years NCB so hopefully it wont affect my premium much, but I will be looking elsewhere for my insurance come renewal time.
 
kieranv said:
Give Gavin from Autoglass a phone.
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...and give him a punch for me.

"we work with most insurers so no need to call them"
so what about people with policies that only name one authorised glass repair company that isn't Autoglass? Will autoglass still do the work? How do they get paid if not from the insurer?
I heard someone say if this happened that effectively your insurer count it as a cost claim in a similar way to you having an accident. Is that true?
 
Luke said:
...and give him a punch for me.

"we work with most insurers so no need to call them"
so what about people with policies that only name one authorised glass repair company that isn't Autoglass? Will autoglass still do the work? How do they get paid if not from the insurer?
I heard someone say if this happened that effectively your insurer count it as a cost claim in a similar way to you having an accident. Is that true?
Click to expand...

They know which insurers they are contracted by - if you are not with one of them, they won't come out until it's agreed who is paying for what.
 
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