Your windshield is one of your car’s most important pieces of safety equipment. Cracks in it can reduce your visibility or leave you vulnerable to injury if another object strikes your weakened windshield. While you may still be tempted to delay a repair for financial reasons, in many cases, getting your windshield fixed may cost you nothing at all. Keep reading to learn how your insurance will handle the situation.
What Causes Glass Damage?
The main cause of glass breakage is being hit by a rock or road debris. This might be something that falls off of a truck you’re traveling behind, or something kicked up off of the road by another vehicle.
Sometimes, cracks can also form from much smaller chips that you may not have even noticed at the time your vehicle was struck. The stress of the wind at high speeds as well as temperature changes causes them to expand over time.
What Does it Take to Repair Glass Damage?
There are only two ways to repair glass damage. Small chips can be cleaned out and filled with resin. Because of the size, there is little to no impact on your visibility, and the filling keeps the chip from expanding. For anything larger, the only option is a complete windshield replacement, because the weakened glass is a safety hazard.
The cost for a windshield replacement can be as high as $1,500 or more. This is because a windshield isn’t just a piece of glass in modern cars. It often contains sensors, antennas, and other technology. Also, modern windshields are specially designed for aerodynamics and are often custom to each model of car.
How Does Your Car Insurance Cover Glass Damage?
Glass damage usually falls under your comprehensive coverage. You would be responsible for paying your comprehensive coverage deductible unless you have full glass coverage. Full glass coverage is special coverage that reduces or eliminates your deductible for glass repairs.
The reason insurance companies offer full glass coverage is because they want you to get your windshield repaired to help avoid a more serious incident. Most companies won’t increase your premiums after a glass claim as they do with other claims.
If you don’t have comprehensive or glass coverage or don’t want to be out of your deductible, it may be possible to file a liability claim on the at-fault party’s insurance policy. This would generally apply for objects falling off of a vehicle rather than road debris being kicked up by someone else’s tires. Even if a truck has a “not responsible for damage sign,” these types of signs typically have little to no legal weight as drivers are responsible for securing their loads. Of course, you would need proof, such as dashcam video or an immediate police report, of how the damage happened.
Talk to Your Insurance Agent
Glass damage is common, and many drivers will need to replace at least one windshield during their lifetime. To find out if you have full glass coverage or how to get it, talk to Wolfgram Insurance.
