Unfortunately, last Saturday when returning from Burrum Heads Beach parkrun, located in the Hervey Bay Region of Queensland about 3 hours drive north of my home at Redcliffe, I encountered one of the many potential hazards of travelling. Driving in the 110k speed zone on the major coastal highway, the Bruce Hwy/M1, in the outside lane and following at a reasonable safe distance behind the car in front, something hit my windscreen just above the bonnet height in the center between driver and passenger. A small chip and three small cracks instantly appeared all about 1cm in length in a star formation and thankfully didn’t impede my vision.
Upon arriving home and contacting my insurance provider, I was relieved to learn that I had glass and windscreen damage covered in my policy. Had I only selected glass cover when taking out the policy, the windscreen would not have been covered as glass only covers side windows and rear window. A trap for people taking out insurance. As an Australian one-dollar coin could not cover the entire area, my insurance provider determined that the windscreen must be replaced and not repaired The windscreen on my vehicle has modern technology including auto wipers, cameras and headsup, so very expensive about $2,000 Incidents like this are inexplicable as whilst the highway receives substantial criticism for its lack of quality/safety issues, and rightly so, the section where the incident occurred was excellent As the authorised repairer is 45 minutes drive from home and too inconvenient to arrange travel home, I had a 4 hour wait for the replacement. Ironically, I am driving up the same Highway next Saturday for parkrun, hoping history doesnt repeat