Ugh, dont you hate it when you $%^* up...

Ok, long story short, I was playing with a flare gun after I had been drinking a bit, and a flare ricoched off the ground and flew right into the windshield of my friend's week old 2003 mincooper S.
I promised him I would pay to get everything fixed, so I went to the BMW dealership, asked for the quote.

Me: "I need a new mini windshield"
Dealer: "Ok, lets see, thats 240 dollars for the glass..."
Me: "ok"
Dealer: "...and THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS for installation"
Me: ...

Thankfully the dealer gave me the number to a local glass shop they use. The damage isn't all that bad. There was a lot of burnt encrusted flare material on the windshield, and when we scraped most of it off , there were 2 tiny, (pencilhead) sized , uh, divot things, but not exactly chips. They are really dark though as we didnt have a fine enough tool to get the burn crap out.

I know its extreme to replace a window for 2 tiny divots, but its a new car and I would expect the same from any of my friends who mssed up my week old ride.

Anyone with glass experience? Is this fixable to the point where it looks like new, or is my only option a new windshield?
If so, goodbye rockrails, so long optima,....

OK, lets look at this.....

"I was playing with a flare gun"

Any comment needed here?

"after I had been drinking a bit"

Hmmmmm

"I know its extreme to replace a window for 2 tiny divots, but its a new car and I would expect the same from any of my friends who mssed up my week old ride"

Yup, I also would expect this....sounds to me like the right thing to do.

"Is this fixable to the point where it looks like new"

No, it will never look "like new".

Sorry dude, I know this is not what you were looking for here, do the right thing pony up the bucks, and make it right. This is the type of thing that can fester with time and cause problems down the road. The fact you are still alive means you have a friend that understands that things happen, and trusts you to make it right, you cannot put a price on friendship like that.

Rev

I agree, eat the window replacment cost, just be happy it didn't land on a painted surface or go thru an open window into the interior.
The 'playing with a flare gun' though just begs for some redneck jokes..... as well as brings to mind a certain C&W entertainer the "Wheres your sign" comment to mind

Redneck pranks and week old european imports don't mix well. For a second I thought the flare was going to be sucked into the cowl induction!

Here is a question. Minicooper has a great warrany (3yr bumper to bumper, unlimited mileage) and you even get free oil changes and free carwash/wax. If I buy the OEM Mini glass, and have it installed at somewhere other than the BMW dealer, is that grounds to viod the warranty?

You don't really think that bmw dealer is going to install the glass themselves do you ??? Stuff like that they sub contract out and charge a premium... unless they have a subcontractor already on site renting building space that does glass and body work.

Its a big dealership and I know for a fact that they install glass on the premises. But any word about the warrany issue as long as its genuine minicooper glass?

Find out the actual cost, and offer that dollar amount to your friend. It's the tight thing to do.

Then, if HE wants to live with a 'couple dark not-quite divots', he can throw a hell of a party (with booze but no flare guns)



Can't one of those $50 repair-any-windshield-star places fix the damage?

-Rick

Update

I had every intention of paying up, as I said before, its what i would want if I was driving a week old car and my friend messed up the windshield. It's definitely worth keeping friendship stress down as I went to high shool with this guy and we have had good times. Plus, his family is very well conected in the entertainment industry so hes a good professional liason for later in life...plus I get backstage passes, to to any concert... anywhere.


He ended up getting the windshield replaced, and the toal cost was 590 dollars...
Sooo... check out the classifieds and buy all my crap. Everything is in good condition and EVERYTHING MUST GO!!!!

The worst part is that I wanted to keep the old windshield and take it to the BMW dealership and smash it all over the parking lot. At least that way I would have a little satisfaction in losing 600 bucks over windshield chips. But the bastards at the dealeship broke it in hlaf when removing it!!!!!

sounds like a good friend

Just do what you gotta to keep everyone one happy. I laughed when I read your post, I'm sure it isn't funny now but it will be. I did something similar with a potato gun ( thats redneck). Just do whats right, and you will both be laughing about it.

Your a ****ING IDIOT!