USAA Windshield Replacement in Fayetteville: How the Claim Works

Auto Glass Replacement Fayetteville is Impex Auto Glass serving Fayetteville, NC. Impex Auto Glass is not affiliated with USAA, and nothing here speaks for USAA. What follows is how comprehensive glass claims usually work under North Carolina rules, which apply to a USAA policy as they do to any other. Your own policy and your insurer decide what is covered.

Which part of the policy pays for glass

In North Carolina, a broken windshield is normally a comprehensive claim. The NC Department of Insurance describes Other Than Collision (comprehensive) coverage as paying the cost of repair less any deductible, and lists breakage of glass and missiles or falling objects among the losses it covers. A stone off a truck on I-95, a branch in a storm and a cracked windshield from a cold snap all sit there.

That means two things matter before you claim. First, whether you carry comprehensive at all: liability-only policies do not pay for your own glass. Second, what your comprehensive deductible is, and whether the policy has full glass coverage, which some policies include and which pays glass claims without the deductible. North Carolina has no law that waives the deductible for glass, so in NC it is the policy that decides. Your declarations page lists both.

A USAA glass claim, step by step

The order below is how most glass claims run. Your insurer’s own instructions come first where they differ.

1. Look at the damage and the policy. Note where the crack or chip is and how big it is. Check your comprehensive deductible and whether you have full glass coverage.
2. Decide whether to claim. If the job costs less than your deductible, a claim pays nothing. If you have full glass coverage or a low deductible, a claim usually makes sense.
3. Report the claim. Use the claim channels your policy documents give. Have the date, the cause if you know it, the vehicle and where the damage is.
4. Choose the shop. If the insurer suggests a glass shop or a glass network, you may use it, but you do not have to. North Carolina law lets you pick, as explained below.
5. Give the shop the claim details. Your insurer’s name, the policy number and the claim number. Impex’s blog describes direct insurance billing and handling the insurance claim process for you.
6. The glass is replaced. The windshield is checked by VIN, replaced, and the forward camera calibrated if your vehicle needs it.
7. You pay your deductible, if any. The rest is settled between the shop and the insurer, or reimbursed to you, depending on how the claim was set up.

Your right to choose who replaces the windshield

This is the part many drivers do not know. North Carolina’s anti-steering statute, G.S. 58-3-180, says a policy covering damage to a motor vehicle shall allow the claimant to select the repair service or source for the repair of the damage, and that the amount the insurer owes shall be paid regardless of the repair service selected.

• You choose. The policy must allow you to select the repair service.
• The payment is the same. The insurer owes the same amount whichever shop you choose.
• A recommendation comes with a notice. If an insurer recommends a shop, it must tell you that you are under no obligation to use it, that you may use the shop of your choice, that the payment is the same either way, and whether it has a financial interest in the shop it recommends.
• No insurer-owned shop can be required. An insurer may not require repair at a shop it owns.

The NC Department of Insurance puts it in one line: an insurance company cannot require you to go to a particular repair shop. So if you want Impex to replace the windshield at your home in Fayetteville, tell your insurer that is your choice when you report the claim, and give Impex the claim number.

If your policy was written in another state

Military families move often, and a car in Fayetteville may still be insured on a policy written for another state. Glass rules differ from state to state. Florida’s statute says the deductible shall not be applicable to damage to the windshield. South Carolina’s says a policy deductible does not apply to automobile safety glass. North Carolina has no such law.

Which rules apply to your claim depends on the policy, not on where the car happens to be parked. If you have moved to Fayetteville on orders and are not sure which state your policy is written for, ask your insurer before you assume the deductible applies or does not. Once the vehicle is registered in North Carolina, it also needs the annual NC safety inspection before the registration can be renewed; our article on a car’s glass after a move to Fayetteville covers what that inspection does and does not check.

Repair or replacement under a claim

Not every claim is a new windshield. A small chip may be repairable: ROLAGS, the windshield repair standard, says stone breaks up to two inches across and single cracks up to 14 inches are repairable, and Impex’s rule is that repair may work when damage is small, shallow and away from the edges. A crack at the edge, damage in front of the driver or damage where the camera looks through usually means replacement. Ask your insurer how a repair is treated under your policy, because it can differ from a replacement.

Calibration belongs in the same claim

On many newer vehicles a new windshield means the forward camera behind the mirror has to be calibrated. I-CAR lists removing the windshield among the events that may require the camera to be aimed, because that camera runs lane departure warning, collision braking and adaptive cruise control. Impex says it performs ADAS calibration on site immediately after windshield replacement, in between 30 minutes and 2 hours. When you report the claim, mention that the vehicle has a windshield camera, so the calibration is part of the same job.

Will a windshield claim count against you?

In North Carolina, Safe Driver Incentive Plan points are charged for convictions and at-fault accidents. A comprehensive glass claim is neither, so it does not add SDIP points. The NCDOI also notes that many companies use frequency of claims, at fault and not at fault, in their underwriting. So a glass claim adds no points, but how often you claim can still matter at renewal. If the job is close to your deductible, it can be worth paying it yourself.

What to have ready when you call

• The vehicle’s year, make and model, and the VIN: on the dash at the base of the windshield and on the driver’s door frame
• Your insurer’s name, the policy number and, if you have filed, the claim number
• Where the damage is, its rough size, and a photo if you can take one
• Whether the vehicle has a camera behind the mirror, a rain sensor or a heads-up display
• Where the vehicle will be for the visit: home, work or another lot

Impex works with all major insurance providers and comes to the vehicle across Fayetteville and the I-95 towns, from Lumberton to Dunn. If the rear glass is the problem rather than the windshield, see back windshield replacement in Fayetteville; for a door window, car window replacement in Fayetteville, NC. The same claim rules apply to both.

Questions people ask