I had a small stonechip below the drivers wiper blade last September, a week before the MOT, sods law. My insurer, Admiral, authorised a repair as its diameter was less than a 5p piece, it was only going to be £25 and done within an hour, so I was quite happy with that. I was directed to the Autoglass portal, who asked me to take photos with my iPhone and upload them, duly done, and confirmed by return that a repair would take place the day before my MOT. Happy Days, I thought.

Wrong.

Fitter/Repairer turned up having made me wait in all afternoon just before 6pm, clearly didn't want to be there as it was obvious that it was the end of his shift. "Can't repair that" was his immediate opening line. When pressed as to why when they had viewed several photographs that I had uploaded nearly a week beforehand, he replied "it's below the wiper blade and it's our company policy not to repair them in that instance, just replace" with that, he got back in his van and drove off.

Incensed, I rang both Autoglass (who couldn't/wouldn't do anything) and Admiral, who said that if the repairer deemed it unrepairable, then they would have to replace it with a Pilkington OEM screen, and I would have to pay them a £95 excess.

I'll spare you the rest of the very heated discussion, but it went along the lines of OEM parts only otherwise my (non-existent) extended warranty could be invalidated....blah blah blah....and up the chain the discussion went until it was obvious that I wasn't backing down on this one. In the meantime, it went through the MOT in any event as it wasn't in Band A area, and the Tester was as bemused as I was as to why it couldn't be repaired - it was a good 10cm from the base of the screen, but this just added fuel to the fire, and I persisted with my insurer, who were by now arguing that as the vehicle was 6 years old, they didn't have to use genuine parts. I argued back that this wasn't some cheap eurobox, it was a premium vehicle and that I wouldn't entertain any 3rd party parts being fitted to it.

Long story short, Autoglass were instructed by Admiral to fit a genuine Land Rover screen, charge the excess of £95 (which I was quite happy with) only for a fortnight later, Autoglass ringing me directly apologising for the lack of repair and fitters attitude in the first instance, and offering me £75 refund on my original excess, thus getting me a brand new LR screen for £20. Cheaper than the repair would have been in the first place!

Moral of the story - argue your case, and be persistent to the point of being a PITA. Eventually, they will grant your wish if only to get you off the caseload and close the complaint down.

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Isn't it a bit odd that anything but a genuine LR windscreen will ever be fitted? After all windscreens will only fit one vehicle and I can't believe that there is a sufficient aftermarket in broken windscreens (for any vehicle) for some other supplier to gear up to make them.