# cracked windshield - now what?



## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Once a crack is started there's no stopping it. 
Depends on if you have glass breakage on your poilicy. 
I always add a rider on my policy because I go thorugh at least one a year. Just call your agent.


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## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

If you call your insurance agent and they cover it then expect to have your rates go up. I'd call a junkyard and find that glass or a local auto glass company. I have a crack (which has expanded over the months) in mine which a local auto glass store will replace it with one they'll receive from a junkyard (that they do business with) for $125 installed and no one the wiser.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

I have had a half dozen or more windshields replaced over the past 40 some years, and, as far as I can recall, all of them were covered by my comprehensive, and I do not recall any associated rate increases. And for at least the past 20-30 years anyway, there aren't too many things that important that are remedied that easily; call your agent, schedule an appointment with the glass company, and, assuming that you are in a somewhat populated area, they will come to you. I had two I think replaced while I was at my office, and at least one of them replaced while I was on a worksite, simply because it was convenient for the glass company and me, and while I needed tools from the truck, I wasn't going any place, so good time to get it done.


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## Ironlight (Apr 13, 2011)

I'm sort of stunned. I've been driving 35 years, owned a car since I was 18, put 15k+ miles on my cars each year. I've never had a windshield replaced, although in a couple of cars they did start to get sparkly/pitted from age and were close to needing replacement. 

If you've replaced a half-dozen, or are replacing them once a year, is this from rock impacts? I suppose if you live near a gravel quarry it could be a regular thing...


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

In many othert parts of the country, roads like I have lived on would be asphalt, but ours, for whatever reason, are gravel. The house where I was raised and started driving was about a mile and a half from the pavement, and, although about 30 miles away, further from the big city, the house that we live in today is two miles or more from the pavement, depending on which way you go. So, for over 40 years, except for a few back a number of years ago, I have driven a minimum of 3-5 miles of gravel road every day. And, where we live now, as was the case where I first started driving, one of those gravel roads, which we use the most, and which we have to travel for at least a mile, one way or the other, is a truck route, with a 55 mph speed limit. So now you have me thinking, and if my math is right, just using 40 years as a starting point, 5 days a week, which I generally work more than that, and 4 miles round trip per day, I have driven over 40,000 miles on gravel roads, again, accompanied by trucks, tractors, combines, and other ag equipment, as well as the regular assortment of individuals who are always in a hurry, just getting back and forth to work. Throw in trips to the store, business, municipal and other meetings, church, doctor visits, or even just down the road to the neighbors, and everything else, and I would guess that the actual number is well over 100,000 miles on gravel roads. And, my wife grew up in a similar area, and obviously lives with me now, so we could be in the vicinity of a quarter million miles of gravel roads on our vehicles. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble, but after you mentioned it, it did sound like a lot, even though I do definitely recall the ones that I counted. On my last truck, I actually had one windshield that only lasted about two weeks, but fortunately it doesn't go that way too often. If you want something worse than windshields though, the wife and I have had 5 deer car collisions over the past 30 years. Our area has one of the largest deer populations in the state, and we seldom go a week without seeing another one that got hit. Anyway, she hit both of hers, but all 3 of mine came out of dense cover, adn literally ran into the side of my trucks; one in the passenger door, one in the driver's door, and one in the side of the box.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

My truck was about 9 months old when I lost the first windshield to a rock. Only took about a day for the crack to move all the way across the windshield. There is no stopping or fixing it, time for a new window.

Personally, I prefer genuine windows (Carlex/Carlite makes them for most manufacturers) opposed to the aftermarket varieties. They cost a couple bucks more, but have better optical qualities and no "waves" like I have seen in cheap glass.

My insurance requires a separate glass rider to cover the glass at $15 per 6 months.


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## jbfan (Jul 1, 2004)

Windshields are covered under comprehensive and I just pay the deductable.

Unless I have a glass company that I want to us, they call someone to come to the house, and I give them the check for the deductable,


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## noquacks (Jun 5, 2010)

In my state, no deductible. 100% free. havnt sen any rise in rate either. I dont believe its allowed.


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## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

I stand corrected, but I'm still simply paying the $125 and getting it over with. Must be less than a deductible.


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## Total Tool (Dec 4, 2011)

My comp deductible is $500. safelite quotes it at $300. Would it even be worth calling the dealership? 

I'll just have to make some calls tomorrow. What a pain.


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## polarzak (Dec 1, 2008)

Ironlight said:


> I suppose if you live near a gravel quarry it could be a regular thing...


You don't have to live "near" a gravel quarry. I don't and have had at least five windshields replaced (mine, wife's, daughter's) over the last 10 or so years. That said, if I do recall, the crack was always caused buy a stone from a dump truck or the like on highways. Mine always went though insurance, and thankfully so, because while the replacements were mostly 3 or 4 hundred dollars, the windshield for my car with the "heads up" display was close to $1500.00


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