Car Insurance
What to look for in a windscreen…
It’s a windscreen. It’s there simply to shield you from the outside elements. Traditionally, yes. But actually, the windscreen on a modern car does quite a bit more than that. As well as keeping all that inclement British weather at bay, a bonded windscreen forms an essential part of a car’s outer strength and body shell.
So, it makes perfect sense to keep your windscreen in good overall condition. If you need to have it replaced, ensure the work carried is out by a reputable dealer or supplier. Your safety is at stake.
Often however, particularly with today’s advancements in repair technology, stone chips and small cracks can be repaired quite easily – and inexpensively. Which means you won’t necessarily need make a claim on your car insurance. So if you’re unfortunate enough to have a stone bounce up off the road and take a chunk out of your windscreen, don’t despair. Help is at hand.
Any damage, up to 40mm, can be repaired, depending exactly where on the windscreen it is. If the damage is directly in your line of vision, the maximum repair size is limited to only 10mm.
The advantages of an undamaged windscreen are clear
To effectively repair your windscreen the damaged area must be cleaned thoroughly, dried and then filled with a clear resin, that has very similar optical properties to the glass itself. The stone chip or crack won’t magically disappear but the repair will ensure the glass is more structurally sound and any damage considerably less visible.
A word of warning. Small chips in your screen may seem insignificant, but if left untreated for any length of time, they can grow or become irreparable.
Your windscreen and the MOT test
Another good reason to repair your screen if it’s accidentally damaged is that the damage itself could result in your car failing its MOT. Any crack or stone chip larger than 10mm across, that’s directly in the driver’s line of vision (the A zone – an area 290mm wide, centred on the steering column) constitutes a failure. In any other part of the screen, damage over 40mm means you’ll receive a red piece of paper in place of nice a green one.
So, the next time you suffer an annoying stone chip in your windscreen, don’t let it get to you, get someone out to fix it. You’ll thank yourself for having the vision.