I had my car washed yesterday but a guy that regularly comes to our work and washes our cars. After work, I went outside and noticed a large (about 5 in) crack coming from the top edge of the windshield on the driver side. You could probably guess I wasn't happy...

I have gotten rock chips and cracks before on previous cars so I inspected the crack to see is there was a point where a rock could of caused this, there was none.

The guy is saying that he didn't cause the damage (of course) and I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt but I can't see how I could of caused this. Maybe I'm missing something.

Any input on what I can do? The ower doesn't have insurance for his business and is already refusing to do anything for me.

Thanks...

 

well...it is kinda hard to crack a windshield washing a car, must have really been putting in some serious elbow grease to crack it getting those bug guts off. i mean think about it, he would really have to put some effort into cracking a windshield washing your car unless he dropped something on the car.

 

Could it be from water tempature or pressure? What could cause a crack without a chip to start it?

 

lets see...water temperature...automotive glass should be able to withstand freezing cold water, like when driving in cold climates and such. can't really heat up the water to something really severe. or if it were to rain on a hot day and cool down the car.

as for water pressure...unless he used a pressure washer, and put it on the concentrated jet setting and sprayed it at close range to crack the windshield, but that would create a chip or something similar to a rock chip i imagine.

 

Man this doesn't make since...there's got to be some other reason for the windshield cracking without a rock hit. I'm not trying to but the blame on him, I just need a explaination.

 

Don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes S**T happens. If it were at the bottom, I could see a windshield wiper arm with the blade removed, slipping out of their hand and smacking the glass (It has happened to me). But starting at the top? That has to be a chip that started under the rubber or something. He didn't do it to you. And if he did, there is no way your gonna prove anything.

One day at our shop, we had a car's windshield come up broken from the top also. We didn't do it, but the customer sure thought we did. "You were the last ones to touch it"...... So we called a glass replacement group and they came out to replace the glass. They found a problem under the rubber seal that caused it to crack over time. That goes back to the factory, not us or the customer. Like I said, sometimes S**T happens and you just have to move on. I'm sorry it happened, but I don't think he had anything to do with it.

On the other hand, now that you know the guy doesn't have any insurance, maybe it's time to get a "Professional" to do the work and know that they and your car are covered the next time you get it detailed.

 

Oh well then... The main reason I was upset is that the guy said right off the bat, "it wasn't my fault, it was there before." But like you said...I'm SOL.

So do I have to replace the whole glass or is there any way of repairing it?

Also, is going to a regular glass replacement place okay? Or should I only go through Toyota?

 

Call around. Most glass places do glass repair too. Look in the yellow pages and call around. Most cracks up to about 18" - 20" can be filled. You'll never know when they are finished. DON'T go to Toyota! They will just call a rapair man and add their profit to the top. You could call the service dept and ask them who they recommend.

 

WTF are Yellow Pages. Lol thanks for the suggestion. How much do you think I'm looking at?

 

lol was it a really hot day and they used cold water? thats the only thing i can think of, my replacement was 250, it was cheaper than my deductable

 

how hot is it where you are?

rock chips can cause imperceptible fractures in the glass. if it's really hot outside the glass temp can get pretty high as well. pour relatively cold water on it and the temperature drop will crack the fractures.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives...4619.Ph.r.html

 

In all of my insurance policies, if I had glass coverage and I had to have a windshield replaced, I never had to pay the deductable. You may want to check with your insurance carrier.

 

I'm in Vegas so...it's a bit hot.

 

i get the feeling that if the heat was a factor, everybody living in a hot climate zone would crack their windshield in the summer washing their car with cold water. so lets take that speculation out. i haven't seen any news reports about rampant windshield cracking car washes in vegas.

 

Well i don't know how else it would happen. But like I said, I not expecting to get anything back. Better to cut my losses then argue about it. He just won't be getting and car washing business here ever again.

 

Don't change your winshield even if they do it for free. The repair people (even the own dealership) will install a cheap-o replacement. Basically I'm trying to say that the new winshield WILL NOT have the "toyota" or Scion sticker on it. Better to have ti filled or fixed on the spot than changing it alltogether

 

You never really get "cold" water out of the faucet in really hot areas. I'm in Atlanta, and during summer months, "cold" water is really just kind of lukewarm. In Phoenix, "cold" water comes out warm. I really don't think the car wash guy caused the damage. The crack could have started under the seal and just grew.