Damaged Windscreen

[DLX]

Just a warning if you have a damaged windscreen on your ES300 that needs replacing..
Got a cracked windscreen a month ago. Got full windscreen cover but the insurance company will only pay (minus excess) if I use their approved repairer. They will contribute £150 after excess payment if use someone other than their approved. Lexus dealer quote is £900 and they could do it in 2 days.
I was put onto Nationwide Windscreens first but after conversation they realised they couldn't do it because they didn't have the software to realign the cameras for lane tracking etc..
Then insurance put me onto Autoglass.
Took them nearly 3 weeks to get the glass then they realised they would probably need some strips(?).
Been a further 10 days now and still waiting to hear from them and I assume it will now be a long wait (understandably now)).
Lesson; read the insurance small print! Though I do suspect that most policies will be like this.

You might want to double check yours!

Oh and by the way Autoglass do the fitting in a supermarket car park (!)  and it takes 3 hours.

 

[royoftherovers]

Dave, what does your insurance policy small printt actually say about windscreen replacement ? 

[F.A.]

£900 is a lot but I’m not sure I would trust Nationwide or Autoglass to fit the windscreen correctly, align the cameras and not damage anything in the meantime.  Our RX had a windscreen fitted by one of those outfits by the previous owner and they  scratched the paint through to the metal at the top. It cost more than £900 to fix but luckily the Lexus dealer we purchased it from  covered the cost. 
Auto glass also caused multiple scratches to my Honda Civic back in the day. 

[cruisermark]

My brother went through this scenario couple of months ago albeit with his BMW 335D

Total cost was about £600 and he had to pay over half from his own pocket

[rich1068]

It's an odd one with windscreens and insurance. I've never really understood why they are treated any differently to other parts of the car. Unfortunately with the added complexity of sensors and cameras I'd guess the days of free repairs and £100 replacements are coming to an end.

[scudney]

Yes they definitely are lol, and  yet another price to pay for modern technology and all that goes with it ☹

[DLX]

17 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Dave, what does your insurance policy small printt actually say about windscreen replacement ? 

A £100 excess applies to claims for replacement, and £25 for glass repair. If the work is carried out by our approved repairer, the excess is reduced
to £75 for glass replacement and £15 for glass repair. If our approved repairer is not used the maximum payable under this section is £150 after
deducting excesses.

[royoftherovers]

2 hours ago, DLX said:

A £100 excess applies to claims for replacement, and £25 for glass repair. If the work is carried out by our approved repairer, the excess is reduced
to £75 for glass replacement and £15 for glass repair. If our approved repairer is not used the maximum payable under this section is £150 after
deducting excesses.

Thanks Dave.

If it was my insurer, I would adopt the following stance.

1. I need to be put back into the position I was in prior to the incident. My car is less than 3/6/9/12 months old and your policy Condition if followed to the letter would possibly provide me with a vehicle which no longer accords with the manufacturers specification and would amount to a modification which you would then seek to penalise, me with, by charging an increased premium.

2. As my car is new, Lexus are obviously best suited to provide me with a repair which accords with the manufacturers original specification.

3.You wish to penalise me financially by insisting that I use one of your chosen repairers. I can agree to this,but you must agree to ensure that your chosen repairer performs in a manner which is consistent with the repaired vehicle conforming with the original specification.That way we both succeed.

4. Should your chosen repairer not perform so that the repair is invisible to the driver (me), then you will insist that the work is carried out again. Should this second repair not lead to the objectives of the first repair not being achieved, then you will authourise Lexus to effect the repair and I will pay what I would have paid had your chosen repairer been successful.

5. As you are aware one of the underlying principles of insurance is "uberrima fidei" ie. utmost good faith and I trust that my remarks above illustrate my wish to have an outcome which is morally, financially and honourably.acceptable to both of us.

If hope that my comments might be of some use Dave and I wish you well.

Please do let us all know, how you get on.......and the name of your insurer.

Before you act upon this it might be useful to ask your Lexus Dealer who would repair vehicles for them and then if they are on the Insurer`s list you can choose them.

[Malc]

all this is telling me that insurers should be deciding the premium for comprehensive glass insurance  ( in the annual premium say )  according to the likely cost of repair / replacement for that specific car ...... and leave us poor old buggers with simple and old technology rated windscreens and glass, to suffer much less and more appropriate insce premiums

Malc

[Guest]

They do. I was just quoted a higher glass excess due to model.

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[SH20]

I'm going to ask Lexus for a car insurance quote at my renewal date but have just sent them an email asking them what do Lexus do when handling Lexus insured customers who submit a windscreen claim.  Do they sublet to any of the existing firms we all know of. 

[VinnyB]

Hi all i had to have my lexus ES repaired as some idiot ran in to me my insurer wanted me to use approved repairer but i refused and i said i wanted Lexus in sheffield to do it who i bought the car from the insurer LV got a quote from them and agreed to use them by the way Lexus sheffield use Toyota across the road from them to do all repairs it then goes back to Lexus for final checks they did a fantastic job 

vinny 

[rich1068]

They also use Sean at Xavier Motors round the corner for all their non insurance/warranty work. Worth keeping in mind if you're local. http://www.smitheyclose.co.uk/Xavier/?LMCL=VeuvNP

[olliesgrandad]

The thing with windscreens is that Lexus don't fit them. When I had the misfortune to get a cracked windscreen in a 175 mile loan car the Lexus Dealer supplied the screen and sent me to a local fitter. I asked him about realigning and calibration of the cameras and he assured me that this is mainly' smoke and mirrors ' and if fitted correctly by a competent fitter there will not be an issue. Lexus supplied a fitting kit which he didn't use (because he was good) and I got a refund on it. The trim strips are eye wateringly expensive... 

[holiday]

We had a similar experience with our car. We had a damaged windshield and we used lexus insurance and we requested the dealer glass and they called national windshield to come out and they replaced the screen for £60 with the lexus glass. The second time we went through Churchill and we asked for dealer glass and they said that I would need to pay the difference. We we’re happy for this to happen and we paid £180 for our lexus glass. I hope you get the glass sorted out. 

[DLX]

Update

Not fixed and looks like it will be some time.

Earlier this week I had convinced the insurance company that they should pay for Lexus dealer to do it.   Went back to Lexus dealer to confirm the quote.
Dealer is closed and I was also told by email that they are not able to order any parts either.
Spoke to an area manager at Autoglass.   They are not ordering any parts.   Could not even advise when the trim would arrive (this should have been ordered on 17 March).   When I suggested that they could have got the glass and parts from Lexus ages ago Autoglass said that the insurance company would not let them do that! Hmmmmm that's probably the agreement they have to keep the cost down for both.

Crack is now right across the drivers line of sight so technically should not be driven.
Fortunately we have second car and obviously not going very far at the moment.

 

[Malc]

On 3/29/2020 at 2:58 PM, olliesgrandad said:

The trim strips are eye wateringly expensive... 

not just on your car by the way .. a few years ago my windscreen had to be replaced and the insurers ( Markerstudy ) said that if they had to replace the trim strips they would object and possibly not pay

the strips were ok  BUT   the trim strips I understand were then about £150 a side ........  absolutely bonkers money for a thin piece of metal 

Malc

[SH20]

Member Holiday seems to have answered the point about what Lexus Insurance will do when the Insured asks for Lexus glass to be used when they were with Lexus Insurance. The dealer calls in a national windscreen company for their specialist skill set and the dealer supplies the Lexus glass.     Lexus were happy to pay for the Lexus glass but why wouldn't they?.   

Using another Insurer like Churchill will trap you into their terms and conditions regarding glass claims were they say use our approved supplier but if you insist on using a Lexus dealer they will only pay £150 towards the replacement.   This is common practise  so for me I will be judging a quote for Lexus Insurance versus the cost risk if I use another none Lexus Insurer.     NB  Lexus Insurance are not the Insurer,  they will use an underwriter  to cover your car but because you go through the Lexus Insurance route you have at least the support of Lexus UK  when it comes to making glass claims.    Be warned also about crash damage and if you insist on a Lexus approved bodyshop which is not on your none Lexus insurer's list  the small print may say your excess will be bigger.    It's all about control of repair costs.  I know, I worked for Direct Line long enough, a sister company of Churchill both owned by Royal Bank of Scotland.    

[Malc]

On 4/2/2020 at 4:10 PM, Malc said:

and the insurers ( Markerstudy )

just read somewhere ( on here  ? ) that Markerstudy is a subsidiary of a windscreen company ......  no wonder they whined a lot when I wanted my local !stCall people to replace my screen and whinge about the side strips 

BUT

they did agree to IstCall and without a higher excess, because they could get the screen post haste whereas their own parent ( it seems ) couldn't get a screen for I think some 6 weeks

Malc

[SH20]

On the same theme about windscreens, I had to repair a windscreen chip in the front screen of my ES300,   I've done only 2500 miles and ended up buying one of those kits off eBay for £6.99.   Whole repair took 40 minutes including curing times of the liquid glass.   It was one of those kits with a hollow post that you stick to the glass over the damaged area and the liquid is placed in the hollow post, about 6  drops.   You induce a vacuum by means of a supplied syringe and wait 10 mins then you pressurise the liquid using the syringe also and wait 20 mins.

Then you remove the post and drop a tiny amount of the  liquid glass on the chipped area and cover with a supplied piece of film.  Force out any air bubbles and either bright sunlight or a UV lamp over the next 15 mins cures the glass repair   and finally you peel back the film and using a supplied blade you remove the very thin film of liquid glass that spread out under the film of plastic.    Perfect repair and left no obvious signs of the original chip.   Autoglass charge Insurance Companies £50 for similar repairs but of course they have to cover overheads.   Do these chips early on and they won't start to grow from vibrations as you drive around avoiding a chip turning into a crack.

          

[DLX]

Fixed!

Much to my surprise got a call from Autoglass yesterday to say they had the trim and they fitted it today.   Result at last.  Better still they have used Lexus glass.

[royoftherovers]

2 hours ago, DLX said:

Fixed!

Much to my surprise got a call from Autoglass yesterday to say they had the trim and they fitted it today.   Result at last.  Better still they have used Lexus glass.

Excellent news Dave.