Carglass Windcreen Replacement – “Rust”, “No Warranty”
The first car I took Carglass in Greece for windscreen replacement could have had rust, so the phone call from Carglass saying there was “rust on the windscreen frame” and they could not give a warranty on their work seemed fair.
(Granted the same car had had the windscreen replaced by Autoglass in the UK twice, the last time 6 years previous & Autoglass never hinted that there was a sign of rust.)
A friend then took their (galanvanised) car to Carglass in Thessaloniki, Greece for a windscreen replacement. Different branch to me and 3 years later.
The friend called me during the day and told me what Carglass had said to them
There is rust around the windscreen frame so we can not warranty our work
You can take the car away to be fixed if you want
Or we can repair the rust here for 50 Euro
When two different branches of the same company, 3 years apart, say the exact same words, it raised my eyebrows, especially when the second car, is, as I mentioned, was galavanised.
Honestly, I thought I would give Carglass the benefit of the doubt, they had probably mistaken the car for someone else’s (galvanised cars do not rust), but rather than do things over the phone, I went to their office to check out the “rust” they were talking about
What I found
On the windscreen frame itself I found what can be best described as brown sections with a very slightly rough surface. You could understand the roughness if you ran your finger over it.
I scratched the surface with my fingernail and zero, I repeat, zero material came off, and zero material looked like it would come of in the next twenty years.
At best, we were looking at discolouration with (in my opinion) absolutely no compromise in the strength of the frame and nothing that would causes any leaking.
Nevertheless, there were brown sections on the frame, the car was at their premises with no windscreen, no bonnet, no wipers, and no windscreen cowl.
Again, they said I could take the car away to be “fixed” or they could do the necessary “repairs” for 50 Euro.
If we choose neither of those options, they could not give any warranty on their work.
Going back to my car I know from experience that after the windscreen was replaced I have a leak with causes water to run into the passenger footwell. This is on me. I told them do what they could and understood they would not warranty their work…… A mistake looking back on it.
Going back to the friends galvanised car (did I mention it was galvanised?)
In that sort of situation, what is a normal person, with no knowledge of cars and/or no way of confirming the issue with their own eyes (either due to being at work/no transport/other commitments etc) supposed to do when presented with those options?
-No warranty
or
-Pay 50 Euro
or
-Take the car away with no windscreen
We all know what we would do….
In this case, there was a zero excess on the glass, we were not paying anything anyway so 50 euro to replace a smashed windscreen, regardless of the reason, seemed fair so I told them to go ahead.
The reason for this article is to ask you the reader, if you have had the same experience with Carglass?
Have you been told your windscreen frame has rust, Carglass cannot warranty their work, but you can pay 50 Euro and they will warranty their work
If so, please leave the details of your experience in the comments of this article!
