Yesterday a small stone hit my windshield right in the center of my line of vision. I was doing about 70 on the highway. It feels smooth, but the glass is now distorted where it hit. Geico will pay for a repair or even replace the windshield with no deductible if necessary. I am wondering if this can be fixed or do I need a full replacement? As long as it can be made mostly invisible I can live with it.
I have had two chips on my wife's Honda Accord. The chips can be repaired to the point that it is almost impossible to see other than the area of the direct hit. On both of these I have to look hard to even find where they were repaired. Most glass companies will even come to your house or place of work to repair and they all work well with the auto insurance companies and will even file the claim for you.
A picture to see how bad it is would help. Most insurance companies will pay completely for the repair, but often you'll have to pay a deductible (usually $100) if you get it replaced. If you do get it replaced, make sure your contract allows you to get the OEM glass with the Toyota logo. It sounds like a repair would suffice, however.
I've had the chips repaired and my experience has been that the repaired chip is much harder to see than it was before the repair.
A repaired OEM glass is preferable to non-OEM replacement. Not all insurance companies would allow for OEM replacements.
My windshield was broken by a rock from a truck some months ago. I tried to get a Toyota windshield as a replacement, there is absolutely no way my insurance company (State Farm) would OK a Toyota replacement. The cost was a lot more and I didn't want to pay the difference. I ask the Toyota dealer what they used and they sent me to an auto glass shop that got me a replacement made by Pilkington. I can tell no difference between the original and the replacement other than the logo.
I know and I can't tell any difference, but that doesn't mean there is no difference. Maybe this one I have is sound isolated too, or maybe I don't hear the noise. I probably have tin ears anyway, a lot of owners have complained about the JBL audio system but it sounds fine to me.
Here's a consideration: when I had a stone chip on my Sienna's windshield, the repairer couldn't get the repair epoxy to "stick," because I use Rain-X. If you use Rain-X, or another repellent, tell them first, as maybe they have developed a way to clean the repellent off.
Where we are, if the chip repair doesn't work, you can still get get window replacment. Also, the insurance monopoly here used to pay for the repair, but no more. It's about $60.
