This Ain’t Your Father’s Buick
Jun 26th, 2006 by mark
So yesterday, after successfully traveling to Illinois and back (over 750 miles round trip), I went to Border’s around 5:00 to kill some time. When I came out and started home I noticed a 4 - 6 inch long crack in the windshield starting in the lower left corner (as seen from the driver’s seat). Once I got home and could really look at it I could see the tiniest of chips in the glass where the crack started. I must have picked up a rock impact along the way.
This morning the crack had grown to over a foot in length. I called Lexus to get their recommendation on replacement glass installers and about had kittens at the price — $1700. Turns out the fancy-dancy rain sensing windshield is wired and without those wires the automatic wipers don’t work.
My insurance deductible is $500, which is roughly the price the aftermarket installers want for just the windshield. Might as well use the insurance, pay the deductible and get a fully functioning windshield.
Un-freaking-believable… $1700 for a windshield.
The back story here is that for years (since getting the car actually) I have complained about the numerous tiny imperfections in the glass from its first life in Denver. They sand their streets and highways in the wintertime, so spring turns the roads into one large sandblasting experience. Under most driving conditions you can’t see the hundreds of tiny chips, but when the sun is directly in front of the glass all you can see are those chips. Michele got tired of my grousing about how I wished I’d get a rock chip or crack so I could justify having it replaced. If I had known it would be $500 to me I’d have kept my big mouth shut.
Sigh.
