Yesterday I had a 9mm diameter bullseye chip in my windscreen repaired. I chose a large national company, for the convenience of being able to book the repair online and to have it done on the day of my choosing, and at the place of my choosing, namely my garage. In hindsight it wasn't a good idea. The operative didn't arrive until 5pm and he was clearly in a hurry to get home. The website said the repair would take 30 minutes but the operative rushed the procedure and was on his way after 15 minutes. I wasn't expecting perfection, but the end result is the repair is clearly visible and it's left a depression on the outside of the screen which will be traversed by the wipers.
The last time I had a similar repair, carried out by a repairer in the carpark of our local supermarket, the repair was all but invisible and it was flat with the outside of the screen. In future, provided that it isn't winter with the risk of frost cracking the screen, I'll wait until I can get a chip repaired in a supermarket (or similar) carpark. They're there for the day and not in a hurry to get anywhere.
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I'm suprised they repair a chip that big. Will you have problems at the next M O T if it's as bad as you say?
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>> I'm suprised they repair a chip that big.
Prepare to be surprised! ;-)
The figure of 9mm included all the internal damage, not just the external damage, and is well within the limits of repairability.
The limits stated by the repairer are that the chip must be no bigger than a £2 coin if it's not in the driver's line of vision, and no bigger than 10mm diameter if it's in the driver's line of vision. The driver's line of vision is defined as a vertical strip 30cm wide centered about the middle of the steering wheel. My chip was well outside of that area.
>> Will you have problems at the next M O T ..............
As it happens, I'm hoping to sell the car before its next MOT is due.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 31 Oct 12 at 09:04
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>> I wasn't expecting perfection, but the end result is the repair is clearly visible and it's left a depression on the outside of the screen which will be traversed by the wipers.
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Why don't you go back to the large national company, complain and ask them to do it again?
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>> Why don't you go back to the large national company, complain and ask them to
>> do it again?
In my experience of any repairs, a repair operative has a standard beyond which they can't improve. Doing something a second time is unlikely to show an improvement. This applies to car repairs, building repairs, plumbing repairs, electrical repairs and all other types of repair.
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>> In my experience of any repairs, a repair operative has a standard beyond which they
>> can't improve. Doing something a second time is unlikely to show an improvement. This applies
>> to car repairs, building repairs, plumbing repairs, electrical repairs and all other types of repair.
In my experience of complaining you dont get the same operative back.
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>> In my experience of complaining you dont get the same operative back.
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Reminds me of taking a car to my then local Kwik-Fit to have a second exhaust fitted after the one fitted by another branch failed a weld.
The senior fitter found that all three of the shiny, new manifold coupling nuts were the wrong thread and done up solid. Cue a merry two hours with me and him, the manifold on the bench, a gas torch and mole grips, teasing out the broken studs.
When I told him which branch had done it, he asked it it were so-and-so and described the lad to a tee. I confirmed:
"Thought so. We sacked the useless &%%&#$ for doing this...."
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Your view on workmanship seems to be never complain however bad the job.
If it's really not satisfactory and cannot be improved demand that they replace the screen.
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>> If it's really not satisfactory and cannot be improved demand that they replace the screen.
It's not totally unsatisfactory, it's just not as good as I had hoped it would be. Anyway, the inconvenience of having the screen replaced would just not be worth it. The last time I had a screen replaced the bodywork got scratched and that meant having a bodywork repair. Sometimes it's better to just bite one's tongue and learn from the experience, and I think that this is one of those occasions.
The point of my post was that in future I'll try to avoid large windscreen repairers and go to a supermarket carpark based repairer.
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>> The point of my post was that in future I'll try to avoid large windscreen
>> repairers and go to a supermarket carpark based repairer.
>
Who are, by and large, large windscreen repairers working from a supermarket car park...
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>> It's not totally unsatisfactory, it's just not as good as I had hoped it would
>> be. Anyway.
I take it that it's the company that guarantee the work for the time you continue to own the car (Autoglass?)
Phone them up and explain the problem that you've outlayed at the start of this thread and ask them if they consider the work to be satisfactory. Chances are they won't and see what they offer you as a resolution to the problem. You don't have to accept it. The fitter who did the work may already have a black mark against his name, in which case yours will add another. If he isn't competant in his work then it might save someone else the misfortune of him turning up to repair their windscreen. Companies generally don't like bodge artists working for them.
Windscreen chip repairs can often remain visible, but at the very least they should be level with the existing glass.
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Windscreen bullseye chip repair. - maltrap
