WARNING- Windshield Repair
 

I just returned from a long road trip where a trucker kicked up a rock that left a small nick in my windshield. Today I went into a local shop to get a State Inspection Sticker, when a guy came out and said he could repair the damaged windshield, I agreed and he proceeded to drill and fill the chip. BIG MISTAKE, evidentally the BMW windshield has multiple layers (NOTE: I have HUD) and likely has a special layer to control reflections for the HUD. Here is the result...its about 20X larger than the original "nick"...looks like crap. I obviously complained to the repair guy, the shop manager and finally to the owner of the Glass Repair company, who I discovered works independantly of the shop.

The owner refused to do anything about the problem, other that offering to file a claim with my insurance company. He had the nerve to say, "it doesnt look that bad"...I am going to Small Claims Court and file a claim against the glass company monday.
I'm going to the dealer monday also to order a new windshield.

So be warned, do not let the glass guys fill a crack in the X5 windshield.

ouch man, I'm sorry. Hope it gets replaced quickly and painlessly. How long does windshield take to get replaced? About 5 hrs? So they'll probably give you a loaner. Good Luck

That sucks! You might want to give a call to the BBB as well.

Man that is huge. Good luck and us know how it turns out.

Thanks, I will.

Man, that is gruesome, and simply unacceptable.

I'd be very pissed.

Neither you nor your insurance company should pay for that. In the event your insurance carrier does pay for a new windshield, I'm confident they'll seek subrogation from all responsible parties, and be reimbursed, accordingly.

Good luck getting your windshield replaced, and that issue resolved, quickly.

:goodluck:

please let us know how it goes with the small claims. thanks.

I am beyond pissed.

I am also going to file a complaint with my states Insurance Commission and the Dept of Motor Vehicles. The glass shop owner told me that he would assist me in making a claim against my insurance. I asked him why my insurance should pay for his neglect...he just stared at me.

What is also interesting is the glass guy is an independent company that pays the shop to prey on people coming in for motor vehicle inspections. I thought the guy worked for the inspection company...he told me "you have a chip in the drivers view that needs to be fixed" implying that I needed to fix it to get my Inspection complete. Im sure my dept of motor vehicles will have an issue with this and will likely fine the shop.

This guy is not prepared for what is coming!

I am sorry for your cracked windshield.I dont know the American law but in Greece if you have insured your car for that kind of damage the insurance company will cover the cost that BMW workshop has issued.In my opinion you should have taken your car to BMW workshop to repair the damage or better yet change the windshield since you have HUD.
Small claims court will oblige the windshield company to return to you the money or oblige the insurance company to cover the cost for the correct windshield by BMW workshop?

Sorry to hear about that....but I remember reading an article about how expensive the windshields are for the BMW's with HUD.

As you already found out, for HUD to work, BMW had to make a special windshield which probably costs 3 times as much as the non-HUD BMW windshield. Plus, almost all BMWs have infra-red sensor for the automatic headlights/windshield wipers up where the rear-view mirror sits.

I am sure there are no aftermarket HUD windshield.

Good luck.

Making claim to your insurance company might raise the premium so there is no reason to do it when it's not your fault. In addition, some insurance companies don't cover glass unless you get it separately, which usually doesn't worth it.

As far as original post goes, they certainly tried to swindle you. I've had a crack one of my car windshields. Pissed the sh.. out of me but passed inspections twice with no problems.

Unfortunately, I don't know if you have much of a case here. They might've implied that but didn't actually say it. And even if they didn, it's your word against theirs. Also, vendors doing bad job is nothing new - they're not usually found responsible. Of course, I'd definitely try small claims court - what do you have to loose. The shop is likely to have insurance of their own - court might make them pay.

Since when? If you brought your car into a shop and the vendor damaged what he was repairing, you wouldnt expect him to repair or replace his damage? I do, and I am confident a judge will as well.

I guess I am going to find out. But I will not make a claim against my insurance company for his negligence.

It's not necessarily considered them damaging it. If, let's say, while fixing it, they'd put another crack, then, yes, they'd have to fix it. But in this case their job was to stop the crack from spreading. And they can argue that they did. Yeah, it looks worse than before but they've never implied it's going to look like new. Similarly, if you hire a painter and he does a bad job, you cannot do that much about it. Vendors have a lot of protection. To make matters worse, even if you win small claims court case, there is no feasible way to make them actually pay unless you get a hold of their bank account number. If you'd pay with a check for instance. So try your best of course, but it's not clear cut by far.

Well in Louisiana if you win a judgement, and they do not pay, you can bring them back to court and they must disclose all their possessions and bank account numbers. Then you can seize assests or garnish wages....this is assuming they have any. Usually it never gets that far as nobody wants to come into court and disclose their assests.

But this is a buisness man with a dozen locations. Honestly this is not about the money, this is about his attitude in treating me fairly.

I can easily afford to replace the windshield, and if the man would have treated me with a little respect I wouldnt be here. And if you saw my X in person I'm sure you would feel as I do. I feel strongly that a judge will see my point of view, and hopefully this guy will think twice next time and it will prevent him from ripping off someone who cant afford to replace their windshield.

Man, I absolutely feel for you and you are correct 100% and I would do the same thing in your position. You misunderstood me. I was just trying to tell you how it might go. Think about your arguments. Don't go to court thinking it was a clear case. That's all.

Also, I don't claim to know your states laws. I know in NYC, there isn't that much recourse in small claims court if the party doesn't pay you. I've been through that. If you have a bank account number, you go to the sherif's office and they put a stop on it. But there is nothing like your state where they have to disclose something. Hopefully you are right about your state.

Good luck. Hopefully it will work out for you. If this was at the dealer, you might want to try calling BMW - the dealer might decided to cover it rather than deal with the company.

Thanks for the heads-up! I have used the process before and you are correct, if you have your facts in order you will prevail....most people just show up and expect a judgement in their favor. I will have all my evidence and a strong case to present.

Previous to this repair you could hardly notice the chip...now it is hazardous, so I dont think I will have a problem getting letters from other windshield shops to support my case that replacement is the only option.

We are getting off topic though...the purpose of my post was to warn that the X5 windshield might not take these chip/crack repairs very well and you might want to think twice before having it done.

Thanks again.

Someone posted that the windshield on the X5 is very thin. Mine (also with HUD) chipped in similar circumstances.

After the windshield was replaced the HUD did not work - they had to upgrade the Nav software.

yea, I was very disappointed to get my first chip with only 5000 miles.

How much did it cost to replace?

Lucky for me, BMW had already agreed to replace due to scratches on the inside of the glass. Took less than a week for the new glass to arrive.

Went to 3 shops today, all were appaled at the damage and each wrote a letter stating the windshield was damaged beyond repair and must be replaced. Estimate $1000.

I had mine windshiels done twice due to stone "bounce", both times I used my insurance company to repair (they pay for it and taking all responsabilty for the job results. Job was done in both cases, no surprises, just a small point...
Insurance don't even consider this repair as a claim...

I don't know if this will help with the claim against the "repair" place. There were two times that I required a repair to the windshields. In both cases, the first question they asked (on the phone) was if the chip/crack was in the direct line of sight of the driver.

They went on to tell me that, if it was, a repair was not suitable. (It distorts the view.) From your picture, it looks like it was in the direct vision of the driver.

I believe "direct vision" is a mark that is on the left half of the windshield.

Joel

That guy is a doosh! Hope you get this resolved!

UPDATE:
New windshield installed today, now I cant see my HUD...looks like they installed the wrong windshield despite my repeated statements that I had HUD.

Oh no... what a nightmare. Dealer installed or was this a glass place?

Do over!

The dealer does not install the glass, so they sent me to a glass shop. The parts are provided by BMW...after much research, they only way to get a windshield for the E70 is from BMW.

Just got home from work...new problem.
My drivers side exterior handle will not open the door. I have to climb over the center console from passenger side and open the door from the inside. (Reminds me of my teenage years)

I have tried everything, using the remote unlock, manually unlocking the door. The door is actually unlocked, the exterior handle just does not engage...interior handle is fine. ANY IDEAS?

The business that did the repair should have insurance. If they mess up... their business insurance kicks in to fix it. You are not expected to use your own insurance. Depending on your deductibles.... you would have to pay out of pocket.

Furthermore.... your rates do not go up do to this damage.

I would definetly sue that company!!

For the inspection.... would they fail you for a chip? I can see a large crack that obscured your view.

This is not entirely true in NY and NJ. Glass claims are usually covered in full, as you say, under an additional rider for "full glass" coverage, and can not raise your rates if you put in a claim, much the same way that putting in a claim against your "comprehensive" coverage should not raise your rates. If you do not have "full glass" coverage, it should still be covered under your comprehensive coverage, but will most likely be subject to your deductable, while full glass coverage claims are usually not subject to a deductable.

I hope that this helps.

Bottom line is I will NOT file a claim against my insurance for this guys negligence. I have already filed a claim in court, I have reports from 2 glass shops stating he damaged the windshield beyond repair.

Use your remote to roll the window down and open the door from the inside.
Sorry about your troubles.

THANKS!! Cant believe I didnt think of that...Im going to miss climbing in the pass seat and over the center console. Hehaw!

BTW- brought it to dealer, they said the ext handle cable is broke. Had to order the part, should be in on Tuesday.

Feeling your pain mate. Just a quick question, have you established from your reports that it is faulty workmanship as opposed to the type of glass?

It's odds on that they will claim they did it right but because the glass is some special type it didn't work and that they weren't to know. That will be their defense. While it is obvious that the job is stuffed, any umpire in your matter will likely want to see clear reasons why....

Good luck

Cheers

I understand they did not know this glass could not be repaired like the standard windshields out there. However... they are still held accountable since they did perform the work.

They are in the business and now they know this glass cannot be done. What if the customer had liability coverage only? The customer should not have to pay out of his own pocket to have it replaced.

Bottom line is.... the business insurance should be picking up the tab. The business does not want this to happen since HIS rates could go up.

The saga continues:

The new windshield displays the HUD at night fine, during overcast days the HUD is visable, but dim and on bright days it is not visable at all.

The glass shop and DEALER both claim I have the correct windshield. I just left the dealer for the second time and again they say the windshield is correct. I took the service manager for a spin and showed him how the HUD was not visable...he said he would have to show it to the BMW Field Service guy who will be in an a day or two. The service manager said this is the first HUD they have had in the shop, so he is not sure if what I am experiencing is normal or not. I told him it is not normal. WTF!

I am now in an X3 demo...hope these guys can get this right.

On a side note, this baby is much faster than the X5 (same engine) and the AC blows twice as hard.

I did not read the entire thread, but I just had my 335 windshield repaired and the guy that did it showed me a picture that looked like what happened to your car and said that about 1 in 6 will turn out like this and ask if I want to still get it repaired.

Sorry for all your pains. Do you have any 'before' pictures to see how big the cracks were? Also where on the windshield were they. I agree that your windshield was really messed up, but could they possibly argue that the repair size matched the crack and they informed you it could look like this? It would be your word against thiers if you don't have pictures of the crack area prior to the repair.

Also, in some areas if the crack is in the drivers direct line of site, then by law the crack can not be repaired and the glass must be replaced. If this is the law in your state and the crack was in direct line of site - then you may not have a good case to have them pay for the entire replacement. In any event, I hope you get your ride back to 100% soon.

Thats the point, I didnt have any cracks...I had a small chip that was barley noticable.

BTW- dealer just called and said they fixed HUD, when the glass shop installed windshield the didnt connect the rainsensor properly. The rainsensor also has a light sensor which brightens HUD during the daylight. It will be ready in am.

UPDATE:
The owner of the shop and the owner of the Glass Repair Company were both served by the court several days ago.

Today I received a phone call from the Glass Repair Company owner (a partner I didnt deal with) who apoligized for the actions of his employees and he stated he is bringing over a check immediatly for the full damages. I told him he could simply mail the check, but he insisted that someone would hand deliver it.

Congrats! Sounds like your persistence paid off.

Good to hear!! They should have taken responsibility for their mistake. As a business... having a customer praise them for owning up would have gone a long way. Now their customer will tell everyone about the horror story and their failure to own up to it.

Happy your getting paid in full!! They knew they would lose in court. It is a no brainer!!

Congrats, X5FX. Glad to hear this saga is coming to an end with you getting a check. The owner is doing what they should have done from the start.

Excellent result. :thumbup: