After five years of shopping it finally happened. I was shopping Sat, driving in rain, and two cars in front of me tried to change lanes at the same time. One swerves back to their lane and I hear a ping on my windshield. By the end of the day it turned into a 16 inch feather crack. I am hoping it can be repaired and not replaced. I have experienced several sights and wrecks on the road. One time a SUV had a blowout so severe, it tore half of the bumper off which flew up in the air and missed my car by inches.

I am sure all of you have stories of near misses and not so near misses in your journeys.

safelite does a great job and will come to your house to fix it.
If no insurance for glass they charge only 50 bucks. If glass
coverage free

Thanks techman01. You made my day.

I find the glass insurance coverage fee well worth it. I've replaced windows 8-10 times. Had the windshield and two side windows shot out by a drive by with a pellet gun several years ago. The rest of the times it was a rock kicked up by a passing vehicle. Usually starts as a ding and spreads to full crack. I haven't checked but I believe a replacement is far more than $50 around here. Safelite is great.

If you have glass coverage, they'll attempt to repair a crack for no charge. If that doesn't work the windshield replacement is free.

best about glass coverage is it doesnt affect your insurance
rates if you use it.

Thank for the ad Techman. We are a safeite family.

My insurance company fixes for free on minor damage.

But, oh my gosh the stuff I see happen on the road is incredible. I am amazed that people are so stupid when it comes to driving a vehicle.

Some of things that put my panties in a twist are:

1. Tailgating. They have know idea what's in front of me. Yes, there is an idiot that can't maintain an even speed and stay in the lane. I'm trying to be proactive, by staying back, waaaaaay back.
2. Passing me on the berm or a double yellow line, when I'm doing the speed limit.
3. Pick a lane, any lane, straddling lanes is just rude.


My favorite is that I can't honk my horn and say good job to the cop who just pulled the idiot over, who recently scared the crap out of me.

Some days I really wish I had some home baked cookies to give to the cops.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/25/2014 02:17AM by MA Smith.

One time I was behind a construction vehicle where a 2' long thick 2x4 let loose and was heading directly in the path of my windshield. I couldn't turn or swerve due to traffic....it missed the top of my windshield by inches. Panicky? You bet!

(I didn't see anyone else get hurt by it, but then again, I was ahead)

A semi decided it wanted to take a right from the far left lane. I knew to swerve away from everyone since I was in the right lane. The car in the middle was confused as to which direction to turn and wobbled for a moment than floored it towards me! I did a doughnut on the shoulder and managed to miss getting hit by inches. My poor pup was so upset she let a series of barks and howls and wouldn't stop jumping around. This was in a small car and I was grateful for the small, tight turning radius. If I had my truck I would have more maneuverability and could have jumped the train tracks that were on my right, hit the berm and run side long with the semi all without getting hit and causing my dog to have a panic attack. I had done it before when I saw an accident happening on a freeway during a major rain/ sleet storm.

I could tell you somethings that would make you antsy for not driving. I have put over 1k miles on my vehicles per month so I have seen way too much and have good reflexes to handle most anything. Heck I once had a semi trying to run me off the road. I called the cops with my cell, sped up to 80 with my other hand and jumped to the off ramp which unfortunately led to another freeway. I continued to give my mile posts to the dispatch and was told that I shouldn't be speeding while on the phone! My words were something along the lines of my having a semi trying to kill me and speed was my only saving grace at the moment. I finally had a cop pull along each side of me with sirens and lights going on. I moved over to the left when I saw the semi bump the cop on my right. I floored it faster and swerved another cop that was trying to slow me down. When the cops finally figured out what was going on and that I indeed was telling the truth about the semi trying to kill me, I was led over to the left shoulder. Another 2 cops tried to get the semi to stop and protect me. I finally stopped my vehicle and sat staring straight ahead with my knuckles glued to the steering wheel. The cop that had gotten me out of the semi's path came up to me and had to scream at me to get my attention. I heard on his walkie thing and on my phone that they were getting the rumble strips and blocks out. The cop that was with me asked for my info which I gave shakily to him. He then asked if I was ok to follow him to the next truck stop which was 2 exits up. I followed him to the truck stop and he bought me a coffee and something to eat. He asked that I not drive until things were clarified. Almost two hours later I have several cops come up to me and ask for my statement, which I give freely. I am then told that I was lucky to have a cell phone and the presence of mind to make the phone call. The cops then told me that they found blood and 'parts' in the truckers cab! They also told me that the trucker was on speed or some sort of drug.

Like I said, I can tell you some shtuff that I have both experienced and seen on the road. I have been on the road since '08 and I am not ready to call it quits just yet. I can handle most anything...

Wow gypsymonkey,

All I can say is that I'm glad you didn't get hurt or killed!

There are some crazies out there. The older I get the more I realize the number of crazies outnumber the normal or it seems to some days.

I go to Car Spa who has a windshield specialist. I get a shop in detailing my car at the same time.

My worst collateral damage from driving is that after an accident I couldn't make my shops the next day and a scheduling company cancelled ALL my Maritz phone shops that I had set up for the next several days. Someone at Maritz let me know they had done this and that was my first heads up on it. I didn't react with grace and understanding. Oh well, I'm sure no big loss to any of us. That scheduling company is too big to need me and I'm good without them. Still working for Maritz in several of their other programs.

I am in a car right now however I prefer a truck with 4 wheel drive. I can handle a truck better and can maneuver around the Sunday drivers/ whackos easier. I am grateful for my car but I am re-learning how to drive since it is 1/3 the size of my truck and so low to the ground that I am constantly fearing someone is going to run on top of me. People now-a-days are clueless about proper driving etiquette and how to drive over all. In the truckers world it is said to look 3 seconds ahead. I try to stay at least 15 seconds and keep an eye focused on both sides of the road. I just wish the common person would have that presence of mind. As far as collateral damage to vehicles, well when you put as many miles on a vehicle that I do per year, you understand why I am on my 5th vehicle.

Geesh. I'm just glad that {knock on wood} only the little button that makes my window go down quit working the other day. At least it quit working with the window up. Ha! Now I gotta open the door to get gas, or do a D/T, or the ATM, etc. PITA, but better then some other things.

I had a guy tailgating me for a couple miles the other day. I was doing ten over the speed limit in the left lane. I finally got past a car pulling a trailer in the right lane and moved over so the tailgater could go by.

He had a bumper sticker on the back of his tailgate that said "Driver Education."


SMH....

that is poor strategy. You are suppose to get the attention of the
other driver and pull just enough up so that the tailgater gets
boxed in and cant go anywhere. works everytime.

I have to replace my windshield. I have been told by two places if the crack is longer than a dollar bill it can not be repaired. Fortunately my insurance is going to cover it. I'm doing the happy dance. Happy Thanksgiving!

do you have glass coverage? If they are covering it under
regular comprehensive...your next policies rates could
be affected.

Summer of 2013 flew down to Dallas to pick up a used Lexus RX 300 for the wife. On the way back to Tulsa hit a deer that decided to commit suicide by running across I40 in an unmarked deer crossing area. It was a small deer If I had of been in the truck I probably wouldn't have noticed it. If I had of been in my car it would have wound up in my lap. At the time my job required me to go to most of the small towns on OK, 20,000 miles a year. Always figured a deer would show up on a state highway not run into one on an interstate highway. Had recently pulled onto the interstate from a state highway because I was getting tired of being beat to death with the potholes. Just got to cruising speed when out of the left corner of my eye I saw something that didn't look right. Oh snap it's a *&^%()(*&&^%$ deer. No room to stop, no room to get around it. Speeding up will put it in the drivers door. I just let off the gas and whacked it. If I had hit the brakes I might have missed it, but I really doubt that. More than likely when the car nose dived from severe breaking the dear would have come up over the hood into the windshield and through it. I did not want to get kicked to death by a deer. All of this went through my mind inbetween the time I saw it and then hit it.

It's under an additional coverage through the dealership. I debated on whether to get it, but I'm glad I did now. That one claim paid for half of the policy, it won't affect my regular car insurance, and I have three more years before it expires.