Autoglass damaged windscreen but MOT expiring

DB1904

AdrianC said:

DB1904 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

But the OP can drive on the existing MOT pass from last year even if it fails now, provided it is not unroadworthy, so roadworthiness is the whole point.

It's not as it's still an offence to drive with the broken screen if that what it fails on. 

No, it is not.

Not unless that screen is so badly damaged as to be unroadworthy. In which case, it was just as illegal on the way TO the test.

Nothing about that test fail changes ANYTHING about the legality of the screen, either way.

Reg 30 Con & Use suggests you're wrong. 

GrumpyDil

DB1904 said:

AdrianC said:

DB1904 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

But the OP can drive on the existing MOT pass from last year even if it fails now, provided it is not unroadworthy, so roadworthiness is the whole point.

It's not as it's still an offence to drive with the broken screen if that what it fails on. 

No, it is not.

Not unless that screen is so badly damaged as to be unroadworthy. In which case, it was just as illegal on the way TO the test.

Nothing about that test fail changes ANYTHING about the legality of the screen, either way.

Reg 30 Con & Use suggests you're wrong. 

Just read that. Which particular clause explicitly makes a crack automatically illegal. As far as I can tell it would only be illegal if it it obstructed the driver's vision. 

facade

DB1904 said:

Reg 30 Con & Use suggests you're wrong. 

It suggests that he (and the rest of us) is right surely?

All glass or other transparent material fitted to a motor vehicle shall be maintained in such condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven on a road.

It shouldn't fail anyway, unless the crack enlarges until it is right in the driver's eyeline, but if it is failed (just on the crack), not only can the OP carry on using the car with the remaining MOT (provided the crack stays out of the wiper area), but they could contest the fail, although simply getting a retest after the glass is replaced would be less trouble.

Grumpy_chap

facade said:

DB1904 said:

Reg 30 Con & Use suggests you're wrong. 

It suggests that he (and the rest of us) is right surely?

All glass or other transparent material fitted to a motor vehicle shall be maintained in such condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven on a road.

It shouldn't fail anyway, unless the crack enlarges until it is right in the driver's eyeline, but if it is failed (just on the crack), not only can the OP carry on using the car with the remaining MOT (provided the crack stays out of the wiper area), but they could contest the fail, although simply getting a retest after the glass is replaced would be less trouble.

Is it correct that the focus in consideration is simply whether the crack impacts the field of vision?

Is the windscreen in any way part of the structural integrity of the modern motor car?

facade

Grumpy_chap said:

Is it correct that the focus in consideration is simply whether the crack impacts the field of vision?

Is the windscreen in any way part of the structural integrity of the modern motor car?

For MOT purposes, the criteria are about vision.

The windscreen, when it is glued in, does increase the rigidity of the bodyshell, likely the reason that a crack usually enlarges is due to stresses passed to the glass when the bodyshell flexes.

However, if the windscreen was broken enough to remove all its strength, it would fail the vision requirements.

A crack from a stonechip is usually only in the outermost layer of the laminate anyway.

DB1904

facade said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Is it correct that the focus in consideration is simply whether the crack impacts the field of vision?

Is the windscreen in any way part of the structural integrity of the modern motor car?

For MOT purposes, the criteria are about vision.

The windscreen, when it is glued in, does increase the rigidity of the bodyshell, likely the reason that a crack usually enlarges is due to stresses passed to the glass when the bodyshell flexes.

However, if the windscreen was broken enough to remove all its strength, it would fail the vision requirements.

A crack from a stonechip is usually only in the outermost layer of the laminate anyway.

And if it fails an mot on vision is it not an offence under con and use regs?

AdrianC

DB1904 said:

AdrianC said:

DB1904 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

But the OP can drive on the existing MOT pass from last year even if it fails now, provided it is not unroadworthy, so roadworthiness is the whole point.

It's not as it's still an offence to drive with the broken screen if that what it fails on. 

No, it is not.

Not unless that screen is so badly damaged as to be unroadworthy. In which case, it was just as illegal on the way TO the test.

Nothing about that test fail changes ANYTHING about the legality of the screen, either way.

Reg 30 Con & Use suggests you're wrong. 

All glass or other transparent material fitted to a motor vehicle shall be maintained in such condition that it does not obscure the vision of the driver while the vehicle is being driven on a road.

If it falls outside the C&U regs, then it's unroadworthy.

But perhaps the crack is sufficient to fail the MOT, by being more than 40mm within the wiper swept area, but not in a position that obscures the driver's vision?

Yes, the MOT takes into account the driver's vision, but with one significant caveat.

Failure for damage is only justified if the damage significantly affects the driver’s view of the road. You do not need to consider the effects on tall or short drivers.

And, of course, we come back to the fact that the test result didn't change anything - if it was so damaged as to be unroadworthy on the way TO the test, it was no more or less illegal than it was on the way home.

hermante

AdrianC said:

But perhaps the crack is sufficient to fail the MOT, by being more than 40mm within the wiper swept area, but not in a position that obscures the driver's vision?

Yes, the MOT takes into account the driver's vision, but with one significant caveat.

Hi OP here.

Actually posting on behalf of a friend but used first person for ease - hence the slow update

After some further research we think the above quote is the situation.

The crack looks something like this, you can barely see it from the driver's seat as it's behind the rearview mirror. But it is in the wiper area by more than 40mm.

Meaning it would fail the MOT but is still roadworthy if I understand correctly?

However the problem remains that Autoglass is not communicating and once the current certificate expires the car can't be kept on the road. We have called Autoglass daily and they just say no appointments are available, their special team  is aware and will call back, but they have not called back even to say that they are looking or to discuss other options. They have been made aware of the imminent MOT expiry every call.

A formal complaint has been submitted to Autoglass, response pending.

The dealership who will conduct the MOT says their opinion is that Autoglass, as the approved agent of Aviva, has failed to conduct the work in a timely manner and with reasonable care and attention, therefore Aviva should approve a different agent to conduct the work (which could be the dealership).

But it is impossible to speak to Aviva on the phone and their live chat agent has no authority. The chat agent suggested booking with National Windscreens who is another approved agent, but the excess was paid directly to Autoglass and they had no response to that.

Herzlos

Take the car in to the MOT garage now to see if it'll fail the MOT.  If it'll pass, then job done.

If it won't, ask if you can bring the car to the garage on the MOT due date and leave it there until the glass has been fixed. It solves your road parking and driving to the station issues, because it doesn't need an MOT to sit in a garage car park.

Then with the car storage sorted, harass autoglass and aviva until you can get it fixed.

hermante

Right, but that would require someone to tow it to Autoglass then back to the MOT station (as mentioned in the OP it's 15 miles away because the car was bought with a service plan).

I guess one option is to store it at the Autoglass workshop until they fix it, but that requires their cooperation which is lacking right now, also the Autoglass workshop is not very secure as it's in an open air ANPR carpark and they would need to get the parking charges waived daily.