Windscreen Specialists "opportunists" ?

SH20 · January 7, 2016

My 460 windscreen took a hit last week in the most difficult of places, right next to the roof - Screen pillar moulding. Typical bullet strike about quarter of an inch diameter. The last thing I wanted was for some inexperienced fitter taking my screen out so I called out the preferred supplier of my Insurance Company for an opinion as I wanted it repairing. All Insurers say you can have an OE screen if you insist on using a dealer but they then stipulate the monetary value they will pay which is a fraction of a genuine Lexus screen, hence my wish for a repair.

"No chance of a repair there" the fitter said when he called at the house and inspected the bullet strike. When I pointed out the impact point was right on the 30mm limit from the edge of the screen he wasn't interested in trying a repair. Although the roof moulding would need to come out which runs from the base of the rear screen all the way to the bottom of the front screen he wasn't interested in even attempting a repair, something my Insurer would have welcomed. No, he was all for fitting a new screen, asking what the problem was if the Insurance Company were paying. Before he witnessed the steam welling up inside me I told him to leave. I didn't tell him I was a retired Insurance Engineer who looked after my employers financial interests.

I decide on principle to have an attempt at repairing the screen myself. I even left the roof moulding in place for fear of damaging the clips and/or the moulding itself. I bought a screen repair kit, one of those £5 kits off E Bay and watched every You Tube clip to see if these kits were worth a go. I know the photo will shock some of you as to how close to the edge of the screen the damage was but the plastic post which the resin is poured in to was centred over the impact crater, just. The roof moulding was lifted slightly without causing any damage. Do these kits work?, Yes in this case. I can still see where the impact point was but I would say as a percentage it was 90% successful. At least my screen is ok till the next time. By the way that isn't a crack in the screen it's the outline of the dash speaker.

katana92_uk · January 7, 2016

I absolutely totally understand what you feeling / going through at the moment.

I also have a small chip in my windscreen which i discovered few weeks ago. It really annoys me but I really dont want someone to take my windscreen out and replace it with some cheap crap.

I know my insurance will cover but can I really trust someone to replace my windscreen which involves manual fiddling ?

answer is no. I am just going to live with it since its not an MOT failure.

Windscreen fitted by manual hands VS robot, which cost fare bit i guess = no match.

Spacewagon52 · January 7, 2016

Well done for the repair. You have saved yourself a lot of anxiety and stress and had the satisfaction of solving the problem yourself.

RgrWynne · January 7, 2016

Well done. I know how you feel.i have 2 large cracks that are mot failures and I really need a new windscreen, and had a post about it here recently. Just don't want some numpty putting a cheap replacement in, but fear I may not have much choice.