Advice on repairing windshield chip

Arksun

So today I discovered I have a very small chip in my windscreen.

Even though its only 2mm across at most I kinda feel like I should get it repaired.

My question is, should I claim on the insurance or not?
I'm with Admiral Comprehensive. It covered windscreen stuff, but with an excess of £25 for repair.

If it didn't push up premiums then ok but, if it did then I'd save more money just paying for the repair myself right?

What ya reckon?

AdrianC

Windscreen claims don't normally affect NCB or future premiums. Admiral, though? All bets are off...

2mm isn't MOT-fail (10mm directly in front of the driver, 40mm in the rest of the wiper swept area), but it may spread. Unlikely, from something that small, tbh.

InsideInsurance

My local windscreen place did repairs off insurance for £25 - and that was for multiple ones not per chip, unfortunately my car is prone to them.

Most insurers ignore glass claims unless you make a few of them and then they remove glass cover. Theres at least one who will stop you earning any NCD in a year of a glass claim but has no other impact.

Herzlos

I don't recall premiums getting pushed up when I got a screen replaced. I think they keep glass claims in a separate category to regular claims, and will reduce your cover if you claim too many times for glass.

Arksun

Does anyone think a chip of that tiny size would be safe to just ignore and not get repaired? It's fairly central.

Must admit I first discovered it because whilst driving along there seemed to be a much bigger blob. When I used the windscreen wipers they didn't shift it, initially making me think it was a large chip. But when I parked up and ran my finger over it it was just very sticky clearly fluid.

Once I got home and cleaned it off with a soapy sponge, thats when I noticed the smaller chip. I'm almost wondering if that sticky residue was something that oozed out of it?

notanewuser

Admiral don't reduce NCB for glass claims.

http://www.admiral.com/car-insurance/advice/how-the-no-claims-bonus-works.php

EdGasket

Get a chip repair kit from Amazon or eBay then all you need is a sunny day to make the resin go off (sets with UV). Cheaper than £25 and you can repair lots of chips with it.

NOTE: If you have a chip be careful when washing the screen. Hot day + cold water on a chip = crack!

Iceweasel

As far as I can make out Admiral are pretty cr*p - they seem to have a very greedy way of going about lots of things.

Was this £25 charge for repairs mentioned in the Ts & Cs of your policy - or did you only find out about it when you phoned their windscreen helpline?

My current windscreen (my car is prone to getting chips) has 3 or 4 repairs and none of them cost me anything at all - that's with Allianz and previously with Aviva.

I think that most companies do not charge at all - figuring that a chip repair is cheaper for them than a replacement screen.

redux

Even if there's no charge or change of no claims bonus the following year, there may be a loading applied on some policies.

By doing sample quotes with an without an incident mentioned, I discovered about £14 difference per year, for 3 years.

I complained, saying the no change in bonus remark had misled me, and I'd have been better off just spending £10 or £15 myself, and they did a goodwill discount of the legal fees cost for that year.

Rambosmum

find out where there's an autoglass stand near you - £10 to stick some resin in the chip, or free depending on the insurer, I'm with admiral but don't know if that's covered as I was with Churchill at the time, who isn't - some companies sign up to it as it's cheaper than a whole windscreen replacement.