A body shop owner long ago complained that K-Cars and Cadillacs were notorious for rear windows mysteriously shattering. He felt sure that the window openings were not square resulting in pressure points against the glass which cracked the glass when the body was flexed when driven over a washboard road or especially when being jacked up.
I have owned 3 Dodge Aires K-cars. When a rear window “exploded” mysteriously while parked in the driveway, I chalked it up to either spontaneous breakage or to the weed trimmer I had operated nearby. It made little difference… shards of glass were everywhere! My insurance company didn’t balk at replacement, either. My friendly local agent has my back. She knows which side her bread is buttered on.
Also. I have heard of situations where cars are manufactured with rough seams or welds (not properly smoothed out) that stress the glass from the time they’re built. It doesn’t take much more stress (heat, cold, flexing) to finish off the glass.
Likewise, I’ve read of cars where larger numbers of self-breaking glass are attributed to the over-flexing of unibodies, inadvertently engineered right into the design, some fairly recently.
Still others have mentioned exploding rear glass shortly after switch on rear defrost/deice heater wires which are adhered to the glass.
“Stuff” happens!
CSA
You can tell them that all you want, but they will still charge your credit card for the damage.
But if your regular car insurance covers rental cars the same as your personal cars (mine does), then I would just call my agent and have them deal with it and leave me out of the problem altogether.
30 years ago my boss bought a new Cadillac. He and his wife were driving down a smooth stretch of road when “bang” the rear glass shattered. No warranty coverage.
Would you allow your insurance company pay for damage you didn’t cause?
Tester
Well yeah. Isn’t that exactly what I’m paying for?
Comprehensive insurance (also known as “other than collision” in some states) covers damage to your car caused by events that are out of your control. It covers things like theft, vandalism, glass and windshield damage
Yes , they paid for a drivers door glass that was shattered while the vehicle was parked at work . I certainly did not damage it .
Certainly! Insurance companies like mine make money on all the years I pay premiums (13 policies) and never make a claim. We have diamonds insured for theft, but guess what? The insurance also covers “mysterious disappearance”. That’s for when the diamond is missing, but you don’t know why.
Should they have to fork over some money, once in a while (blue moon), they’re still making a handsome profit from me and other insured folks.
CSA
As a follow on, I was pulling the windshield wipers off my old Regal and used the plastic fascia below it to pry the wiper off the motor. Oops! The windshield extended under the fascia and I broke the windshield. I called my insurer and asked if my broken windshield was covered. The agent asked what happened, and I told the truth. She laughed and said they would cover it.
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