I need a windscreen

Try a main dealer. Last time I needed a new windscreen, the local Ford dealer was half the price of Autoglass, although getting my insurer to pay out less to Ford than to Autoglass took a bit of work.

Since then, I've advised several people to try the main dealer and always heard they got a cheaper deal.

Brian

Wow really? Autoglass quoted me 100 quid - cant see my dealer being cheaper than that but I'll try!

I was quote about £90 by Autoglass, tinted and heated screen (this was a Escort in 1983).

Ford dealer was £45 for same all in.

OK, a few years have passed but it is the ratio I'd look at.

Brian

Look it's a BMW so =A3400 from the dealer, not fitted! I think autoglass quoted =A3650

If the insurance company is paying, why does the price matter?

Before I had comp insurance (early eighties) I had a screen fitted to a Toyota. The main dealer wouldn't do it, instead they sent me to the windscreen depot across the road. It cost about £200 back then!

Our Previa needs a new screen (small crack in the corner). I shudder to think how much one of those will be - it's going straight to Autoglass.

I'll happily fit windscreens in most of my classics - I've done it to four Minis in the last few years - and I live near enough to Pugh's windscreen factory to fetch one, but fitting a modern bonded screen is another matter entirely.

Last year I needed a new screen for a 1990 BMW 735 - only had 3rdpft ins. and had quotes of 500-650£. Car was worthless (though 100% reliable) and needed two (metric) tyres for the back - which I was told only Avon and Michellin made - ATS quotes £225 each.....

When MOT ran out the car was sold to two muppets who gave me 350£ for it.

Lovely car - just dear for bits - just thankful it didnt need many!!

Brian Reay wrote:

Look it's a BMW so £400 from the dealer, not fitted! I think autoglass quoted £650

Modern bonded screens are easier in many ways to fit, not so easy to remove. It's "simply" a case of applying the glue around the screen and sticking it on.

Is that Charles Pugh's? .. in Kentish Town?

I guess 350's not bad for "a lovely car", when one can change the wheels for next to nothing and get a screen for just over a hundred. Old beemers never die! ...ok some of them do.

In the end, you end up paying.

Brian

Pugh's yes, but in Pinxton, Notts.

But you don't end up saving by helping your insurers save. I know you should, but you don't. There's no wonder insurance is so expensive. I'm going through a household claim right now following a fire. When I first called the company they said "No, we don't need to send anyone out, just list everything and take lots of pictures". Which of course we did... then they coughed and said "Oh, it's over £10k - we need to send an assessor". Now they're replacing new for old and it will end up costing them a lot more than paying out a cheque for my valuation of the damage (eg - 4 compact cameras which my wife valued at £102 total - we now have Jessops' vouchers to the value of over £500 - and the 80's Pioneer hi-fi separates system is about to be replaced by a new £500 Technics kit).

No, at the end of the day, you pay your premium, and most of the time you don't claim. When you do, the insurers will deal with it in their own way, which would not be the way you'd do it yourself, and it's their business to budget it all. Let them get on with it.

It's true that most insurance companies can't see past their "authorised repairer" who is usually screwing them over anyway.

Back in '93 somebody shunted the back of my wife's then-new Citroen. We argued that, as it was under warranty, we would prefer to have it repaired by the Citroen dealer. Despite the fact that the Citroen dealer and their authorised repairer were in fact the same company, though with garages on the opposite side of town, by the time they agreed the warranty had expired...

Sometimes it's not worth the hassle.

Many years ago, when I had a screen repalced under insurance, I actually phoned around and got different prices depending on whether it was an insurance job or not. So I got the non-insurance job, then wrote to the insurance company and explained that, and they sent me a cheque for the full amount. This was some 20 years ago though.

The screen that needs replacing now isn't insured and was cracked when I bought the car anyway. The diy-er in me has just decided s*d it I'll replace it myself.