I was driving on the freeway and a small rock hit my windshield. Small chip was all I saw and no more than 5 minutes later there's about a 4-5inch crack. Can I get this fixed without replacing the whole thing?
Is this crack smaller than say a dollar bill? Also, where is the crack located? Center of glass, at the edge of the glass, etc?
please, they aren't the best. I am a windshield repair man and I can tell you they suck, are expensive to boot. Half the time the safelite tech doesn't even attempt to fill in the crack and passes off the work like it's done.
Okay. Let me rephrase my statement. Safelite has been the best windshield repair service I have used. I have used half a dozen other people and Safelite did the best job for me. Fair enough?
I would assume most glass companies fix them. Call a body shop and see who they recomend. You might check with your insurance company.
Can't argue with that. In the windshield repair business, there are half a dozen bad techs to one good tech. But the thing you should know is that, many factors might have influenced you in this regard. First:, the type of chip repair. Often bullseye chips are better looking repairs than a star break, or a combination break. Secondly, the type of glass worked on. A jeep's glass for example will be more rigid than say a honda accord, which is flexible. The more flexible the glass, the better repair (generally speaking). Third, the length of time between getting the chip and the day of the repair, matters. The longer you wait, the more likely the repair will not clear up as good as it could if you repaired it right away. Finally, the skill of the repairman matters most of all. Is the guy interested in doing a good job? Many repairmen are shadetree guys that do it for extra income, and they don't care how things look. You also have guys like at safelite who are just getting a paycheck every week and quality doesn't matter. In your case, I would assume that first, the repair that safelite did was a simple repair (and/or) the repairman cared. Either way, your experience is not typical from the many complaints that safelite gets.
Insurance companies (especially the local agent) hand the claim off to the sgc network or lynx. They hardly ever know who to go to. sgc network is basically safelite solutions who in turn try to set up a repair. One thing you should know is that safelite and/or the insurance companies (sometimes it is hard to tell them apart) will not fix a crack that is longer than a quarter in size, even though the national windshield repair association supports fixing cracks that are a dollar or less in length of size.
Once again, this is true, but there are still considerations you must attend to. The most urgent reason to NOT replace the glass is that once you break the factory seal you can never go back, if say, for example, you suddenly begin to hear more road noise, wind, or if your glass suddenly has a leak. Replacing glass has a ton of downside to it, and unless the guy working on it is a master at resealing glass, you car will never be the same once you go that route. Repairing the glass has none of that downside, and if done properly can look almost new once repaired.
Couple of things mrm32. First, do NOT wash your car. Second, you might want to run your fingernail across the crack. If you can feel an edge then the car is a surface crack. The other thing is that if you have an impact point, and you might want to put a small piece of tape over it (this keeps the chip clean on the inside until you can get a repairman out to fix the chip.)
Yea I can feel the crack. I went to an auto glass shop and they said the best they could do is stop the crack from spreading and not completely remove it. Other places will only fix the chip.
what kind of chip is it? does it have a circle? as far as removing it: your goal should be to keep it from cracking (as I mentioned above, replacement is an inexact science). I will tell you this that a surface crack is the worst kind to have, but if the line is thin enough they can still be fixed pretty good. Getting the line to close up might also be possible. It is hard to say for sure without looking at it.
I had the same issue, the crack began to spread. I called insurance and they wanted to charge me a $500 deductible, HA, screw them. I went to a small place called Patsco on FM 1960. Mind you, the crack was longer than a dollar bill. Dude hooked it up, I didn't pay a single dollar. Go to any place they will talk to the insurance tell them it's smaller than a dollar bill and insurance will pay them. Everyone is happy. Good Luck.
