Important facts about windscreens
Windscreens
Important facts about windscreens
- Windscreens are the unsung heroes of your car providing 24 hr protection from the wind, rain and flying objects. More importantly they play a vital safety role should you be unfortunate enough to have an accident.
- They provide 60% of your protection from roof crash in the event of a rollover accident. It also offers crucial support to your passenger-side airbag during a front end collision.
- Windscreens are designed to stay fixed in place during a collision or rollover keeping you safely inside the car when you might otherwise be ejected onto the open road,
- Small chips can easily become large cracks in cold weather because of drastic differences in outdoor and indoor temperatures.
Top 10 Tips for looking after your windscreen
- Get your chips repaired – no matter how minor they seem. They can easily turn into a crack.
- Always use an ice scraper and de-icer. Never use a credit card or fish slice or other random tool as they will scratch the glass
- Do not pour boiling water on the windscreen as the heat can cause a frozen windscreen to crack
- Do make sure your screen wash and antifreeze are topped up regularly.
- Keep it clean. A dirty windscreen makes it harder to see where you’re going, blurs vision at night and contributes to dazzling when the sun is low.
- Watch your wipers – worn or damaged wipers make it hard to see where you’re going and can damage your windscreen PLUS you can be fined up to £1,000 if they’re not working properly.
- If you find a chip, simply cover it with sticky tape to protect from dirt and grime. Then find a specialist and have it repaired with clear plastic resin that’s injected under the surface and buffed flat. This will leave the area fully sealed and save you from having to replace the whole windscreen.
- If you have to have a replacement windscreen make sure your supplier does a factory recommended full cut out. This will make the whole unit as strong as it was the day it left the factory.
- Make sure the supplier uses OEM glass – it’s the only glass that fully complies with all safety standards.
- Make sure that you get a guarantee.
Horizon Private Car Windscreen Cover
With Allianz Insurance Horizon Private Car
All repairs to windscreens are FREE of excess charges provided you use AUTOGLASS – our approved repairer.
All replacements of windscreens will incur an excess charge of £60 if it is replaced by AUTOGLASS.
Repairs and or replacement windscreens by any provider other than Autoglass will trigger an excess charge of £100.
So if you have a Horizon Private Car policy and you have a problem with your windscreen – make sure that you use Autoglass to avoid any unnecessary bills.