Given a nice day, last Wednesday we had a trip up to the coast and a good wander about (with an opportunity to call in and look at something on the journey).
It's not the shortest of journeys from here, but usually reasonably fast, and the journey out was fine.
Apparently, however, there was an accident on the M18 some minutes behind us, followed shortly by another. Both were messy, and the original one fatal so the road was closed for best part of 24 hours.
That led to chaos on all the surrounding trunk roads, M62, M1, etc., and our return on the back end of rush hour was horrendous. Luckily, we know some of the geography and with added help from Mr Google cut across country via Selby to join the, rather busier than normal, A19 Southbound.
We quite congratulated ourselves until, on the Selby ring road the windscreen took an almighty bang (lorry going the other way threw up a stone, I think, but it being dark I never saw anything).
There was obvious damage to the very top driver's side, but it remained intact. On getting home, there was a fair lump out, and a good "spider crack".
The screen has all the current electronic aids, and is also heated (via the old Ford-style embedded wires). It also has my dashcam magnetic mount firmly affixed.
I didn't fancy having the screen removed, with all the palaver of recalibrating the electronics and re-attaching the heating wires (the XC40 screens are apparently not the easiest to replace, either). The damage was in the repairable area (just at the cusp of the swept bit), but I was concerned about the functioning of the screen heating, as there were wires under the damage.
Couldn't get it looked at 'til Tuesday (my constraints, not the repairer) but booked it in for then, and avoided having it done on my drive given the forecast (which was just as well since we had 5" of snow and it was Baltic). I avoided using the heated screen in the interim (and put a bit of tape over the damage to keep it clean and dry).
Car was inspected as soon as I got to the depot (they'd had multiple cancellations) with the verdict that it was repairable, but it being heated they wouldn't drill the damage, and I just might lose the heating on that side.
So, 40 minutes later and £25 poorer, the repair was done (visible as usual, but a big improvement, and acceptable). The guy that handed it back said he'd never had the heating fail on a repaired screen, and I could test it then if I wanted.
As it was, I gave it another 36 hours, and tested it in the bitter cold this morning, and there was no big bang or cracking as the screen cleared nicely. Phew.
A new screen would only have been £100 more (insurance) so the issue isn't financial, simply one of convenience, and concern that everything goes well with a new fitment, calibration, etc.
Wasn't like this in the old days (especially pre- bonded screens).
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