British Expatriate Network

This week, I had the (mis)pleasure of replacing my windshield for the second time in exactly two years.

I was overtaking a gravel truck on a local highway last week and a stone flew off the top of the pile in the trailer (we are one of those few, stupid states that permit trucks to pull trailers!) and struck my windshield on the driver's side, close to the edge and immediately cracked about four inches.

The obvious remedy is to call your insurance company and get it fixed for "free". A crack this size cannot be fixed however so it is replacement or nothing. The next obvious remedy is to have the insurance company pay for the new windshield and go with a company that will help you with your deductible.

Not going to fly in my case - the deductible for both collision and comprehensive is $500 so I've priced myself out of that option. In addition, although insurance companies claim not to count windshield replacement against you, there are tales online of folks that had similar bad luck as me and probably also live near gravel pits, who ran into difficulties later with their insurance companies after a couple of claims, so perhaps they are best not informed altogether.

The actual cost of the replacement was $220 locally the last time but I got a good deal for $186 this time, through a national service - way less than my deductible but still annoying as the car is five years old and on its 3rd windscreen through no fault of mine. I used to drive twice as many miles per year in the UK and never had a cracked windscreen in over ten years.

However, the cause of the problem is not addressed - an insecure load caused the damage but what can you do about it?

I know you could

a) try to contact the company if you know who it was and attempt to get compensation that way or;

b) take them to small claims court and either get a judgement there or force them to compensate you, rather than waste time fighting some petty case. (The first time, I could have done this as I knew the company but the 2nd was much harder - unmarked truck).

However, I think a simpler remedy for this (perhaps common?) problem might be a small, monthly or annual tax on those companies that move potentially destructive loads, especially when unsecured by a tight fitting tarpaulin or similar. If each transportation company paid a small percentage into a state pot (along the lines of when drivers must pay into a pot to cover uninsured driver damages), you could then just file a claim there and it would cover these sort of damages without any cost to the driver (who is clearly not to blame) and not involve insurance companies or deductibles?

This would mean people would get their cracked windshields fixed quicker, rather than risk driving around with a damaged windshield that could kill them if they were involved in an accident (airbags rely on the windshield to stop their forward motion when deployed and without it to stop them, the driver or passenger collides hard with the dashboard or steering wheel).

What do you think?

Some states require mandatory windshield replacement, without affecting the deductible, on auto insurance.

Another solution would be to enforce some of the laws dealing with trucks and loads. I know from working in MA that this was a low priority, with some pretty horrible consequnces.

However, the problem is that rules for trucks are Federal because they are 'interstate transportation' and the road haulage lobby, like other interest groups, has sufficient politians on its payroll to ensure nothing much happens.

One example in Europe articulated lorries have to have safety bars on the sides and rear of the trailors to stop cars etc going under.
You don't have these in the US, despite attempts to mandate them.
The road haulage lobby persuaded Congress not to enact the necessary legislation because American roads are different from European roads and so their is no safety issue in the US.

Sorry to hear about the windshields.

You're damn right, American roads are for more dangerous than european roads. The US has a far higher accident per mile of highway than Europe.

Dont know about your state or even mine but when i lived in Viginia there was a lot of this and a law was passed that all trucks with exposed material of any kind of gravel . sand , etc had to have a rolling tarp that completly covered the material .

I had the same insurance as now ( ussa ) and they agreed that if i used one of the companies they where familier with no change would appear on my insurance rates .

he came around the house replaced the window on the spot and charged the insurance co .

special rate i believe (although i dont care one way or the other )