Windscreens are essential for maintaining comfort and safety when driving. However, chips and cracks can compromise their effectiveness.
What are the main causes of windscreen chips? What are the types of chips? And should you replace your windscreen or simply just repair the chip? Let’s take a closer look.
Causes of windscreen chips
- Flying debris
– Our roads often witness heavy commercial trucks transporting goods at all hours of the day. These trucks can dislodge rocks and debris, which may strike your car’s windscreen. Have you ever driven past workers cutting grass next to the road and a rock hits your car? It happens. - Gravel roads
– Dusty and gravelly roads are common, especially in rural areas. These type of roads are usually not maintained as well as tar roads and heavy rainfall can wreak havoc with them, causing hundreds of loose stones to hit your car’s windscreen and causing damage. - Temperature fluctuations
– It’s not unusual for a hot sunny day to turn into a cold overcast day within the space of only a few hours, especially when the afternoon rain showers hit the Highveld in the summer. Temperature-induced stress weakens the glass, making it susceptible to chips.
Types of chips
- Bulls-eye chips
– Circular of half-moon shaped chips, usually smaller than 10mm in diameter. - Star breaks
– Radiating cracks from a central point. - Combination chips
– A mix of bulls-eye and star break patterns.
Repair or replace
When considering repairing or replacing a crack in your windscreen, the size, type, depth, and location of the chip matter. Most chips are small cracks and can be repaired.
If a chip evolves into a crack spanning the entire screen, replacement is necessary. In fact, it’s a legal requirement to ensure you can always see clearly through your windscreen.
Don’t ignore those small chips on your window screens. Address them promptly to ensure safety and prevent further damage.
Remember, a chip today could be a crack tomorrow!
To repair or to replace might be something to think about, but something you don’t have to think about is whether or not you should pay for repairing your window chips when you’re insured with the king of insurance.
That’s because King Price offers zero excess when you claim for the repair of a windscreen chip.
Feel like joining the royal fam? Thought so! Just hit kingprice.co.za or pop a WhatsApp to 0860 50 50 50.
Psst… This blog provides general info only, and doesn’t count as financial or product advice from King Price or our legal and compliance experts. Remember, all our premiums are risk-profile-dependent, and T’s and C’s apply. Our most up-to-date KPPD (policy wording) can always be found here.
Our website T’s and C’s can be found here.
