Tiny Stone Chips in Windscreen

nheather

Hi,

After your advice/opinions about tiny stone chips in the windscreen.

Just had a small stone hit my windscreen and it's left a tiny mark in the screen, maybe 0.5mm at most.  There is a little depth to the chip.

What the general advice with something like that, just ignore it or get it repaired.

In the past umpteen years I've had company cars and accumulated lots of chips like this and must admit I just left them, partly because it wasn't my car so I didn't care so much.  I figured that if it cracked then the company insurance would sort it out, but they never did - loads of chips over about 15 years but never a replaced windscreen.

But this is my car so I want to do what is best.  Not sure what constitutes a chip worth fixing - is this too small to bother with?

There is a complication though - as I have had company cars in the past, this first year of driving privately is not on true no-claims.  What they do is to accept the years without accident and give you the equivalent no claims discount (9 years in my case) and then if I don't have a claim within the first year then it gets converted to true no claims.  So you can imagine I don't want to mention this to the insurance company even though windscreen repairs are free as I don't want to give them any excuse.

Cheers,

Nigel

gg13533

A windscreen repair should cost you nothing or maybe £10 and should not impact your no claims

nheather

I don't have no claims in the true sense though.  I came to the insurer with a letter of 9 years driving with claims from the company fleet insurer.  This is different from a notice of no claims but what many insurers will do is honour it giving you the equivalent discount.  But that is where the similarity ends, you can't protect it and should you have a claim in the first year then you lose it all. So I'm not sure what impact having a free repair would do - clearly it wouldn't cost me anything directly and although it says it wouldn't impact my no claims, I don't have any as such.

Noticed Halfords charge £25 for a repair, do they do the same as the windscreen repair companies (curing by heat or UV), or are they just using one of the DIY kits that I could do myself.

Cheers,

Nigel

nheather

Because I don't have no-claims discount in the true sense of the word I don't want to give the insurer (Aviva) any opportunity especially over something that is most likely trivial.

From experience I have found it wise not to give insurers any more information than they really need.  For example about 4 years ago another driver edging forward whilst I was stopped at red light and gently impacted me.  There didn't seem to be any damage to either car but we exchanged details anyway and I took my car to the dealer to make sure that the foam behind the bumper was still okay - it was, no damage at all.  

All good, but in the meantime, I thought I was doing the right thing and I contacted my insurer to say "not making a claim because it appears that there was no damage but just to let you know this is what happened and what I'm going to do".  After I had it checked out I got back to them to confirm that it had all been checked out and there was no damage at all, nothing more to do so I wouldn't be making a claim.

Roll on 4 years, and I ask for letter of driving without accident and

"yes sir, we can do that you have 4 years"
"no it must be nearer 10 years"
"no you had an accident 4 years ago"
Dawns on me
"no, I was stationary, someone drove slowly into me, there was no damage, neither party made a claim"
"but it was still an accident"
"but not at all my fault, I was stationary and no claims were made"

Eventually, I convinced them to write me a letter for 9 years, but lesson learnt, don't ever think you are helping yourself by volunteering information to insurers just to keep them informed.

So in this case, I don't even want to ask them the question.

Cheers,

Nigel

Bl4ckGryph0n

I’ve had four repairs this winter gone alone. Don’t even have to call my insurance company for it. It doesn’t count as a claim. In fact the contrary you’ll be avoiding making a claim for a full windscreen. But even that doesn’t count as a claim.

IronGiant

Check your policy.  It will tell you what you need to know.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Facts over opinions. Spoil sport

IronGiant

Nigel needs to know what his policy covers. It matters not one jot that my policy covers me for free chip repairs to the windscreen, or a complete windscreen change for £100 without affecting my no claims if his policy is different.

nheather

Hi,

There is no doubt that my policy says that I can have free windscreen repairs without impacting my no claims.  The complication is this is just a standard policy, not specific to my situation.  I don't have 'no claims' in the true sense of the word so there isn't really anything to protect.

What worries me is that is just a standard policy it has been specially tailored to my unusual situation.

As I have said my premium is charged as if I have 9 years no claims policy but in the eyes of the insurers I don't have any no claims policy at all.  What they are doing (and this is common with insurers) is to take a letter from the fleet insurer as proof that I haven't had any accidents for the last 9 years and priced my premium based on that.

But I have to be with them for a whole year without claim for that to be converted into true no claims.  So at the end of the year if I have not made any claims I get a certificate of 10 years no claims, but if I make a claim then I have zero no claims.  That is with Aviva.

Direct Line do it similarly but differently.  If at the end of the year I make no claims then I get a certificate for 5 years no claims, but if I make a claim then I have zero no claims.

But if you look at any of the policies or on their websites you won't see the special arrangements for when you have transferred across from a fleet insurance scheme described anywhere.

When I was looking for policies in the first place there was nothing that I could read myself to find out how it would work.  I had to telephone and then go through several people before I found one that understood how this uncommon scenario works.

Cheers,

Nigel

nheather

Correct you don't have to notify your insurer - but the repairer does, because in the case of Autoglass they claim £140 from the insurer against your policy for each repair.

Cheers,

Nigel