I went to a major national auto service center to get my oil changed, and they had a person there who inspected my windshield and told me that they noticed a few chips in it. They asked if I had full insurance coverage on my vehicle, which I do, and they said that they could repair the chips and it would be paid for by my auto insurance via a %26quot;no-fault%26quot; claim.
I'm not sure if it was a good idea, but I gave them permission to repair the chips. I actually had no idea the chips were even there, and they probably were extremely tiny. During the repair, they called my insurance company, and the chip repair was approved and my deductible was waived.
Will this really have no effect on my insurance rates? And why would the auto service center fuss over a few small chips? Are they pretty much fixing something that doesn't need to be fixed just so that they can bill an insurance company and make profit?
Should I have gone through with a %26quot;no-fault%26quot; claim for my windshield?
The auto service center was trying to make a buck, but you did give them the authorization to fix it.
I don't know where they came up with the 'no-fault' line though. This hasn't anything to do with that. It's a comprehensive claim, and the deductible was waived because the glass was repaired instead of replaced. Comprehensive claims in general do not cause your rates to go up.
Should I have gone through with a %26quot;no-fault%26quot; claim for my windshield?
This will have no effect whatsoever on your insurance. They look at repair vs replace as cost effective -- the repairs usually run less that $100 while replacement of many windshields run in excess of $450.
You really should have inspected said cracks to begin with, however, having said that if you trust your mechanic then there really shouldn't be a problem. Small or large cracks on your windshield is not safe as it may not absorb an impact as well as if there were no cracks. You will not have to pay excess, you will also remain on the same %26quot;No Claim Bonus%26quot; rating however, I am unsure if they increase your premium?
