[MLJR235]

Originally Posted by dradernh

That's a truly impressive labor cost for installing a windshield.

Do you know how many hours of "labor" that represents, and is that after applying the $100 deductible?

A windshield replacement on the wife's Mazda 3 totaled $265, with no insurance involvement.

Total was of approx $2000 total with $100 deductle . I paid everything out of pocket at dealer just to get my car out ASAP.

Farmers had the $1890*whatever (they did not refund my deductable amount ovbiously) into my bank account within 48 hours.

As a side note, I do have the "Windshield Coverage" as an added extra to all my policies. $100 deductible is all I pay for any damaged glass and they ever approved OEM dealer repair without a hassle.

[TAZ007]

Originally Posted by dradernh

Are Texas dealerships charging $215/hr. for labor now? That's about a third higher than it's currently running in the Cincinnati region.

more like 150 but it has been a long minute since I had work done at a dealership I had to pay for.

[MLJR235]

Originally Posted by TAZ007

more like 150 but it has been a long minute since I had work done at a dealership I had to pay for.

I don't doubt it's close to $200 . Mckenna here in Norwalk is at $200/hr now

[Kemps2Fast]

FancyDan I had the same issues about a year ago when I replaced my windshield with Safelite. It one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in the three years of owning the car. How you described the noise and the speeds at which you hear it is identical to what I heard. After a couple of days of losing my mind, I had the dealership replace the windshield, instead of Safelite, and boom back to 100% no noise and they added the door insulation.

[FancyDan]

Originally Posted by Kemps2Fast

FancyDan I had the same issues about a year ago when I replaced my windshield with Safelite. It one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in the three years of owning the car. How you described the noise and the speeds at which you hear it is identical to what I heard. After a couple of days of losing my mind, I had the dealership replace the windshield, instead of Safelite, and boom back to 100% no noise and they added the door insulation.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm fully convinced that this issue will be resolved with a proper reinstallation. What makes this so frustrating is that I chose to go with the dealership to start to avoid stuff like this, but yet here we are...

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by FancyDan

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm fully convinced that this issue will be resolved with a proper reinstallation. What makes this so frustrating is that I chose to go with the dealership to start to avoid stuff like this, but yet here we are...

This won't add much to the discussion, but when I had this done in Michigan, my dealer sent the cars to the local Safelite for the actual work. The dealer said they don't do a lot of windshields and the Safelite techs were more experienced! The only variable is whether Safelite uses an OEM windshield or the Safelite generic. After learning this, when we needed to have another new windshield, we just went directly to Safelite and told them we wanted the OEM windshield, so they picked it up from Parts at our dealer! It all turned out well both times.

[Kemps2Fast]

FancyDan Sportstick I would have to agree with you 100%, I have been in the glass industry for about 15 years and Safelite is typically the standard for windshield replacement. The main issue I see is the environment the windshield is installed in. The first time my windshield was installed, the garage was extremely hot (and I know our van window installer experience issues with poor bonding of glass and metal in the heat). The second installation was obviously in a more climate-controlled environment and on a cooler day. I also gave the car a day to settle before driving it.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by MLJR235

Total was of approx $2000 total with $100 deductle . I paid everything out of pocket at dealer just to get my car out ASAP.

Farmers had the $1890*whatever (they did not refund my deductable amount ovbiously) into my bank account within 48 hours.

As a side note, I do have the "Windshield Coverage" as an added extra to all my policies. $100 deductible is all I pay for any damaged glass and they ever approved OEM dealer repair without a hassle.

Given the numbers you're talking about, my take is that windshield coverage is pretty close to being a no-brainer.

Originally Posted by Kemps2Fast

I also gave the car a day to settle before driving it.

That was the advice I was given years ago by a non-dealer, non-Safelite windshield replacement shop. When making the appointment, they said: "After installation, you should drive it home, park it for 24 hours, and then resume normal use of the car." That worked for the two windshield replacements I had them do back in the early '00s.