Here's the story. I recently had a rock hit my windshield and it left a nice chip with a star. I went to Safelite and had the chip filled, but it appears that the cracks may be growing and I feel that once the worst of winter comes, it will give way. With that being said, I am preparing myself for the worst case scenario, full replacement. I am not particularly interested in going with OEM glass since my car is a 2013 with about 25k miles and the windshield obviously did not last the test of time very well. I am "locked" into Safelite since they will reimburse me the amount I paid for the chip fill. My insurance and/or state does not cover and replacement or chip repair for glass.

Safelite told me that they cannot guaruntee what glass they will use to replace my windshield. I am fine with PGW or Pilkington, but I definitely do not want their Safelite branded glass. This is where you guys come in. I have searched around and several people have had their windshield replaced by Safelite and I am wondering what brand they used, and hopefully you can provide me a some pictures to show what the final result looks like. This should help me gauge what I am likely to receive from them.

Some points I am particularly interested in are:

What brand glass did they use?

How does the top of the windshield tint look?

What does the top gasket look like?

Any bad experience? leaks? damage to trim?

PICTURES PLEASE!!!

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

Pretty please?

 

You sure your insurance doesn't cover windshield replacement? Most policies do, even the basic ones.

 

I'll add a pretty please as well.

I've got a crap-load of pits on my windshield from road debris. It's only a problem when the sun is at certain angles, and even then, it's tolerable. It's not going to cause an accident (from what I can tell) but it is very annoying.

I've been doing some windshield research, and I've decided that WHO installs it is more important than WHAT they install.

Scroll down a bit to the post by the windshield technician:

http://www.6mt.net/forum/g35-coupe/2...placement.html

 

I'm sure. I have State Farm comprehensive insurance and they will do it, but I will have to pay my deductible ($500), which isn't worth it to me. I even verified this over the phone with my agent to be sure.

 

I agree with that in terms of fit and finish. I am also worried about glass distortion and aesthetics. I would like the replacement to retain the factory tint strip at the top and have undistorted visibility. This can vary from brand to brand.

Some pictures of the different brands of windshields would really help though!

 

I can't help since I have been lucky with my glass, but it seems a bit unrealistic to say your windshield did not endure when it got hit by a rock...

 

I wouldn't agree with that. My previous car was a 2002 model with over 100k miles and never had a rock cause damage like this even with similar impacts. With 10+ years of glass technology and engineering I would expect better. Good luck with your glass, although I feel it's as soft as our paint. Not like this comment really added anything to my question anyways...

 

I have State Farm too ... the windshield replacement has it's own deductible, I believe it's $50 bucks. The windshield replacement part of the policy is it's own entity, doesn't fall under the normal deductible. Sounds like you didn't get this ...

 

When speaking with my agent, they said there were no such additional policies I can add. This all varies a lot state by state.

At this point, forget about insurance altogether. I am really looking for guidance on the questions I posed in the original post, I am 100% aware of my insurance situation.

 

Regarding my post about the quality of the install, is Safelite your best option? Was the chip fix costly enough to "lock" you in? Something to think about.

Also, what if you found a better deal elsewhere? Can Safelite access any windshield? If so, give them the homework and offer suggestions to all the brands they can get you. Then research those brands.

 

there is winshield glass coverage you can purchase on your insurance from inception date, with that said it has a 100 deduct which works fairly well in cases like yours

Sources: I am an insurance sales manager.

 

I got safelite coming this sat (12/20/14). I had a small rock hit my windshield in the corner and the crack is running like crazy. It was 2" and now it's probably 16". Almost gets in my field of view. I'll try to update this with how it goes. Covered by insurance without deductable in Florida.

 

i got my replaced by safelite. They replaced it with pilkington

 

Good. You are the OP's first data point. Can you take some pictures for him?