NOVUS® Says Repair First

Generally, we associate car safety with seat belts, air bags, brakes and other things of the sort. Rarely do we think of the windscreen as one of the top five car safety parts. But according to CarCare.org Web site dedicated to the education of automotive safety the windscreen, by far, is one of the most important parts on your vehicle. And, NOVUS®, the windscreen repair experts agree.
“The windscreen keeps you inside your vehicle while driving and it supports the roof while preserving the structural integrity so the roof won’t collapse and crush the driver and passengers. It also supports the passenger side airbag during deployment,” said Keith Beveridge, senior vice president of NOVUS®Franchising, Inc. “Because of the safety blanket the windscreen provides, it is vital that you make sure any damaged windscreen is first repaired and in cases when the windscreen cannot be repaired that it is replaced properly and safely.”

NOVUS® is reputably known as the “Repair First, Replace When Necessary®” company and is best known around the world as the inventor of windscreen repair. According to Beveridge, there are many reasons why repairing the windscreen vs. replacing it is beneficial to consumers. “It is best to save the original factory bond between the windscreen and vehicle because once the windscreen is removed from the car and the bond is broken, it is less likely to be as safe as the original one,” Beveridge said. According to Beveridge, repairing the windscreen saves both the expensive new windscreen and the safety bond. The price to repair a windscreen is only a fraction of the cost to have it replaced and repairing can take half the time of replacing the windscreen.

“NOVUS® franchises have repaired over 45 million windscreens since 1972,” Beveridge said, adding that their repairs restore the strength and clarity to the glass and prevents the further spread of damage. “We are able to repair about 70 percent of the windscreens we inspect. We say that if the damaged area on the windscreen can be covered by a credit card, the chances are excellent that it can be repaired.”

A windscreen is repaired with an injection of a specially formulated resin into the damaged area. The resin is then cured and polished to restore structural strength and clarity to the glass. If a windscreen is replaced improperly, the windscreen could become detached from the vehicle in an accident. If that occurs, the passenger side airbag may not deploy properly and if the windscreen becomes separated from the vehicle, the occupants if not wearing their seat belts could likely be ejected through the windscreen opening.

Having your windscreen repaired instead of replaced is also environmentally friendly, Beveridge added. “Windscreens are, generally, not recycled so having your windscreen repaired keeps the glass out of the landfills.” There are nearly 100 NOVUS® franchises in Australia and numerous locations worldwide. NOVUS® franchises have performed high quality windscreen repairs with a customer satisfaction index exceeding 99 percent.