Any recommendations? I'm in Luton if that makes a difference?

Or am I best off just using auto glass etc?

Cheers billy

 

a pal of mine owns his own glass fitting company and will pm you his details

 

Go private with "mates recommendations" and the like usually means no warranty. Go down the insurance route and get the likes of Autoglass to do it, means lifetime warranty.

 

You not fully comp then that's the cheapest way plus your get a warranty

 

Auto glass are awful for customer service. I got my mk4 escort windscreen including fitting for Ł84 fitted from national windscreens.

 

I worked for auto glass for about 6 years and nationals for 1 year! I would not let them cowboys any wear near my car with any type of tool lol.
Granted it depends on the guy doing the job but for training and warrenty I'd only use autoglass on a bonded windscreen

 

Mine was just a rubber seal on a mk4. The bloke that came out to do mine was really professional! No complaint at all.

 

That's fair enough a string in is an easy job bonded is different. At autoglass you can not use Kent knives long knives chisels and things like that so don't damage the paint under the glass. If you do you have the latest primer and bonding stuff and rust proofing to cover paint damage. Most other places anything go's as long as the jobs done lol which can mean 4 or 5 years down the line under your glass on your nice clean car is rotten

 

Yeah it's just for a mk4 escort. No screen in there and I have a brand new rubber for it. Just need a screen and it fitted.

Think I've sorted now anyway.

Cheers

 

So that means because I don't work for Autoglass, all the windscreens I fit, the cars will have rotted in 4 to 5 years? Stick to talking about something you actually know, rather than conjecture, lad.... Autoglass aren't the only company that uses primer and "bonding stuff", as you call it, and if you think that just because it's Autoglass' policy to not use kent knives, chisels etc, that means no one at AG uses them, then you're more foolish than you sound.

Likewise, if you're insinuating that anyone that does use a kent knife, chisel etc, is a barbarian and scratches every car, doesn't prime them, and lets them rot, again, you're a chump.

However, I do agree with you (to a point) about Nationals. I'd rather go work at MacDonalds than work for them. Shambles of a company, and although I won't tar all their fitters with the same brush, it has to be recognised that many, if not the majority of them, are the sort that I wouldn't let them touch my car.

With that said, you will find similar fitters working for the big players too; Autoglass, Auto Windscreens and The AA. Nowhere near as many, but there are always some in every firm. Thankfully, the QC with the better companies usually means these fitters don't go undetected, and eventually get found out and given their walking papers.

But there are some very, and I mean VERY, good fitters at The AA and Auto Windscreens too, many of which I know personally and would let work on my car any day of the week. Same can be said for AG.

 

Easy enough to do yourself with one of those. Bear in mind with a new rubber, you're gonna wanna use plenty of slip to get it in. New rubbers are always tighter than the originals. On originals I'd usually just use glass cleaner to slip it in, but with a new rubber, I'd probably use a spray lubricant. Then take the time to clean (with a hand wipe type) under the rubber to remove any lubricant, and seal with Arbomast. It's unlikely an Escort will leak, but for the sake of it and piece of mind, I'd seal it.

 

Did I say all and do I not state it largely depends on who is doing the job? And I do know what im talking about I did the job for 7 years lol. Wear I work now we have nationals doing are glass and you still see them sat on the dash hacking the old bond back with a chisel!!
At least a large company like autoglass you would not get that with the easy wire system they use. Of course there's smaller specialist company's out there but largely it's not! Yes there's lesser skilled people in big company's like autoglass but your fitter grading means you don't work on certain cars my brother still works there and has done for over 12 years now so is graded at there top level meaning he dose the harder cars. As for tools they have tool box checks and guys loose there jobs for having the above tools

 

I was around the car glass business a long time I have friends who work for nationals windscreens direct autos and the aa most ex autoglass who got the sack for work standards lol. Yes they can fit screens but I wouldn't have let them do mine even back then at autoglass? No and still wouldn't now! And the big plus with autoglass is if the car gets damaged and it's not on the pre inspection no ifs or buts it gets payed for.

 

Well, I've been doing it a lot longer, and have worked for all of the above companies (excluding Nationals, as I wouldn't work there full stop) and you can take it from me - you're wrong. Again.

 

ok then mate thing I find is all people who don't work for auto glass slate them. When I went from autoglass to nationals as all the guys there wear use less I had to do all the body shop work as was the only one who could savd a bit of glass with out fucking it up! They had to order me in wire as they had never used it lol!
My original point was against national which I stand by having once worked there and still see there work practices wear I work now at Daf
And no matter what you say you can not best autoglass warrenty service if some thing gets damaged

 

The problem with Nationals is they don't provide adequate training - hence why you say you were the only one that can save glass without damaging it. Hence why I said I'd never work there - the company is run like a shambles, with next to know care given to fitters to improve or advance.

Your statement about "all people who don't work for auto glass slate them" is also incorrect. I don't work for AG and I don't slate them. A lot of people I work alongside, who clearly don't work for AG, also don't slate them.

Your statement about AG's warranty service is also incorrect. The big companies all have warranty services in place, and if a tech damages a car, the damage will be rectified and paid for by the company. Be it ordering and fitting new parts, respraying paint work, etc. AG's service is not as "no quibble as you make out" - if anything, the AA's warranty procedure is more "no quibble" than AG's. At AG, much of the warranty stuff is down to branch managers. They are allowed to haggle with the customer over where the work is done, how much it can cost, and even simply waive an excess if that will stop the customer per-suing a claim; The AA don't do any of that - if it's damaged, it gets replaced. Simple as that. No dropping execs', no setting price limits or paying in lieu of work done. Customer service takes over, and if it's legitimately a tech-at-fault claim, then the AA get the car into an approved body shop, get the work done, pay for it in full, and most of the time, provide a courtesy car too.

AG are also not the only company that is wire-focused. All the big players have wiring kits. I ran the AG "Ezi-Wire" during it's launch and test phase many years back, before it went onto ever fitters van, and was part of a new program team dedicated to rectifying warranty work (hence why having the wiring kit a year or two before everyone else got it), that (nearly) every branch ran. I have a wiring kit at the AA too - looks different, does the same job. Auto Windscreens also have one - looks different, does the same job.

AG fitters are supplied the same cut back tools as the AA supplies - both of which got the idea from Auto Windscreens (who had it first, since the tool and blades were launched by Panther tools, who have a long standing partnership with AW).

All three companies have pre and post inspection paperwork, and if not adhered to, will result in disciplinary action.

So please, if you know as much as you claim to, please don't make blanket statements that are barely based in fact.

 

Ok mate