Does Comprehensive Cover a Windshield? The North Carolina Answer

It is written by Impex Auto Glass, which runs this site and works with all major insurance providers. It is general information; your own policy and your insurer decide what is paid.

What the NC Department of Insurance says

North Carolina’s insurance regulator, the NCDOI, describes the coverage under its formal name, ‘Other Than Collision (Comprehensive)’. It says the coverage ‘pays the cost of repair or ACV of your automobile less any deductible.’ It then lists the kinds of loss the coverage pays for, and two of them describe almost every windshield claim:

• ‘Breakage of glass’. The plainest possible answer to the question on this page.
• ‘Missiles or falling objects’. A stone flicked up by a truck tire or a branch coming down on the car is the kind of thing those words describe.

So when a stone off I-40 stars the windshield, or a limb comes down on a car parked under the trees, the damage fits the comprehensive part of a North Carolina auto policy. The same goes for a door window or back glass broken by a thief.

Reading the rest of that sentence

Three phrases in the NCDOI’s description decide what a windshield claim pays.

‘The cost of repair’

Comprehensive pays to repair the damage. For glass, that covers both a resin repair of a chip and a new windshield when the old one cannot be saved, because replacing the glass is how that damage is repaired. On a car with a forward camera, the calibration that a new windshield brings with it is part of putting the car back the way it was; ask your insurer to confirm it is included on your claim.

‘Or ACV’

ACV is actual cash value, the value of the car itself. It is the measure for a car that is not worth repairing, which is rarely the question with a windshield.

‘Less any deductible’

This is the part that decides what you pay. Your comprehensive deductible comes off the covered cost, unless your policy treats glass differently. North Carolina has no law that waives the deductible for glass, unlike Florida for windshields and South Carolina for all safety glass. Some policies include full glass coverage, which can lower or remove the deductible on glass; our page on full glass coverage explains how to check.

Does comprehensive cover windshield replacement, or only repair?

Both, as far as the NCDOI’s wording goes. The coverage pays the cost of repair, and when a windshield cannot be repaired, replacement is the repair. Which one your car needs is a question about the glass, not the policy.

	Windshield repair	Windshield replacement
Typical damage	Small, shallow chips away from the edges (Impex’s test)	Edge cracks, long cracks, damage in the driver’s view or the camera’s
Measure	ROLAGS: stone breaks up to two inches, single cracks up to 14 inches	The car stays parked until the adhesive allows; AGSC says the time varies with adhesive and weather
Camera	Usually untouched	May need calibration; I-CAR lists windshield removal as a trigger
Time, by Impex’s figures	Short	About one hour plus curing; most cars driving within two hours
Deductible	Applies, unless your policy says otherwise	Applies, unless your policy says otherwise

Because the deductible applies to both, a small repair often costs less than the deductible and is simpler to pay directly. A replacement, especially with calibration, is the job comprehensive does the most for.

If you do not have comprehensive

Not every policy carries comprehensive. If yours does not, do not assume glass damage is paid; ask your agent how it is treated on your policy. If the glass broke in a crash with another vehicle rather than from a stone or a falling object, ask your agent which coverage applies, because that is a different kind of claim.

Glass claims and insurance points in NC

This is where North Carolina gives a clearer answer than most states, because it has its own point system written down. Under the Safe Driver Incentive Plan, the NCDOI says points ‘are charged as follows for convictions and at-fault accidents’, and the point table that follows lists moving violations and at-fault accidents only. Its consumer FAQ adds that an insurance company cannot charge insurance points for an accident that was not your fault.

A comprehensive glass claim is not a conviction and not an at-fault accident. So it does not add SDIP points to your policy.

In practice that points to a simple habit: claim for the jobs comprehensive is meant for, like a replaced windshield with calibration, and think twice before claiming for a chip that costs less than, or close to, your deductible. If you have claimed several times recently, ask your agent before you add another.

Why not just drive on it?

Plenty of Raleigh drivers live with a cracked windshield for months, and the law does not force the issue. North Carolina’s annual safety inspection, under G.S. 20-183.3, checks the windshield wipers, not the glass itself, and no North Carolina statute or inspection rule sets a crack size. G.S. 20-135 does require safety glass in windshields, windows and doors, and G.S. 20-127(a) requires a wiper in good working order.

The better reason to deal with it is safety. The Auto Glass Safety Council describes the windshield as part of the car’s passenger restraint system: it helps the airbags deploy properly and helps keep people inside the car in a crash. A crack in your line of sight is a safety problem whatever the inspection checks, and a small chip repaired early is cheaper than the windshield it can turn into.

Who does the work on a comprehensive claim

You do. 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 owed is paid regardless of which you select. If an insurer recommends a shop, it must tell you that you are under no obligation to use it and whether it has a financial interest in it. The NCDOI’s FAQ says it in one line: an insurance company cannot require you to go to a particular repair shop.

So a comprehensive claim for a windshield in Raleigh can name Impex Auto Glass. Impex checks the glass against your car by VIN, comes to where the car is parked, and performs ADAS calibration on site immediately after the windshield replacement when the car needs it, with static and dynamic calibration in one visit. Impex says most calibrations take between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Its claims guide says it handles the insurance claim process for you, with direct insurance billing.

Putting it together

1. Check your declarations page: comprehensive, its deductible, and any glass line.
2. Get the job quoted, so you know whether it is a repair or a replacement and what it costs.
3. Compare the quote with your deductible. Claim when the coverage does real work; pay directly for small jobs.
4. Report the claim and name Impex Auto Glass as your choice, or ask Impex to help.
5. Ask that camera calibration, if your car needs it, is on the same claim.

If your car is insured by one of the three companies Raleigh drivers search for most, the steps are written out for Progressive windshield replacement, State Farm windshield replacement and GEICO windshield replacement. The whole claim process, for any insurer, is on the homepage claims guide.

Questions drivers ask