Insights on Insurance

Welcome to a new feature of the Euclid Observer!  This month’s topic will address how your automobile insurance policy and carrier deal with damages to your vehicle’s glass.

The fundamental prerequisite for coverage is based upon whether you carry comprehensive coverage.  Look on your policy’s declarations page to see if this coverage part is listed.  Comprehensive coverage includes repairing damages to your vehicle caused by perils ‘other than collision: fire, theft, vandalism, falling trees, flood, and glass, to name the most prominent. 

Glass is unique in this list, as there are specialty vendors that deal exclusively with glass, and what begins as a small glass issue can quickly become a major claim.  It is exactly this reasoning that has lead the insurance industry to fashion coverage in a creative way – glass repair.  If your glass is repairable, your insurance carrier will dispatch a mobile unit from a third party who will make the repairs wherever your vehicle may be. 

If the glass is repairable, your carrier will waive your comprehensive deductible.  Why?  Insurance companies go this route because a repair is much less expensive than replacement, which is beneficial for the carrier in the long run.  If the glass is not repairable and must be replaced, your deductible would then apply.  Generally speaking, a chip in your windshield smaller than the size of a quarter can be repaired, as well as some cracks up to six inches.  It is important to take action sooner rather than later as these small issues can become large issues quickly due to warm or cold temperature stresses or fatigue on the vehicle while driving in rough or curvy road terrain.