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Cover your windscreen when taking out cheap car insurance

Windscreens are a vital part of any vehicle and can often be damaged, so when buying cheap car insurance it is important to make sure your car glass is covered .

Stone chips are the most common damage caused to windscreens. Gravel flicked up from the road or even grit flung out from winter salting lorries can lead to the formation of those characteristic little star-shaped chips often in your field of vision.

And once there, that chip won't go away. Starting often very small, there it sits where, unfortunately, it can't simply be rubbed out. The only thing it can really do is get bigger.

Pouring boiling water on to a chip to clear a frosty window is not a good idea - such an extreme change in temperature can lead to the windscreen being irreparably damaged.

Even just driving about the roads could lead to further damage. A sudden jolt from a pothole in a country lane has been known to cause stone chips to crack.

Best thing to do then is get it repaired before it can develop into a more serious problem - and better to do this sooner rather than later.

For drivers who have glass cover on their insurance policies (an option available with Duck2water car insurance), repairs are usually free.

Using special windscreen repair tools and clear resin, chips can be treated and made virtually invisible - restoring glass permanently to almost new condition.

By organising timely repairs, motorists are potentially saving themselves the cost of replacing entire windscreens. Even with glass cover, car owners will still have to pay an excess of usually between £50 and £100.

Sometimes the worst can happen and entire windscreens can shatter. If this happens to any motorist, they will definitely be wishing they had windscreen cover.

It can be a terrifying experience when a windscreen shatters. While such occasions may be thankfully rare, one driver recalls the time when a heart-stopping incident occurred while he was driving in Sussex.

He said, "It was a busy morning on the roads just after rush hour. We had just set off from home to visit relatives in Kent. My wife and children were passengers in the car with me.

"A lorry was driving ahead of me, apparently a safe distance away. One minute we were driving quite normally and then the next minute all hell broke loose.

"It was kind of lazy movement. Suddenly I saw something bouncing up the bonnet of the car. Almost in slow motion, the object spun and rolled up the bonnet.

"The object I later discovered was a large stone. Within a second or two it hit the windscreen and the windscreen buckled and shattered instantly. While the glass didn't break off into the car, there was no way to see the road or driving ahead anymore - the windscreen had cracked into hundreds and hundreds of tiny thumbnail-sized fragments.

"It was winter and I was wearing a pair of warm driving gloves. There wasn't time to scream. No-one said anything in the car. With barely a moment's thought, I punched a hole in the windscreen ahead of me so that I could see out. Then I quickly indicated to steer on to the verge and braked to a stop. Thankfully, no other cars crashed into me. Only then did everyone start talking, just relieved we had escaped unharmed."

Because windscreens and surrounding windows are such key parts of motor vehicles, often making up about half of a car's exterior surface, it is no surprise to learn that damage is frequently sustained by this glass.

However, there's no need to be worried about chips or other damage to windscreens or car windows. Provided you've opted for windscreen cover when choosing a cheap car insurance deal, it is possible to organise repairs very easily. Go on - for your own safety as well as your wallet, make sure your windscreen is insured.

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