TOT: Car windscreen repair ads

[Calvin Sambrook]

The big car windscreen repairer (yes I know it's just a front for replacement anyway but that's not the subject of this post) is running ads at the moment which go along the lines of: "Mr X had a chip and didn't get it repaired, he hit a pothole and it turned into a crack". Implicit is "if we'd have repaired it that wouldn't have happened" although that's not actually stated.

Now I understand how a repair can stop water getting in and so prevent freeze-thaw breakages but is it in any way reasonable to claim that a repair, which is little more than filling the hole, can do anything to stop a chip turning into a crack because of mechanical stress?

I can feel a letter to the ASA coming on.

[Derek Geldard]

I once rented some shop premises and some O' Reilly type builders the Landlord employed whacked the shop window with a scaffold pole, It made a 1cm hole in the window a bit bigger on the intside than out.

I called a glazier in for a quote and he explained the repair was urgent because the glass would crack starting from the hole and run off to the edge and eventually the shop window would break and fall out in large pieces. A serious health and safety issue.

I didn't act on his advice straight away preferring to swing the cost of the repair on the Landlord and O' Reilly. But so help me, within

36 hours it had done precisely what the glazier said. :-((

Car windows are of course laminated but I'd imagine large cracks would probably propagate from the hole on both sides of the laminate but tghe glass wouldn't fall out. I'm sure you can't drive a car in that condition in the UK and it certainly wouldn't pass the MOT.

Derek

[The Natural Philosopher]

Been there, done that..stone chip that ended up with the screen splitting right across after a few more hours.

OTOH I have had small chip sthat dis NOT damage teh lmaination, that stayed for ages until the screen eithet gotr replaced or teh crack filled.

So my impression is, they are stretching it a bit, as any hole that CAN cause a major crack to appear is already too big to be mended in the way they suggest.

[Derek Geldard]

It used to be commonplace in stony places like Cyprus, Canary Isles to see Mercedes taxis in service with windscreens with large cracks. To replace it would cost a bomb.

Derek

[Michael Chare]

Put it this way, many insurance companies will pay for your car windscreen to be repaired for free.

I have had this done. Clearly it depends on the chip but IME the technology works.

[dennis]

The MOT allows for repaired windscreens, there are rules for it. The repair will be stronger than the unrepaired damage. It may last forever it may not.

[gazz]

Well, my motorhome has a chip in the screen, it was there when i bought the van to convert it in 2003, in 2005 we had an accident at 50mph, stoving the front end in enough so the passengers door couldent be opened without damaging the panels more,

The chipis still there today, hasnt got any bigger than the day i got the van,

The windscreen is fairly large, about 7 foot wide by 4 fot tall, bonded in place, in the process of having a coachbuilt body put on the chassis, the body of the van was cut off behind the front doors, including the roof, and the new body is made of 1x1 pine frame with alli outer skin, 1 inch of polystyrene insulation and 3mm faced ply interior skin, that's glued in place with evostick spray on glue.

just mentioning that as the car screen chip repairers old ad said the screen was a structural part of a modern car, so a chip left and an accident (shown in the ad as a car turning turtle) could result in worse dammage to the car due to the screen not being at full strength (after working for a recovery firm for a few years, i'm more worried about cars with sunroofs, very common for the reinforcing frame for be pushed down onto the occupants heads in a roll over),

[Jules]

Common here in the northern US too, where the harsh Winters seem to play havoc with screens, where there's no MOT-equivalent of any kind, and where replacement glass is comparatively expensive (unlike a lot of things).

cheers

Jules

[Roger]

You do that, supplying your evidence and then post the result in a few weeks after they have investigated. It's obvious you haven't a clue what you are talking about. I thought you were going to mention the way the adverts were misleading people in to thinking that repairs were "free" when they are not !

[Derek Geldard]

AFAIAA holes (small) can be fixed (FSVO Fixed) but cracks not.

Derek

[Derek Geldard]

The prospect of the occupants heads being smeared along 100 metres of road in a film 3mm thick is what gives me the heebie - jeebies. : ((

Derek

[The Medway Handyman]

Is there really no equivilant to the MOT in America then?

[Adrian]

"The Medway Handyman" gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Nope.

Some states have a very cursory inspection, some do emissions every couple of years, some just do emissions when a used car changes hands, some don't even do that.

[Keith W]

Correction. They say that they MAY be free if you have comprehensive cover. Our last car was comprehensively insured, it was offered free and we had a chip repaired at no cost and with no effect on the no claims bonus. Our current car recently got a chip on the motorway and I am going to get that done shortly.

[airsmoothed]

I assumed not, having seen some of the wrecks on 'pimp my ride' on whatever yoof channel it's on.

[Andy Dingley]

Yes. Chip a few windscreens, don't patch them, watch how many do start growing. Some cars do, some don't - presumably it depends on the frame's rigidity. Vans in particular seem prone to growing from star cracks, probably because they're just bigger.

As to the reliabilty of adhesive repairs, I've seen three in Transits where two (different vans) in the middle then lasted for years, a star about 4" above the bottom (in the same screen) spread regardless. So it seems from this sample that adhesive has some virtue, but it won't stop one that's getting a really good flexing anyway.

I also asked the Advertglass guy to quote me for a non-insurance star glue-up on my Volvo, whilst he was in the office carpark anyway swapping another screen. His answer was to get it fixed, but not get it done by them as they charged far too much!

[S Viemeister]

State laws vary - in New Jersey, cars are required to be inspected every two years; new cars get their first State inspection at four years.

[Roger Mills]

Indeed. Insurance companies are pretty hard-headed, and wouldn't fund these repairs unless there was at least a fighting chance that this would avoid a bigger payout for complate replacement.

[Jules]

It varies by state. Here (MN) there's nothing - but there are laws about tyres, lights, exhaust noise, seatbelts etc. and the penalties are quite harsh if caught (although I saw one lovely example the other day where rear-quarter of the car had been mangled; the owner had made a brake light using a bulb, piece of red translucent plastic, lots of tape, and a pie container :-)

I do see a lot of vehicles that are more rust than vehicle - 5 or more months of ice and snow up here coupled with salted roads really takes its toll (particularly as a lot of 80s US vehicles seem to share the same level of corrosion protection as the stuff which came out of Italy in the

70s :-)

cheers

Jules

[Andrew Gabriel]

California has a Smog Check, which lots of garages can carry out (often specialised for just that).