Daft Doctor Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Hi, courtesy of a lorry on the A40 throwing a stone chip back at me at high speed, I've got a repairable (small, passenger side and well away from the edge) crack in the windscreen. I've got an appointment at Carglass tomorrow to have it repaired, presumably using resin, the windscreen doesn't need to be replaced.Carglass told me they'd just invoice my French insurers directly, but my insurance agent seems to think that the 100 euro windscreen excess will apply. I thought that the excess didn't apply to windscreen repairs of this nature, but clearly if it does then I'd likely be better off paying Carglass directly and keeping the insurers out of it. Any experience of this out there that I can tap into? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose (& Greyman) Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 I'm covered by Thelem and the excess didn't apply when I had a chip repaired. It was completely free. HOWEVER when we bought another car about a year later we could only get cover for that from Thelem as no other company would cover us as we had 2 claims within the previous year - a small bump and the windscreen repair ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Get one of these http://www.consumabulbs.com/content/windscreen-repair-kits.php I carry one in the car an it only costs £20. Lot cheaper than paying the 100 Euros or having problems getting new insurance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 [quote user="Daft Doctor"]Carglass told me they'd just invoice my French insurers directly, but my insurance agent seems to think that the 100 euro windscreen excess will apply. I thought that the excess didn't apply to windscreen repairs of this nature ... [/quote]At present I am gathering quotes with a view to changing companies for our car insurance and none so far has an excess for windscreen repair. Replacement yes, then there is a variable excess depending on the company.So far I have consulted Allianz, Groupama and La Poste with reference to comprehensive cover.Perhaps your Insurance agent needs a prod.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 Our insurer would do it for free as long as we used their recommended company..... and the major repair company with an office next door to them, wasn't a recommended one, so instead of being able to pop next door, had a few kms to drive to get it done. EDIT: I did go and see them and they hadn't time, so they came to us to do it. I'd forgotten that.Ask your insurer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sid Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I have a GAN Horizon Auto policy and the windscreen is covered without excess or reduction of bonus. It may depend on the policy "formule" chosen. My previous Allianz policy was similar. No mention of a particular windscreen company, but it's best to check before having any work done in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Doctor Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Just an update, Carglass (aka Autoglass) handled everything very efficiently, repaired the crack, got me to sign a load of forms and told me that GAN would be billed for the repair and that I wouldn't have anything to pay. They also give a lifetime warranty on the crack repair, transferrable to a future driver on sale of the car. If the crack extends, they put a new windscreen in for free. Regarding the windscreen excess, I remember that when my wife had a windscreen replaced in the UK by Autoglass that (understandibly) they insisited on the £100 excess being paid upfront by us before they'd do the replacement. I'm confident that if the excess also applied to windscreen repairs, Carglass here in France would have done the same. As it happens the bill to GAN was for 103 euros, so if the windscreen excess of 100 euros had applied I'd be as well off 'making the crack bigger' and having the windscreen replaced, which clearly wouldn't be in the insurers interest. Thanks as always for your own insights and opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Hope they dont come after you for the excess, re the lifetime guarantee............ Well I am always sceptical of anything resembling a guarantee in France especially when in conjunction with an insurance company, I really liked Iduns recent comparison of insurers to a restaurant [:)]When I was in the UK recently something on the autoglass tv advert made me pay attention, amongst the shpeil and (whats the bloomin word in english for a verbal slogan, jingo, lingo?) got it jingle!! they slipped in something along the lines of "all repairs eventually become cracks but our repairs last longer" spoken in the tones of a regulatory warning like "investments can go up as well as down" and I said to myself whats that all about then!As you know the adverts are almost identical in both countries and it would appear that in the UK Carglass/Autoglass have been forced to admit that their repairs are not permanent whereas in France they can say they are and guarantee them for life.Now I can see that a resin repair will always be the weak point amongst an otherwise homogenous windscreen, modern bonded windscreens are structural and it stands to reason that if you hit a bump hard enough to break even an undamaged screen the repaired one is likely to crack from the weakest point, the repair.Call me cynical but I cant help but think that they will consider a crack emanating from their repair as being beyond the life of the screen [Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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