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Got a tiny crack on windscreen, will it affect my insurance?

I seen a tiny little crack, smaller than a 5p coin on my windscreen. I have co-op insurance, and I have windscreen cover with it. Will getting it repaired affect my insurance in any way, like will my insurance go up next year or something? And how do I go about getting it repaired?

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Reply 1

sam.hunton

No, but you will have to pay the excess. You need to call your insurer.

Reply 2

Joinedup

Well i don't know what it says on your policy... But usually there's no excess on windscreen repairs (where they bung it up with clear adhesive) if you've got windscreen cover.

You can just drive into one of the auto glass chains listed on your insurance docs and they'll talk to the insurance company. It's very straightforward.

Reply 3

JC.

If it really is that tiny I'd just ignore it.
All the scare mongering adverts you see on the TV are nonsense.

I've had plenty of cars with chipped and cracked screens and not one has got worse.

Reply 4

Joinedup

Original post by JC.

If it really is that tiny I'd just ignore it.
All the scare mongering adverts you see on the TV are nonsense.

I've had plenty of cars with chipped and cracked screens and not one has got worse.

isn't it an mot fail if it's in the area swept by the wipers? Having said that i've had a small crack for several years that no one's picked up on. If it was right in front of my face i'd probably do something about it I suppose.

Reply 5

JC.

Original post by Joinedup

Depends where it is on the screen and what size.

It's 10mm in the area imediately in front of the driver - the tester has a piece of plastic that they lay on the screen in line with the centre of the steering wheel.

Imagine a two lines drawn from top to bottom of the windscreen roughly the width of the steering wheel. In this zone as mentioned damage up to 10mm in size is permitted.
Outside of this zone damage of up to 40mm is permitted.

Only if damage exceeds these parameters then are you required to repair or replace a screen.
However, that comes with the caveat if there are many little cracks in a confined area then this will constitute a failure. e.g if you had 10 little 5mm cracks close together in the zone imediately infront of the driver this would constitute a fail also.

:wink:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 6

sebastienlewis

I read it as got a tiny 'cock' on my windscreen. :colone:

Reply 7

gbduo

My windscreen looks like it has been sand blasted with the number of chips in it. Its been like that for years, through many winters and still no Autoglass crack over a sudden bump.

Reply 8

JC.

Original post by gbduo

My windscreen looks like it has been sand blasted with the number of chips in it. Its been like that for years, through many winters and still no Autoglass crack over a sudden bump.

Similarly I used to have a volvo with a 35 mm crack in the screen - so just MOT worthy.
15k miles of heavy abuse (read thrashed every day, every gear change) and no change to the crack at all.

Reply 9

rmhumphries

While I agree with the people saying it is unlikely you need to bother, check your insurance documents, quite a few insurers offer free windscreen repairs with no affect on your NCB / no excess / etc; if it is free and no negative effects, you have nothing to lose by getting it sorted.

Reply 10

Lfctv

Come on phone autoglass, dont u hear there annoying adverts

Reply 11

xsophx

My windscreen cracked when it was a very cold snowy morning, kept getting bigger and bigger. My insurance covered the cost of the windscreen so only cost me my excess. I found out that the cracked was caused by a chip that you couldn't see as it was near the bottom of the windscreen.

Reply 12

gbduo

Original post by rmhumphries

I did, and they said there were too many chips and I would need a replacement windscreen. Well I wasn't going to pay £70 on my excess and have a windscreen claim and I am still running around with the same windscreen 2 and bit years on.

So yeh, unless it is an MOT failure, there is no way I am paying to get a screen replaced over a few chips!

If it is one or two then fair enough, but if you have more and they say they want to replace, forgot it, wait until it properly goes.

Reply 13

Salu.

Bloody hell mate, it's only a little crack. Why bother with insurance? Get it fixed by Autoglass. If you're fully comp then it's free isn't it?

Reply 14

rmhumphries

Original post by Salu.

Bloody hell mate, it's only a little crack. Why bother with insurance? Get it fixed by Autoglass. If you're fully comp then it's free isn't it?

Autoglass get the money to repair it from your insurer.

Reply 15

tehforum

I thought this was a joke thread commenting on the influence of the Autoglass adverts.

Reply 16

Driver24

Be careful, I only made s phonecall to eco coop insurance, and they classed it as a claim then put my insurance up by 100 quid extra on database ,be very careful of coop insurance as they very devious

Reply 17

username5027880

Normally small cracks on windscreens, you can get away with providing it's not directly in your eye line.
A crack the size of a 5p piece, should not pose a problem, but keep an eye on it, if it starts spreading across the windscreen, you will need to do something about it.

Reply 18

IWMTom

Original post by Driver24

Thanks for bumping a 7 year old thread. We are all so very grateful for your truly invaluable input.

Reply 19

Nuffles

Original post by Driver24

Any claim on your insurance will result in an increase come renewal. I went through insurance to replace a windscreen once. My windscreen excess was £90 and the new windscreen was only £130 - I paid a lot more in future premiums than the £40 I saved by going through insurance :rolleyes:

On some cars it's worth it. We have a 2014 Nissan Juke at work and a replacement windscreen is the best part of a grand going through insurance. Anything with automatic headlights or wipers with the sensors at the top of the windscreen is going to be very expensive so it might well be cheaper overall going through insurance. Anything older or without auto headlights/wipers it's worth getting a quote from an auto glass company and comparing it against your windscreen excess, and factoring in the extra you'll pay in future premiums.