Reader question:

I have glass car insurance coverage, and I want to know if my cloudy front windshield can be recovered by my car insurance policy?

Amy

Most of the time, I would say no.

From what you are saying, it sounds like the cloudiness of your windshield would fall under the category of wear and tear. While this might be covered by the warranty that goes with your car, in most cases it will not work with your car insurance coverage. The usual way that you would be able to get your windshield replaced by your car insurance policy would be if the damage was caused by someone else, or by vandalism, but this wouldn’t apply to simple cloudiness because that isn’t something that someone else could cause. Maybe if someone had thrown a rock at it, but not this.

One thing that might help you in this situation is if you have mechanical breakdown coverage. Not every company offers this, and even those that do might not extend their car insurance coverage to something like wear and tear, but if you can get it covered under any aspect of your car insurance policy, then this is the one. Once you have determined that you can get it covered, you want to look around for a shop to replace it. This shouldn’t be hard, especially considering that you cannot throw a rock without hitting some guy in a folding chair advertising to replace windshields. At least where I live. Get a few estimates and talk to the replacers about getting a cheaper deductible or waiving it entirely. You can probably find someone who will do this, so if they say no, then keep looking.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.