New Thing #44: A Broken Windshield

Window_CrackWho do you call when your windshield's busted? If you live in New England and have listened to any AM radio you know the answer to that question.

As a matter of fact, you know of many windshield replacement companies, all of whom advertise on the radio.

In my 15+ years of living in Massachusetts, and 10+ as a car owner, I've never needed to utilize any of those windshield-replacement businesses.

Until now.

Obviously, this was an unexpected New Thing. (Editor's note: I think I'm using too many quotation marks. New style guide rule: I will capitalize, not set off in quotes, New Thing when referring to these events.)

On Monday my wife took the Venza and she said a rock hit the windshield and left an impression. (That impression is the picture below.)

Tuesday I took the Venza, and I'm not sure anything even hit the car, but that one impression became a line almost all the way across the windshield. (That line is pictured above. The damage looks worse from the inside of the car than the outside...but when you touch it from the outside, it feels like anything that touches the glass will cause it to all fall apart.)

She called to see if it could be replaced in the parking lot at work...the company was all booked.

They're going to come to the house Wednesday, perhaps as you're reading this.

That's kind of a bummer. Even though things are so busy at work that I don't know that I could take even 5 minutes to come out and meet the glass fixers, I would have liked to have seen the process.

Because if you've heard the commercials, you know they come to your car. They replace the glass anywhere. They have specially trained technicians, and portable ovens that keep the glass at just the right temperatures.

It sounds like it would be a process that was worth watching.

As it is, hopefully the new windshield goes smoothly. And in the future my only experience with windshield replacement companies is the occasional (constant?) annoying commercial on the radio.

Window_Impression