Taking the two plus hour drive down to Atlanta Mini last Friday for it's first service poor Jim got whacked by a big old rock right in the windshield, couldn't really pinpoint any vehicle to blame it on so blamed it on being Friday the 13th! Asked the service dept while I was there how much to replace, they said $1100! Told them I'd pass. Have $240 deductible on my Farmers, they say they have a place that does them. I called Safelite Glass today, they gave me a cash price of $285.90. Will probably just pay it out of pocket just to avoid the claim. Every time I've thought of making a claim with Farmer's they tell me up front how much my premium will go up! I haven't asked them yet about this affecting my premium, guess I should before I pay myself. Anybody had there insurance company pay for a windshield? Did it affect your premium?

 

You must remember that most insurance is nothing more than legalized theft supported by the state!

 

Nobody on this board can give you a definite answer to that question.

We don't know Farmer's rating system. 98% of the employees of Farmer's don't know their rating system. Those are closely guarded secrets, kind of like KFC protecting their chicken recipe.

Now, I can tell you, if Farmer's uses a rating system similar to the one we employ at State Farm, it's very unlikely this Comprehensive claim would increase your premiums. And if it does, the increase would be so nominal, you wouldn't likely notice it.

Comp claims can affect your premiums these days, given the modern and extremely complex rating systems used to determine your rates. But it typically takes several comp claims to do so, or one or two very large ones.

If it were me, I would file the comp claim. Of course, I keep my Comp dedectible lower than yours. In your exact shoes, knowing the insurance company would only be paying about $46 of the cost, I would not file the claim.

Hope that wasn't too confusing. Let me know if you have other questions.

 

Spoken like someone who is completely ignorant of the insurance business.

OR

Someone who has been terminated by an insurance company for having a poor driving record.

 

I remember reading somewhere that the aftermarket glass did not fit good compared to the factory glass. I had Safelite replace a windshield on another one of my cars. With my insurance I pay extra for a factory parts only clause. They installed a factory windshield in that car. I asked him about problems installing mini windshields. He mentioned that the aftermarket glass was a problem, especially if it has auto wipers.

 

hmmmm.... I'm surprised to read that.

Many here on NAM have had the PPG windshield installed and rave about it.

 

Not to doubt anybody, but I did have a bad experience with PPG glass. Others love it, I didn't.

In my case, the PPG R56 glass with rain sensor ran around $800 from a local shop. The glass was a totally different shape up top than the OEM glass. Sucked because it caused a noticeable gap and I could see the underside of my headliner through the windshield.

Might be isolated, but beware.

FWIW, OEM was $650 w/ rain sensor from Safelite on round two.

If you don't have a rain sensor, just pay cash for it. I do know that Farmers offers zero cost glass replacement coverage in many states. Might want to look into that for next time.

 

WARNING= IF YOU VALUE YOU CAR DO NOT USE SAFELITE GLASS!!
I worked for a glass company for seven years, Safelite is one of the worst. WE would tell everyone, if you don't care about your car, go to Safelite then.
They will use the cheapest windshield in your car, and if the windshield is required to be installed with a new gasket kit, they will re-use the old one to save money but charge you the same price. You know how you can tell a windshield was installed at Safelite? Look for the tons of blue tape around the windshield! A good windshield installer does not need to use TAPE to keep a moulding down!
Call your insurance and they should be able to recommend a "reputable" glass company.

BTW, your premium will only increase if you are a habitual claimer, not just for a damaged windshield.

 

[quote=saturn;2702183]Call your insurance and they should be able to recommend a "reputable" glass company.

quote]


Nationwide Insurance recommends and will warranty glass installed by Safelite. In fact they bill the insurance company directly.

 

Most glass companies bill insurance direct, that's no big deal. Call your local Mini Dealership and see if they use Safelite! If they do, then use them! Just because Nationwide insurance recommends them, still does not mean that they are a great windshield installation company! I'm sure plenty of people recommended Bernie Madoff as a person you could trust with your money! Let me give everyone here a little insight into the "workings" of a glass company. Most insurance companies set a price that the glass shop can charge for the windshield and installation. Meaning the cheaper the windshield that they put in your car, the more money the glass shop can make. Safelite tries to cut corners whenever they can so they get as much money in their pockets as possible. I've heard it first hand from Safelite employees, how they try and cut corners, and how cheap that their company is.
Sorry, I paid a premium price for my car, and I will get MY windshields installed by the glass shop that my dealership recommends! ( I don't get my hands dirty changing windshields anymore )

 

Spend a few minutes and call around to get competitive prices on your windshield. Most glass shops buy windshields from glass manufacturers. Amazingly, you could buy the same windshield from several different shops for different prices. I've been in the body business for nearly 30 years and have used many different companies. Out of all of them, I've never had a bad install. In todays competitive market, a shop won't stay in business long doing less than stellar work. We've used Safelite for a few years now (since they bought Diamond Glass) and haven't had a problem. Personally, I'd worry more about the installer than the quality of the glass.

 

I thought glass was replaced without any deductible? Maybe that varies state-to-state?

 

Some insurers, in some states, were waiving deductibles for glass chip repair. The idea was, it would save them money in the long run because they'd be paying for fewer windshield replacements.

Not many insurers are still doing this. They found out it didn't really reduce the number of windshild replacements.

 

I see. I updated my coverage when I got the MINI and I guess that is why my agent recommended a $0 comprehensive deductible. The cost was negligible -vs- a $200-500 deductible.

 

Maybe your agent recommended a $0 deductible because he works on commission.

Have them run multiple quotes, using a $0, $100, and $250 deductible. Then you can decide which is best for you, given your financial situation and your likelihood to file Comp claims (folks who live in not-so-good neighborhoods, for example, are more likely to have Comp claims).

For most people, the $100 deductible is going to make more sense.

 

Florida is a no deductable state for glass. Ive had 2 windshields replaced on previous cars with no problem.

 

Sounds like you need to get new insurance I have never seen an insurance company raise your rates from a comprehensive or glass claim. I would stay away from safelite too my father owns a glass company and he has to fix a lot of work safelite does. You need to go PPG or Plinkington if possible. Here are the cash prices from my fathers shop on 08 coopers. You can ever get the OEM BMW rain sensor windshield for $299

 

Thank YOU! I was beginning to look like the anti-Safelite warmonger here!
I'm glad you agree as well!

 

I can't attest to now but in the 80's I lived in Idaho. There they chip seal the roads every year. I had at least one broken windshield every year for the 3.5 years I lived there. I normally cay a $250 deductible but for windshield it was 0 and did not affect my rates. I was (and still am) with Allstate. Have not had a broken windshield since then so can't say what it would be now. And I also live in California now.

So what i am getting at is just call your insurance and inquire about windshield coverage. you don't need to say you need it done but you are just asking for future reference.

 

Your own insurance company probably does this now and you're just now aware of it.

A single comp claim ? Very unlikely. Several ? Very probable.

Why ? People who submit multiple comp claims are more likely to be involved in an at-fault accident than those who do not. Actuarial data proves it to be so.

Similar to people with bad credit information... financial irresponsibility has proven to be an indicator of future accidents.

But hey, don't think of it negatively. Those is us with good credit reports and few comp claims will end up with lower premiums than we used to.

Modern rating systems are very complex and are much better at determining risk than the old-fashioned methods.

And, oh, BTW... most States allow insurance companies to terminate policies due to excessive comp claims, too. In my jurisdictions, we can cancel for 4 or more comp claims in a three year period. We rarely do that, though. We give them the opportunity to increase their comp deductible before we cancel them.

 

I can't attest to the windshield replacement, haven't had to replace one since my corolla.

However... I live close to Idaho... and they do still chip seal the roads up here and we hate it. The freezing temps, along with the lack of a north south freeway system in the area mean that the roads up here take a lot of damage. We have a hotline that we're supposed to call when we find potholes, but only if we think they are more than 6" deep!

 

I dont know if this is true or not but I was told if you replace your windshield yoou have to replace your A-pillars too. I heard a story about one of them flying off because they were not replaced with the windshield. Anyone else heard this before?

 

I have always had my comprehensive at $0 deductible since it wasn't much more a year. I lower my collision deductible to $0 last year since it didn't make my rates go up any.

I have made comp and collision claims before and my rates have never gone up. I have USAA btw which I will never switch from since I hear all these horror stories from others.

 

It's a good idea to replace the A-pillar covers along with the windshield, because I don't think most glass installers have much luck with removing/replacing the covers with damaging the attachment clips. Almost every story I can think of where people have lost their pillar covers happened after having the windshield replaced.

 

What was your Collision Deductible before you lowered it ?

And if it didn't go up at all, you MUST have had offsets that caused that. I can assure you, no insurance company in the world will have the same rate for a $0 deductible as even a $50 deductible. So, whether you got a break for turning a certain age, you moved, or whatever, something else impacted your premium to offset the change in deductible.

And, even though your rates have never increased and you've filed claims, doesn't mean it won't next time. There are too many variables in determining rates to say with any sort of conviction that YOU are not subject to rate increases for filing claims.

So, if you want to tell me that USAA doesn't raise rates due to claims, I can tell you that you are sorely mistaken. I know... I was insured with them for 20 years during my years in the military.

I will agree that they are a good company though.