If Roads Were to Blame for Damage to Cars...
Discussion
We've all seen the ads... "driving your car with a chipped windscreen could end up costing you money if the car hits a bump..." These ads are on the telly, the radio and all over t'internet.
In my experience, all 17 years of it, I have never, ever heard anyone blame a pot hole as the cause of their stonechip developing into a crack. I was discussing this with a group of guys who are also in the business. Between us, we have over 150 years experience. Not one of us had ever heard of pot holes or bumps being mentioned as causes of damage. But this is not to say that it can't happen.
But what if pot holes didn't cause stonechips to crack "and cost you an expensive insurance excess..." blah blah blah?
What if... the problem was the pot holes and not the car driving over them? No bump = no crack.
If my memory serves me well, as far as I know, if you end up with a damaged wheel from a pot hole or raised part of the road, you can take the issue up with the local council and they usually pay up after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. Why should windscreens be exempt from this?
The problem being highlighted is that stonechips can develop into cracks. There are a number of causes which can make this happen - even the repair process itself! But, the adverts are showing an unlikely cause. If we are to follow the advice from the people behind the adverts, the primary cause would be the pot hole and not the stonechip. The crack would come as a consequence of hitting a pot hole which shouldn't be there in the first place. Of course, neither should the stonechip but when the Mr Car meets Mr Pot Hole, there's more chance of wheel / rim damage than the screen cracking.
Clever marketing, or a cunning stunt?
In my experience, all 17 years of it, I have never, ever heard anyone blame a pot hole as the cause of their stonechip developing into a crack. I was discussing this with a group of guys who are also in the business. Between us, we have over 150 years experience. Not one of us had ever heard of pot holes or bumps being mentioned as causes of damage. But this is not to say that it can't happen.
But what if pot holes didn't cause stonechips to crack "and cost you an expensive insurance excess..." blah blah blah?
What if... the problem was the pot holes and not the car driving over them? No bump = no crack.
If my memory serves me well, as far as I know, if you end up with a damaged wheel from a pot hole or raised part of the road, you can take the issue up with the local council and they usually pay up after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. Why should windscreens be exempt from this?
The problem being highlighted is that stonechips can develop into cracks. There are a number of causes which can make this happen - even the repair process itself! But, the adverts are showing an unlikely cause. If we are to follow the advice from the people behind the adverts, the primary cause would be the pot hole and not the stonechip. The crack would come as a consequence of hitting a pot hole which shouldn't be there in the first place. Of course, neither should the stonechip but when the Mr Car meets Mr Pot Hole, there's more chance of wheel / rim damage than the screen cracking.
Clever marketing, or a cunning stunt?
Just marketing doing what marketing does - raising the fear level of a scenario beyond realistic expectation, then offering a service to "protect" the potential customer from the consequences.
It relies on highlighting a danger or expense that plays out in the viewer's mind as being plausible and maybe even possible, even if the reality is that it's incredibly unlikely.
It relies on highlighting a danger or expense that plays out in the viewer's mind as being plausible and maybe even possible, even if the reality is that it's incredibly unlikely.
Glassman said:
...
If my memory serves me well, as far as I know, if you end up with a damaged wheel from a pot hole or raised part of the road, you can take the issue up with the local council and they usually pay up after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. Why should windscreens be exempt from this?...
To compair the windscreen issue with the wheel issue you would have to assume the wheel had some form of defect or hairline crack in it.If my memory serves me well, as far as I know, if you end up with a damaged wheel from a pot hole or raised part of the road, you can take the issue up with the local council and they usually pay up after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. Why should windscreens be exempt from this?...
In which case, I'm sure you wouldn't be able to claim for the damage as the wheel wasn't fully maintained and servicable in the first place.
I'm sure you could claim for the windscreen if it cracked and it had no defects (chips) in it previously.
I have had a windscreen crack after hitting a pothole: it was about 12 years back, the car was a V6 Vectra which was almost new & had no pre-existing chip. We were in southern Ireland, the hole was basically a badly filled trench across the road, so no way around it, & we hit at a reasonable speed: the crack propogated from bottom to top within seconds! The wheels & tyres were fine, fortunately, & the screen lasted until we got back.
As for the ad campaign, it's praying on fear: my wife's Alfa 156 had a small chip for ages, certainly enough to notice but within MOT tolerances. The week before last she took two direct shrapnel hits when the car in fronts engine detonated & the debris cracked the screen in two places, one incorporating the original chip. It held fine all the way home, the innder glass completely unscathed.
My experience, then: a screen can crack without a chip, & just as easily hold with one. Advert busted
As for the ad campaign, it's praying on fear: my wife's Alfa 156 had a small chip for ages, certainly enough to notice but within MOT tolerances. The week before last she took two direct shrapnel hits when the car in fronts engine detonated & the debris cracked the screen in two places, one incorporating the original chip. It held fine all the way home, the innder glass completely unscathed.
My experience, then: a screen can crack without a chip, & just as easily hold with one. Advert busted
A few years ago I got a small stone chip in the windscreen driving south on the A9, I stopped overnight at the Strathclyde Park Holiday Inn and the next morning my windscreen was cracked right across. It happened while the car sat outside the hotel most likely due to the freezing weather we had that night, so it dosn't need a pot hole to happen
Alicatt1 said:
A few years ago I got a small stone chip in the windscreen driving south on the A9, I stopped overnight at the Strathclyde Park Holiday Inn and the next morning my windscreen was cracked right across. It happened while the car sat outside the hotel most likely due to the freezing weather we had that night, so it dosn't need a pot hole to happen
you sure it was not a local Autoglass man touting for business......
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