# Arto windscreen



## stirlingtri

We have a 2004 Arto 69GL. A stone from a lorry recently broke the windscreen. Autoglass are the nominated repairers by our insurance company. They have now fitted 2 new screens, botrh of which have cracked with stress. They have ordered another new screen and are soon to have a third go. To be fair to autoglass they are shouldering they cost. Has anyone had similar problems? and if so any comments or advice.

Alistair & Moira (Relative newbies but loving it)


----------



## gaspode

Hi stirlingtri

Welcome to MHF.  

Sounds like some expensive breakages there, how did they manage to crack two screens, were they damaged during installation?
I haven't heard of anyone having a similar problem with an Arto before but certainly I know that last year one of our members had a replacement Hymer "A" class windscreen damaged by Autoglass before they got around to fitting it, like yours they had to order another one and stand the cost. 8O


----------



## sweetie

A friend of ours had 5 screens in 12 months in his arto! was so peed off in the end he sold it.

Steve


----------



## teemyob

*Glass*

See Here!

TM


----------



## b16duv

Sorry to hear of your problems.

Peter Hambilton in Preston has Arto screens in stock, and has a reliable fitter he uses. May be worth a phone call if you can't get it fixed by autoglass.

His website is www.hymerdirect.com

David


----------



## stirlingtri

Thanks everyone. Very useful. Autoglass have commented that the screens they have obtained from Travelworld vary slightly in dimensions from the original screen !!. They say that the screens are made in batches and that they are obtaining one from Belgium manufactured from a different batch. I will wait and see. If this one fails then thanks for the comment about Hambilton Engineering. So far I am only the excess of £60 out of pocket.

Alistair


----------



## PAT4NEIL

Alistair & Moira 

We too had 3 screens over about a 10 month period from autoglass, on our A Class 

The first two didnt, look like a good fit and cracked in no time. 

I discovered that Autoglass have a bus and lorry division who are better at handling big screens. 

The last time I insisted that it was fitted by them and they appear to have done a better job. They will send the guys out to your local branch to do the fit. 

This is not a service that they freely advertise, and you have to be quite insistent. 

I managed to speak to the bus and lorry fitter who told me ( off record ) that the training the guys in the local depots get would not cover them to fit big screens ( hence the specialist department ) and A class screens should always be fitted by them . He also said that the vehicle should be parked in the depot overnight before the fit as the temperature of the vehicle should match the temperature of the screen going in to avoid stress . 

Good luck and I hope this helps 

Neil


----------



## neilmac

We had loads of hassles with Autoglass and a replacement screen for our Bel-Air.

The fitters were great and in the end did what appears to be a perfect job.

But Autoglass's admin - central buying department, glass carrying and communication between them and insurance company was absolutely dire.

They damaged a screen en route, they daren't take the responsibility for carrying another so actually employed another specialist glass carrying company to transport it to their fitting depot. They 'forgot' to order the screen rubber - only realised when they turned up to fit the screen!

Throughout the process they told countless lies about the whereabouts of the replacement, sometimes it was coming from Italy, sometimes it was coming from Japan. I had already established for them that the screen was in stock at Swift in Yorkshire.

Complete shambles!

(Edit to add: And, this was using their bus and coach department!)

But as said the end result is perfect


----------



## linal

Hi like Gaspode said it was 3rd time lucky for my Hymer but the 2 previous were cracked prior to fitting.
Like Neil said the Bus/train/coach div. is the way to go.
Good luck Alex.


----------



## stirlingtri

Thanks for all the help. I have now had new windscreen no 3 fitted by autoglass. Their comments were that all 3 windscreens had been supplied by Travelworld but that the first 2 were by a substitute manufacturer (presumably that means cheap!!), but that windscreen no 3 was from the origional manufacturer in Belgium. The fitters said that fitting it was like night and day. The first two had to be pushed and shoved to fit and eventually stress cracked. Windscreen number 3 just fitted snuggly as soon as they lifted into place. 

So a word of caution - Make sure you get the real thing first time round.


Alistair

PS drove to Keswick at the weekend and no signs of any bother.


----------

