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GREAT REPAIR SHOP: Steben's Auto Glass - West Hartford, CT
I thought I would post a brief review of a GOOD glass shop in central CT.
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The windshield on my Clubman cracked last week (I drive a lot of highway - I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner). After contacting the insurance, I called my SA (New Country) and asked him for a good glass dealer. He recommended Steben's Auto Glass in West Hartford, CT.
[Friday] I called them up and spoke with Peter. He was nice, and walked me through the process. The shop cooperates with Traveler's Insurance, so he gave me the #'s to call. After a couple calls, I was on the phone with both Peter and a Traveler's rep to verify I wanted OEM glass for the car (I guess it's an insurance technicality that the agent has to confirm that with you BOTH on the phone together), then the agent left and Peter told me he'd be in touch when he had the glass in his hands. (he ordered from New Country directly, so along with the VIN I gave him, he knew the *exact* part # to order)
[following Monday] I got a call from Peter saying the glass was in and we scheduled for Thursday (that was due to MY work schedule).
[Thursday] Steve and Carlos show up @ my address (well my in-law's place since they have a garage and it was threatening rain) about 8:40 AM (appt. was for 8:30 but who's counting). These guys were definitely PROs - they were almost choreographed in what exactly to do on a MINI - how the trim comes off, how to remove the wipers and bottom trim, how to safely remove the rain sensor, etc etc. I asked Carlos how many MINI's they had done and he said "probably about 250 or so" and he also made some comments about the gen1 MINI's that had the stress cracking issues (so I could tell he'd been doing this for awhile).
Within 10 minutes they had all the trim removed and the windshield ready to come out. Another 15 and the old windshield was out, the opening prepped and the new windshield in. Before another 25 minutes (e.g. less than 1 hour from starting), they were finishing up the job and cleaning the glass. They even transferred the inside decals (a parking decal and a state registration sticker which isn't SUPPOSED to come off ;) ).
And the best thing - you can't tell the glass was even replaced. I didn't pay a cent out of pocket thanks to insurance cooperation, and it took less than an hour of my time. Luckily I had another car to use while the urethane cured (they told me to let it sit for 2 hours but I'm leaving it inside a garage for the rest of the day).
This was the 2nd time I've had a windshield replaced in a car - the first was on an older Pontiac - a MUCH simpler job than a MINI (with trim and rain sensor, etc etc), yet a different shop took nearly twice as long and did a worse job than these guys.
