Knock me over with a feather

[Redboy]

A suicidal crow took out my drivers door mirror today. I immediately stopped in layby unclipped the smashed glass dangling by a 2 wires and clipped the casing back together and was relieved to find that the motor still works. I intended to repair it myself, touch up a tiny paint chip and pop a fresh mirror glass in. Rang the dealer, good job I was sitting down. Just the mirror glass, £343!! I got home then noticed the 4-5 substantial scratches on the door window  glass, which don’t T-cut out costing  £124 and a small chip on the decorative bottom strip costing an even more ridiculous £108, all caused by the wing mirror flying backwards and the mirror glass whacking into the drivers door. I have been driving since 1977 and always repairs small issues but I have just claimed and am already in the clutches of the accident repair specialists for what is probably 3 hours work tops. I wonder how much my NCB protection is going to really protect my premium. 

[J.R.]

Your premium is not protected, in fact I can almost guarantee that it will rise, maybe significantly, your percentage NCB wont change but they will have you as a captive audience for further premium hikes, when you get quotes elsewhere you will find that you no longer have full or even any NCB with other companies.

 

Its a shame as you could have got a mirror glass cheaply enough to fit yourself (the price sounds like a whole new unit) and if the scratched window were to "accidentally" become shattered that would be replaced under your insurance without affecting your premium, NCB or rates from other insurers.

 

Which would leave you with a small chip on a decorative strip

Edited 17 October, 2022 by J.R.

[Bap33]

Bl**dy silly crow!

Current spare parts for side mirror are awfully expensive. 400€ for a simple heated and auto-dimming mirror (without blind spot functiin) for an octy 3 by  my local dealer.

That’s becoming crazy…

[Redboy]

1 hour ago, J.R. said:

Your premium is not protected, in fact I can almost guarantee that it will rise, maybe significantly, your percentage NCB wont change but they will have you as a captive audience for further premium hikes, when you get quotes elsewhere you will find that you no longer have full or even any NCB with other companies.

 

Its a shame as you could have got a mirror glass cheaply enough to fit yourself (the price sounds like a whole new unit) and if the scratched window were to "accidentally" become shattered that would be replaced under your insurance without affecting your premium, NCB or rates from other insurers.

 

Which would leave you with a small chip on a decorative strip

1. The mirror has  a blind spot sensor which I may or may not be able to undo then  reattach if it's not been broken, this has brought blind spot system warnings on the dash board, so I am not sure if there's a cheaper option. 2. Re the accidental shattering, I don't think it's a good idea to embellish an accident claim.  I just want it to look like it did prior to the crow's kamikaze mission. 

[ApertureS]

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

Its a shame as you could have got a mirror glass cheaply enough to fit yourself (the price sounds like a whole new unit)

Nope... this is the price... the glass has the photochromatic gel inside to dim electronically and its even more for a side assist mirror glass.

 

There is a new craze of people stealing mirror glasses now as they are between £300-400! crazy prices and no one makes a suitable aftermarket replacement. 

[J.R.]

Thanks for the info to you all.

 

Apologies to the OP, I now understand.

 

Yet another reason for me not to buy a newer car.

[Steviedakota]

Do you have to replace it with the same fancy glass?  I have the non-photo chromatic and to be honest I've never missed it. Maybe that is a cheaper option, assuming it mounts in the same way.

[Redboy]

On 18/10/2022 at 10:51, Steviedakota said:

Do you have to replace it with the same fancy glass?  I have the non-photo chromatic and to be honest I've never missed it. Maybe that is a cheaper option, assuming it mounts in the same way.

I understand and have replaced several mirrors over many years of driving, always very cheaply. The passenger mirror has the same auto dim, blind spot. Normally I would pay from my own pocket but even if I replaced the parts myself, it would still exceed twice the price of my excess. The car is probably still worth  private retail 22-24K at today’s inflated prices, so why would I not put it back to the state it was prior to the crazy crow damaging it? The auto dim mirrors are excellent in the dark months, easily coping with the glare of badly adjusted or LED lights particularly when using motorways and dual carriageways 

[numskull]

On 17/10/2022 at 19:13, Redboy said:

The mirror has  a blind spot sensor which I may or may not be able to undo then  reattach

You will; it’s the tiny block connector I’ve circled. I’d imagine it shorted when it broke, hence the warning. 
The white connector is the auto dim socket and the two prongs are the heated element connectors.

 

Edited 20 October, 2022 by numskull

[Redboy]

 Update: After confirming my name, address and post code to the same lady co-ordinator who had rung me 15 minutes before. (In case I had moved house in the last 1/4 of an hour)  😁  I was connected through to the repair estimator and said to him it's probably 2-3 hours work,to fit the new mirror, door strip and remove/refit door trim to replace the window. It's booked in and it should be done this Monday coming. Amusingly I was reminded to leave the locking wheel nut with them!! Also for those budding spies... to remove any dash cam....so perhaps you can't see them blasting down the by-pass in it. 

[nicknorman]

2 hours ago, numskull said:

You will; it’s the tiny block connector I’ve circled. I’d imagine it shorted when it broke, hence the warning. 
The white connector is the auto dim socket and the two prongs are the heated element connectors.

 

well to be accurate there is no blind spot sensor in the mirror, just a light that is activated by the blind spot sensor that is under the rear bumper.

[numskull]

8 hours ago, nicknorman said:

well to be accurate there is no blind spot sensor in the mirror, just a light that is activated by the blind spot sensor that is under the rear bumper.

well to be accurate it isn’t a light in the mirror glass, it’s an LED, but that’s just as useful and irrelevant as your comment was, in the context of the OP concern regarding the detachment and reattachment of the cable. 🙄

[ApertureS]

39 minutes ago, numskull said:

well to be accurate it isn’t a light in the mirror glass, it’s an LED, but that’s just as useful and irrelevant as your comment was, in the context of the OP concern regarding the detachment and reattachment of the cable. 🙄

well to be even more accurate there isn’t a LED in the mirror glass. There is an LED behind the mirror glass on a plastic backing plate that shines through the glass 😂😂😂

[nicknorman]

3 hours ago, numskull said:

well to be accurate it isn’t a light in the mirror glass, it’s an LED, but that’s just as useful and irrelevant as your comment was, in the context of the OP concern regarding the detachment and reattachment of the cable. 🙄

I disagree. Firstly my point was to try to make the process seem less daunting. Some sort of sensor makes it seem complicated, with issues of complexity and alignment to worry about. Secondly general misconceptions have a habit of coming back to bite later. And thirdly, an LED (in this context) is a type of light.

[numskull]

I guess actually showing the location of the specific connectors to the OP, hopefully, would have allayed any fears. Anyway, all this is irrelevant now.