Replacement Windscreens - Who's Best to do it?

[Sp!ke]

I too suffered the fate of RAC Autoglass.

Despite them agreeing to put it right and to replace the items they damaged in the process of fitting the windscreen, they never came through.

In the end after about a year of repeated phone calls and letters they claimed they had no record for me and had no knowledge of any correspondence. They claimed the manager I was dealing with no longer worked for them and that they couldnt help further.

See http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=801&highlight=windscreen

 

[Pietre]

My friends Jag X-Type has just had his screen replaced by Autoglass on Friday. This morning he noticed a crack starting from the top by the seal. Autoglass have just inspected it and lo and behold.......... It's not down to them, its been hit by a stone and has to be a new claim. Possible but highly unlikely.

 

[grober]

Aviva!!

In case folks dont know NORWICH UNION INSURANCE which is associated with Asda, Ford and Mercedes insurance is partnered with RAC including the windscreen repair section as part of the AVIVA group.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Pietre - If it originates from behind the seal it would be unlikely to be due to a new stone chip. Maybe worth your friend getting a second opinion.


We had the windscreen replaced on our Omega a few years ago - can't remember which of the big names it was now - I wasn't happy with the quality though, and had to take it back to corrected. Still not happy and sold the car shortly after.

Had similar experience with repairing a chip too with ChipsAway - I had thought I was jinxed but it seems it's not uncommon to have problems like this these days.

 

[ShinyF1]

I'm bit behind the times here, but had an awful experience with Autoglas [Enfield] a few years ago.

I bought a new BMW 320d Touring, and some idiot smashed the rear flip up tailgate screen [cutting himself and leaving DNA evidence everywhere that still didn't convict him]. Anyway back on the point - Autoglas repaired it, and make a complete foul up of it, despite doing it in a workshop, not at the roadside.

Admittedly this was early in the 'old' model 3 series' life, with Autoglas having probably never worked on one before, but the screen would pop open in ordinary driving after that, and the built in rear spoiler then protruded into the airflow over the roof of the car making it noisy, and pushing it further out of alignment.

Complaints ensued for months several resulting in Autoglas paying for it to go to a BMW dealer in Wimbledon, who effected a £1000+ repair at Autoglas's expense. It seems in their highly skilled way, Autoglas managed to trash much more of the rear end/tailgate equipment than just the broken bit.

Lesson for me - do not touch Autoglas with a bargepole.

 

[Flash]

No offence but from personal observation all of the staff/fitters for the big chain windscreen outlets are uneducated yobs and do not have a brain between them and the staff are very rude!

Unless going to a Specialist then you are asking for trouble as it will be a "lottery" if you find a good fitter that does a first class job.

 

[Sp!ke]

No offence but from personal observation all of the staff/fitters for the big chain windscreen outlets are uneducated yobs and do not have a brain between them and the staff are very rude!

Unless going to a Specialist then you are asking for trouble as it will be a "lottery" if you find a good fitter that does a first class job.

Yes, I'll go along with that comment - I got the impression that this was the standard step up the ladder of carrier progression for kwik fit fitters... neither of which I can tolerate.

Maybe I'm getting old but I'm getting increasingly aware of peoples ability (or lack of) to speak. If they cant be bothered to attempt to speak properly then why would they be bothered about doing a good job on anything? Am I being a snob here or is I making sense like?

 

[KLP 92]

I agree with Flash as well. I had the W202 windscreen done by one of these small independant firms. Fitted it on site, took a great deal of pride in his work and also changed my drivers side window FOC without any extra paerwork.

I will never use RAC for windscreens again.

 

[PeterE320Cdi]

I had a crack in my Cavalier windscreen, the quote from Autoglass was £280 the price for a local indi to do it at the MOT garage £70 and it was a good job done first time too.

 

[C43AMG]

I agree with Flash as well. I had the W202 windscreen done by one of these small independant firms. Fitted it on site, took a great deal of pride in his work and also changed my drivers side window FOC without any extra paerwork.

I will never use RAC for windscreens again.

As i mentioned before the Independant i used did a great job, if they did'nt they would'nt get the work.

 

[Glenn Smith]

Its hard to say really, all depends on the fitter. I had my W202 screen changed by an unknown windscreen company at roadside and they did a perfect job.

My SEC windcreen was replaced at RAC at their dedicated service centre and i was really unhappy with their work. They had left excess sealant at the sides of the screen, looked like someone tried to do it themselves. As far as customer service goes its shocking! I waited 2 months for a windscreen and then when it arrived it wasn't original. 2 weeks later they finally got it right but then didn't fit it properly!

My c class also has an RAC screen fitted, and yes, it was a mess, far too much sealant squeezing out at the bottom and blocking the water drain channels, at the end of the day it's all down to the fitter an dthe MB dealer will almost certainly sub it out.

 

[Hoverman]

Best one I had

I had a lot of troubles with auto glass so I am quite passionate about the topic. Best windscreen job for a normal price that I had was from Car Glass replacement and repair for London » Andy Windscreens

They were a few times cheaper than auto glass...

 

[JohnC]

I had a small chip on my screen which would have been repairable - AA man came (on instructions from my insurance company) along and proceeded to repair in the full sun on what was one of the hottest days last summer - needless to say the chip became a crack and a new screen was needed - cost me £75 excess when it should have been free - I was not impressed!

BTW most dealers will call in a windscreen company to do the job - they will not tackle it themselves!

 

[evdok]

Did you know if you have a screen chip repaired & it cracks in the same place later on the screen gets replaced free!

Well it did on bros car couple of years back...

 

[Sky Bear]

Just had the screen in our W221 broken by a stone of a lorry. National windscreens are fitting a new OEM screen soon so will see how that works out for me. At the end of the day it's the individual fitter as opposed to the company as a whole I guess.