So it happened, while driving on I90E, I heard hit on the windshield, couple of hours later footlong crack materialized. Now, Land Rover dealer wants $1600 for replacement, Safelite is about $800. Insurance, off course, will reimburse only $800. Land Rover dealer is saying that generic windshield will not be covered by warranty if something like heating or sensor will fail. Will generic windshield affect work of sensors and cameras? What to do, LR or generic, that's the question.

 

Mine is cracked as well, and I’m planning on having it replaced at the dealer (they’ll also need to recalibrate the cameras). Also, I was told, because it’s a lease I’d have to return it with a genuine windshield.

 

I would hook up Landrover and your Insurance. Your insurance cannot demand that you put in a substandard windshield.

They may well try to though . . .

Our insurance "tried" on our Audi to get out of paying anything on $1000 worth of damage quote from their preferred body shop when my wife got backed into twice at work in one week. We had not repaired the first one. The second one was on the same side and simply involved changing/painting the wrap around rear bumper as a fix for both. $500 deductible so they were saying $500 deductible x 2 incidents so we should just pay for all of it. I said we have been with you for 5 years on our house, a rental property, 2 cars, plus a liability umbrella, never made a claim, and this is how you are going to treat us? Would you like me to be an ex-customer tomorrow? They wrote a check for $500 and I found someone to do it for $675 cash.

 

Your insurance only covers up to $800? How does that work, its damage to the vehicle. Minus your deductible, they should cover whatever. Heck, my insurance has 100% free windshield replacement with no deductible!

 

I will have to dig dipper. It is Geico, in one place they say they will cover price of generic windshield plus two hours of labor at $40/ per hr (compare this to Land Rover labor rate, ha, ha, ha..) minus deductible, in other place they say if I have comprehensive coverage (which i do) they will wave deductible. Either way it will not be inexpensive.

 

Ive delt with this issue now twice, once on a Mercedes and now my defender; your insurance company will only replace your windshield at your deductible/no cost to you IF the windshield is under $1000. If the windshield is MORE than $1000 it does not qualify for windshield replacement/repair and they will file a comprehensive claim which will impact your premium and trust me on this, will count as an accident/claim if you switch insurance companies.

My insurance companies (had USAA and switched to progressive) fought me on replacing the glass with an OEM product and wanted to use generic glass. Generic glass is not rated for the various camera/sensor packages and could not be guaranteed to calibrate properly (I was told by several glass replacement companies that the calibration success rate is about 75%). Further, the generic land rover defender glass did not have the heating elements built in. I argued with my insurance companies and eventually they agreed to pay it. Months later i found out they filed a comprehensive claim and it impacted my rates. I knew it would be a comprehensive claim the second time but hoped progressive would be different - they are not.

Bottom line is your insurance company is not going to replace your defender glass at no cost to you, regardless of your deductible.

 

Here is my 2 cents, for what is worth:
- this time you may have to eat the cost if your insurance is so **** ... not much of a choice.
- replace it with OEM - why ? warranty and resale value. It is one of the first things the buyer looks at ( e.g. a CarMax, other dealers, or some one that is picky).
- ABSOLUTELY get rid of the current insurance company. Shop around for a better insurance company. Imagine you get into a more serious issue, and they want to replace your OEM parts with Chinese parts....
It is a hard lesson learned, but not much of a choice.
I already am building a "slush fund" for my windshields ( I got 2 LRs) and their windshields are $#!@ .... regardless of model. So, I set aside every month 50-75 $ for the next one that will break. Because is not if, is when.
Yes, I am that confident I will get another one dinged. They are so flimsy that a mosquito with a hardon will crack it probably.
Best of luck to you.

 

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