Are used windscreens reliable for car repairs in Auckland?

Whether a windscreen is used or not does not say anything about its reliability until you've addressed the following factors:

 

• Is it a laminated windscreen or tempered glass? Only the front windscreen is going to be made of laminated glass. Laminated glass is mandatory for the front windshield on NZ roads. Laminated glass is also far more fragile than tempered glass such as what you find on the back windscreen and body glass of the vehicle. Tempered glass will not deteriorate like laminated glass.

• Is the windscreen delaminating? Delamination occurs when the plastic adhesive layer (polyvinyl butyral) starts separating from the two sandwiched glass layers. Delamination is not reversable, it will slowly worsen over time and eventually be the demise of the windscreen. Delamination of the windscreen will compromise the structural integrity of the windscreen and its safety features. Depending on how far into the delamination process your windscreen is, you may also fail a warrant of fitness check.

• Who removed the windscreen and was it damaged in the process? Over the years servicing the Auckland area, we've seen it all. The worst mistakes we've come across shouldn't come as much of a surprise, DIY windscreen removal almost never works unfortunately. Even parts dismantlers often damage windscreens during the removal process, they do not specialise in auto glass removal and are often using unsatisfactory tools for the job. Sadly, naive customers buy these used windscreens thinking they can save some money by supplying their own parts. Even in the auto glazing trade, many technicians lack the skills to successfully remove and re-fit glass from a vehicle without causing damage. You will only find competence for this particular job among those who do it every day.  Panel beaters often need to remove glass from vehicles for welding and painting, they use professional auto glaziers to do this. Insurance companies will not cover the cost of replacing glass that breaks upon attempted removal; therefore, the cost of unsuccessful glass removal falls upon the customer. So naturally panel beaters will gravitate towards the most skilled auto glaziers for this job. This tends to be the smaller independent companies as they usually have owner operators who rely on word-of-mouth referrals and not catchy radio jingles and T.V. ads to bring in work.

• Are there any chips, stress cracks or shells on the windscreen prior to installation? Before purchasing a used windscreen, it should be checked thoroughly for signs of damage, especially around the edges of the windscreen as this is where it's likely to be damaged during the removal process. If the windscreen has existing small chips which have been previously repaired, it will still be usable, however any damage within the CVA (critical-vision-area) should avoided. Check out our windscreen chip repair page for an example.