Windshield Damage & Full Glass Coverage in New York

Last Updated on May 2, 2019

A nice peaceful drive in the country can quickly turn into a bad day when a semi-truck drives past you and kicks a large stone into your windshield, causing a giant crack.

Repairing or replacing windshields is not cheap, but it has to be done. Does your insurance cover this?

Glass breakage normally falls under Comprehensive coverage. However, Comprehensive requires a deductible. So, if you have a $1,000 deductible without the Full Glass Coverage endorsement, then you can’t collect any insurance money until that deductible is met.

What is Full Glass Coverage?

Full Glass Coverage takes the deductible out of any glass claims, meaning the insurance company will pay the full amount to repair/replace the damaged glass without any deductible applied.

Full Glass Coverage, also known as full safety glass, is optional in New York. If you’re buying your insurance directly online, then you’ll need to add this coverage separately.

If you have an agent broker your policy, she/he might not ask you if you want it, so you will need to ask about it.

However, you won’t be able to add this endorsement if you don’t have Comprehensive coverage on your vehicle.

If the estimate to repair your cracked windshield is $900, you’ll have to pay that entire amount if you have a $1,000 deductible.

Even if the estimate is $1,300, you would only collect $300 from the insurance company once your deductible is taken into account.

In this case, you still might not want to file a claim just to collect the $300, because there is always the chance that your insurance rates will increase at your next renewal.

If you have a $500 deductible, it gets a little better, but you are still going to be in a similar situation. You’ll still have to pay close to half of the repair bill, and there’s still the chance that your premium might go up at renewal time.

Having Full Glass Coverage helps with the first part of this problem. It is still a claim that might cause your premium to increase, but at least you won’t have to pay any part of the repair bill. The insurance company will pay the full cost to repair/fix the car’s damaged glass.

Full Glass Coverage is especially useful for people that like to have higher deductibles. They have a set amount of money set aside to pay the deductible on larger claims, but glass claims are always tricky because the repair bill always seems to be a similar amount as their deductible.

Adding the Full Glass Coverage enables these people to still have higher deductibles, but takes away the worry of paying for damaged windshields.

How To Get Full Glass Coverage

Insurance companies offer full glass coverage differently. Some offer it on a per/vehicle basis. This means that you can choose which vehicles you want it on and which ones you don’t, but the vehicle won’t be eligible for it unless you already have Comprehensive on it as well.

Companies that do it this way usually charge between $15-$30/per vehicle for the endorsement.

Other insurance companies offer Full Glass Coverage as part of a package. They might have something like an “Auto Enhancement” package, which usually includes various other coverages. Some of the common ones are increased limits on Rental Car Reimbursement and Personal Contents Coverage.

The price of the package will depend on the company and the coverages offered, but will usually range between $40-$100.

Since driving in New York is not allowed if you have an impaired windshield, you might need to rent a car while yours is being fixed.

So even if you have Full Glass Coverage and don’t have to pay to have it fixed, you will still need to pay to rent a car.

This is where having Rental Car Reimbursement coverage can also be a big benefit. The insurance company will pay you a certain amount to rent a car while yours is being fixed.

Rental Car Reimbursement has two limits: a per/day limit and a total limit. The amounts usually start at $20/day with a $600 maximum and go up in increments of $10 up to $50/day and $1,500 maximum.

The cost of this varies with each company, but you can generally expect to pay anywhere from $10-$40 for this coverage. It also only applies to vehicles that have Comprehensive coverage.

If you want to buy both Full Glass Coverage and Rental Car Reimbursement, it’s nice to have this in a package deal. The cost of the package is usually about the same, or less, as adding these two coverages separately. In addition, you can also pick up the extra coverages offered in the package.

Full Glass Coverage is an inexpensive way to avoid the headaches caused by cracked windshields.