Windscreen chip or crack in a rental car: what to do

Can I keep driving with a chipped or cracked windscreen?

Usually you can drive carefully to somewhere sensible, but where the damage is matters more than how big it looks. A small chip near the bottom corner on the passenger side is a nuisance. The same chip at eye level in front of the driver can spread, scatter light at night and eventually block your view.

Queensland's Light Vehicle Inspection Manual, which inspectors use for safety certificates, gives a practical yardstick. It calls the area swept by the original wipers the "primary vision area", and lists these as reasons to reject a car:^[1]

• the primary vision area is cracked, scored, chipped or damaged in a way that impairs the driver's vision or damages the wiper blades
• the driver's half of that area (the right half in an Australian car) has a bull's-eye or star fracture more than 16 mm across, or a crack more than 150 mm long, that goes through more than one layer of the laminated glass or interferes with vision
• the inside layer of a laminated windscreen is cracked

Separately, the road rules say a driver must not drive unless they have a clear view of the road, and traffic, ahead, behind and to each side.^[2] If a crack runs across your line of sight, or the glass is shattered, pull over somewhere safe and call us rather than pushing on.

What should I do the day it happens?

1. Note where and when. A stone thrown up on the Gateway Motorway at 8am is easier to explain than a chip you noticed a week later. Write down the road, the time and anything you saw, such as a truck or roadworks.
2. Photograph it. Take one close-up with something for scale beside it (a coin or a key works), one from the driver's seat showing where it sits in your view, and one of the whole car with the number plate. Your phone dates the photos.
3. Tell us the same day. Call 0414 427 760 or reply to your booking email with the photos. Clause 9.1 asks you to report any damage immediately.
4. If we can't answer the phone, email info@rentzy.com.au so there's a written record with the time on it.
5. Keep driving gently until we've spoken, if the damage is small and out of your line of sight. Avoid slamming doors, potholes and speed humps taken fast; flexing the body can spread a crack.

Who arranges the repair?

We do. Under clause 8.1 Rentzy maintains the car, and clause 8.2 says not to arrange repairs without our consent. That rules out booking a mobile windscreen service to your workplace on your own, even a cheap resin repair, unless we've agreed to it first.

If we agree that you can sort out a minor cost yourself, keep the receipt: approved minor costs are reimbursed when you show it. For anything bigger we'll book the repairer and tell you when the car needs to be available. Clause 8.1 asks you to make the car available on reasonable notice.

Glass work isn't only about the glass. The manual notes that some cars have a camera or sensor at the top of the windscreen for safety features, and tint there must not get in its way.^[1] It's one more reason the repair goes through us rather than the first shop you find.

Do I pay for a windscreen chip in a rental car?

What the terms say, at the time of writing: under clause 9.2 the renter is liable for loss of or damage to the car during the rental up to the renter's excess of A$2,500 per incident (or the amount in your booking). Clause 9.3 lifts that limit for windscreen damage caused by misuse, and for failing to report an incident.

Two things follow. Reporting promptly protects you, because failing to report is itself one of the clause 9.3 cases. And a chip from a stone on a normal road is a different thing from damage caused by misuse, such as driving on a road the terms rule out. Clause 7.2 says no unsealed roads unless reasonable for access, and no off-road driving.

Any charge is itemised after the car comes back, with the evidence, and you can dispute it within the window on fees and charges. How the excess and the bond fit together is in bond, deposit and excess. Your own policies may help with the excess: see does your car insurance cover a rental car.

How can I lower the chance of a chip?

• Hang back from trucks and trailers, especially ones carrying gravel, soil or building waste. Most chips come from stones thrown up by the vehicle in front.
• Slow down through roadworks with loose surfaces, and don't sit close behind another car there.
• Keep to sealed roads. It's a condition of the rental as well as a way of keeping stones off the glass.
• Use the wipers on a wet screen, not a dry one, and top up the washer bottle so grit isn't dragged across the glass.
• Don't stick things in the wiper area. The manual counts anything fitted to the windscreen that obstructs the driver's vision through that area, and posters or stickers that interfere with vision, as defects.

If you want a camera on the glass, see dashcams in Queensland for where one can go.

What if the chip was there when I picked the car up?

Point it out before you drive away. Clause 6.1 says we record the car's condition with photos at pickup, and asks you to check that record and tell us about any damage it doesn't show. Look at the windscreen from the driver's seat as well as from outside: small chips are easy to miss in bright sun.

If you find something within the first few minutes of driving, pull over and send us a photo straight away. A dated photo taken minutes after pickup tells the story clearly. The rest of the handover is in our pickup checklist.

Hail is the other common cause of glass damage in Brisbane. If a storm is on the way, see hail and your rental car.