Customer claims I cracked her windshield...

[sayenbhai]

Last year I added windshield repair (WSR) to my detailing business. While researching for the best tools and repair methods I learned a lot about the automotive glass industry. It's kind of fascinating.

Did you know that windshield glass repair/replacement is one of the leading reasons for filing an automotive insurance claim in the United States? It's so common that some larger glass manufacture and repair companies have integrated with insurance companies as a third party administrators (TPA) to help process such claims. When you call your insurance provider to submit a glass coverage claim, you'll very likely be speaking directly to a representative working for a company like Service AutoGlass (a subsidiary of Safelite) to process your claim. These TPAs typically will direct you to a repair facility under the umbrella of their vertically integrated corporate hierarchy, thus, enabling the firm to make money off of each step in the process: insurance claim processing, manufacture and wholesale distribution of replacement glass, retail glass installation services.

Cracks, especially around the black edge of the windshield, called the "frit," are becoming increasingly common. This is due to a manufacturing defect, a weak spot, on some windshields that is present due to the manufacturing process when the glass is tempered and the black frit is applied to the surface. If a chip occurs near this weak spot, it will very likely crack to the edge of the glass. A crack can even occur with no impact damage, a stress crack, which can emerge from the weak spot in the edge of the glass. Stress cracks cannot be repaired by conventional WSR methods, according to the latest repair of laminated automotive glass standard (ROLAGS); however, edge cracks that are caused by an impact (chip) can be repaired with special injectors and UV curable resins if the cracks do not intersect more than one edge in the windshield and if the damage meet other ROLAGS safety requirements.

The crack in this picture was definitely caused by impact damage on the frit. You can plainly see the chip near the edge of the glass, with a crack emerging from both sides of the impact damage. It's highly unlikely that the car wash caused this type of damage... but a crack could spread from a pre-existing chip due to a rapid temperature fluctuation from the hot glass being cooled by the water in the car wash. This type of damage is actually repairable by a skilled windshield repair technician with the proper tools and equipment. Many auto insurance policies even include free glass repair coverage so you can get your windshield chips, and even small cracks, repaired before a more costly replacement becomes necessary.

In the case of the OP's scenario, it's possible that their wash process caused a rapid temperature swing in the glass that caused the chip to crack out (you would have noticed it happen as soon as the water was dried off). It's also possible that by 3:00pm, with the car parked in the sun, maybe on slightly uneven ground (causing a slight flex in the chassis), caused enough stress in the glass that the chip spontaneously cracked out as the temperature of the glass continued to rise into late afternoon.

Personally, I would not cover a crack in a windshield occurring from washing a car because it is damage that is spreading due to pre-existing damage in the glass. A windshield chip could crack out literally at any time due to a variety of reasons, even just driving the vehicle over a small curb into a driveway, especially if the chip is near the edge of the glass.

Moral of the story: avoid cracks by getting your windshield chips repaired ASAP!

That's really helpful, I own car detailing business and tips you have posted here will be in longer run