2012c350

Just ready to turn off the main road onto my street and saw a rock flying towards my windshield (small). Obviously no time to react and then **whack**. Now there's a chip/crack in the windshield right in front of me, but closer to the top (outside the main vision are). Have an appt to have it repaired Wednesday morning. It would figure...drive my truck for 170K miles and no windshield problems....drive my car for one month and a crack. Oh well, had to vent.

Domm

Sorry to hear about your windshield. I have a bunch of tiny chips on my windshield but no cracks. It's just bad luck, but good thing it's a relatively cheap repair if it's a tiny crack.

dfordham

Your insurance may waive your deductible and pay the cost of the chip repair. Be sure to check with them.

Regards,
Don

xXHotelCrazyXx

I would not get it repaired, i got my entire windshield replaced by my insurance at no cost (state farm)

2012c350

correct. I called the insurance company and they said that if it's repairable then they wave the deductible. Also, it won't go against my premiums as a claim. I'm hopeful that it can be repaired just bummed that it happened so soon!

2012c350

I have Hartford. They don't offer free replacement, just free repair. If the repair comes out well I'll be fine. In worse case if it still looks bad I can always get it replaced. I don't even want to know what a MB windshield costs though.

Lucky you that your policy covers replacement!

bringtherain

just be happy it was your windshield and not your hood. I've got at least 2 where i can see my damn primer layer..

Domm

All very bad situations I think worst case with chips/cracks is the fog light lens.

RickP330

Welcome to the club of soft windshields. I am on my third windshield in 81K miles. I don't bother getting them fixed, just replaced when I change tires LOL.
RP

xXHotelCrazyXx

Why not get Dr. Colorchip?

2012c350

don't know if I should laugh or cry!

dalazernet

Yeah, mine looks like it has been sandblasted because of all of the road debris in Jersey. 75k miles and going strong... maybe I'll treat her to a new windshield at 100k as a gift.

lm24

A couple months after I had my car, I had a small rock chip directly in my field of vision but they were able to repair it. While driving home from work last Friday, I wasn't as fortunate, and a strike half an inch from the edge caused a 4-5 inch crack that has grown to over 6 inches since then. Most insurance policies covers free repairs, but some insurance companies may have a deductible, such as mine which is $100. Just out of curiosity, I asked my dealer for a quote and they said $800+ (lol), but I think you can get it for half that or less at an independent place.

Also, during my google searches on the subject, I read about a warning on repair claims. Some guy said his insurance warned/labeled him as high risk cause he had 4 windshield repairs in a year, because it was logged as 4 seperate claims, even though they added up to be cheaper than 1 replacement.

2012c350

Yea, I noticed that my chip is already spreading. Still less than the diameter of a dime, but bigger than yesterday. Safelite is fixing it tomorrow afternoon.

2012c350

So the guy is coming out tomorrow. Might be a silly question, but do I tip him? He's coming to my work location to do the repair. They had me choose 8-12 or 1-5. I chose 8-12. But then they called me this afternoon and said it might be closer to 12, so if 8-12 doesn't work for them is 1-5 okay? That alone makes me think 'no tip'. But then I think if it's normal to tip these guys then I shouldn't fault him if they made his schedule tough to fulfill.

So back to the question...tip? $10?

MBRedux

I always keep back one car length for every 10mph. Sometimes even more especially when I'm behind trucks and 18 wheelers. In rain and on busy roads, just hang back so that you're not in the jet-stream of the car/truck ahead of you!

2012c350

There wasn't anyone in front of me. I was in the slow (right) lane heading north with no one in the passing (left) lane. Many cars were heading south in both lanes. One of them must've kicked up a rock. But more to your point, I always keep a distance from the car in front of me. I HATE people who follow too close to me and wouldn't think of doing it to another.

MBRedux

Oh.... that has happened to me as well... bummer! Just have it repaired!

2012c350

In their attempt to fix it, they worsened it (not blaming them, it's known to happen.) Short story is I have a $100 deductible and will be scheduling an appointment to have it replaced...

lm24

I just had mine replaced this morning. I had the 100 dollar deductible and my insurance company went through Safelite.

As far as your tipping question goes, I did not end up tipping him, although, if I had a 5 or 10 I probably would have. I remember the previous guy (the guy who came out and looked at it and said it could not be repaired) mentioning that usually there would be a $25 on location fee, but it's covered by insurance. I tip the valet pickup/dropoff guys when I get my car serviced by the dealership cause it's a complimentary service, but in this case, they're just charging someone else for it.

Ron Jr

My 2011 got nailed on the drive home. Called the insurance company and a new windshield was installed the next day.

2012c350

This just keeps getting better. Went out at lunch to see how bad the crack was. He said it was 2" longer on each side. That was around 9:00am. It's now well over 1 foot long and goes to the top of the windshield.

But the fun part....I now have two scratches on my hood! I called them and a manager should be calling back. And I see they used a nice dry towel to try to wipe the hood (probably hoping to find out that the scratch wasn't a scratch.) So I may have more marks after I wash it being that a dry towel was wiped across a black hood.

Not sure how well the photo will come out. I'm getting the reflection from the sky. But there are two scratches. They are a few inches apart from each other and perpendicular.

lm24

Wow, sucks to hear about the scratch. I haven't had a chance to carefully inspect my car yet since I've been inside working all day after the guy left. With Safelite being such a big company with so many locations, it can definitely be a hit or miss in terms of quality of the repair guy.

Hopefully they can fix that paint damage. It is pretty obvious that they caused the scratch then rubbed it (looks like with their fingers to me) hoping that it would come off. Best of luck from here on!

Edit: It can also likely be a scratch on the clearcoat, and the paint underneath may be fine.

Nicholi2007

Is this pelkington? I don't like Mr. Pelkington....seems to chip rather easily.