[StephenA]

Got a stone on the windscreen on my Anniversary last night and it now has a nice big crack in it. The Anniversay has those heat reflective tinted windows so can I expect the replacement to be similarily tinted or am I going to end up with a non tinted one (like my K reg has). As I;ve never had to have a windscreen done before I dont know if I can hold out for a tinted screen or if I will just have to accept what ever they fit?

Steve

 

[john]

IIRC, JohnSen had the windscreen on his GM900 fitted by Squire Furneaux - his local dealer. Paid them and sent the invoice to the insurer who refunded less excess of £50 or so.

Best to check with you insurer first, though.

 

[johnp]

The dealer is probably a good bet. I had mine done recently by RAC autowindscreens, who were the insurers preferred supplier, and they took two goes to get the windscreen in before I was happy with it. The is apparently a generic part now, and sometimes needs trimming to stop the screen popping up at the edges.

In RAC autowindscreens defense as soon as I went back the second time they volunteered to replace it without any prompting, so I can't really complain too much.

So the moral of the story is leave your car with them all day to let the screen cure, and check it's flush all the way around.

Cheers
John P

 

[Derek]

My car had a small chip in the screen about 4" from the bottom on the driver's side when I bought it. About a year ago on a warm sunny day it cracked from the chip to the bottom of the screen and to about 3/4 of the way to the top. it was replaced by RAC Autowindcreens on my insurance with me paying the £50 excess.
I have to say that they did a good job. I had the car back in 4 hours and the replacement screen was identical to the original, heat reflective glass with the same manufacturers markings. "Sekurit" or something like that.

 

[StephenA]

RAC Auto are coming out to do mine possibly tomorrow or Friday. The reason for the delay is that although they have the proper tinted screens the trim they have is a generic part not manufactured by Saab and it doesn't fit . They are currently waiting for a shipment of trims from Saab in Sweden.

Steve

 

[StephenA]

Pity there is no graemlin for someone drumming their fingers. RAC Auto have "no idea" when they will get the seals/trims from Saab as they claim they are on "back order". They happily point out that the car is safe to drive as the crack (now 8 inches long) is not in the visible area.. which I point out is not the point as they keep running adverts saying just how important windscreen integrity is in accident situations

So I thought I'd try Saab directly as other people have done so I phoned Concept Saab as they are the nearest people to work and they said they use RAC Auto Windscreens BUT they can get the parts in in 7 days as they are in stock in Sweden.

So guess who is going to have to drive round with a busted windscreen for a few more days.

Steve

 

[billj]

Ring around other dealers, perhaps? One of my local dealers would have had to order it, but another had it in stock.

Think yourself lucky that they are willing to fit the proper trim. I bought two 9000s last summer that had had windscreen replacements and had been fitted with the big chunky "universal" trims that windscreen muppets seem so fond of. Talk about wind noise...

I actually retro-fitted the proper Saab trim to one of them. Not easy, but worth doing as the existing trim had started to come away in the corners.

 

[wrighar]

I think Saab are having a bit of a parts problem currently, I've had several bits on order for 6 weeks now.

Rumour has it that they are in the middle of setting up a UK parts distribution centre and this is adding a considerable delay to getting parts as they are not stocked up yet.

Andrew

 

[billj]

They already have a UK distribution centre. I'm told the problem is that they are in the process of moving it from one part of the country to another (from Reading to Luton, I think?)

 

[bambo]

That wouldnt by any chance be to the VA*xh4ll plant that (iirc) was due to close? handy to the easyjet terminal if I ever cant wait for something.

 

[billj]

No idea, I'm afraid. I heard it from one of the guys at Elkparts.
I'd have thought the Vauxhall plant would be much bigger than they needed. However, it's possible they would be sharing with some other GM functions. Not sure why they'd close a huge factory and then move people back in, though.

 

[murphwiz]

I'd imagine they will be using part of the Vauxhall parts distribution centre....
Aliging it with the recent changes to merge GM and SAAB operations together around the world...