Car Damaged during glass change under insurance

kitchpoo

Just after some confirmation -

My Sis In Law's Corsa's rear window broke the other day (we think it may have been a hail storm!) and contacted the insurance company who booked it in for the renewal with the excess for glass paid by her - £60.

The fitter of the new window broke the integral rear windscreen wiper, which comes through the glass itself, leaving it inoperative with a stubby piece of metal poking through. According to the fitter "it is quite common for this to happen"!!

Now - I'm sure it should be down to the installer to have either advised PRIOR to starting that this might be the case that it would snap - and that now it is up to the insurance company to rectify the situation - at no further cost or excess or effecting her NCB.

Where do you think she will stand with this?

goldspanners

what is it that has broken? is it just the wiper arm or the shaft on the end of the wiper motor?
if the insurance company do repair it for you i doubt it will be without a fight.
usually a wiper arm will be cheap to buy and easy to fit,so probably best save any hassle and do it your self if its the arm.
the motor will be a bit more expensive so try and get a second hand unit from a scrap yard or breakers if its the motor.

would you have prefered the instaler to say "if i fit a new window i might break the wiper arm/motor shaft so i wont replace the window?

anewman

The window fitter is liable. They will have indemnity insurance for just this type of occurrence and should be legally obliged to put the damage they caused right - either by financial means or organising the repair themselves.

kitchpoo

goldspanners wrote: »

what is it that has broken? is it just the wiper arm or the shaft on the end of the wiper motor?

The spindle comes out of the glass to where the wiper arm fits but is sheared before the splines for the arm, so it cannot be re-attached - I've a plethora of wiper arms in the garage (thanks to Poundland!!) and its not a case of just being the arm.

kitchpoo

anewman wrote: »

The window fitter is liable. They will have indemnity insurance for just this type of occurrence and should be legally obliged to put the damage they caused right - either by financial means or organising the repair themselves.

Cheers - thats what I thought - It's the problem that my sis-in-law's 'contract' is with the insurance company - I wonder how she is going to explain this to someone in India!

vaio

Either it’s an acceptable consequence of the window repair in which case it should be part of the repair and the window company should fix it and bill the ins company.

Or it was a clumsy fitter in which case the window company should fix it and swallow the cost.

anewman

You would expect the window fitter to be reasonably skilled enough to replace the window without causing any damage. I am sure Vauxhall did not design the window such that the only method of replacing it is to destroy the wiper.

goldspanners

kitchpoo wrote: »

The spindle comes out of the glass to where the wiper arm fits but is sheared before the splines for the arm, so it cannot be re-attached - I've a plethora of wiper arms in the garage (thanks to Poundland!!) and its not a case of just being the arm.

the wiper arm is different from the wiper blade,i doubt poundland sell wiper arms for vauxhall corsas.
as you have said her dealings are with the insurance company and it may be a lot of hassle to deal with it.
if she can get a cheap wiper motor from a breakers this might be the easiest and quickest soloution.