Answers to your car questions

QUESTION

Happy 2021 to you Dennis. I look forward to reading your column “religiously” every Friday in the Record. My query to you is quite applicable at this time of the year. Last year, my neighbour was about to pour a kettle of boiling water on his windshield to de-ice it. I stopped him and offered him a scraper. Yesterday on the weather channel, there was a tip from a man using a sandwich bag filled with hot water to de-ice a windshield. What is the consensus on pouring hot or boiling water on a frozen windshield? What is the opinion on this from glass shops, body shops, etc.?

Fred from Guelph

ANSWER

You are correct Fred. Pouring hot water on a cold windshield or any glass surface on a vehicle will and can cause the glass to shatter. Pounding the frozen ice off a windshield with an ice scraper can also cause the windshield to crack. It is always a good idea to shut the wipers off any time that you park your vehicle but it is most important when freezing rain or snow is forecasted. Failure to do this will destroy the windshield wipers or the windshield wiper’s motor. I can imagine all sorts of dangers with someone filling a sandwich bag with hot water to try and remove ice from the windshield. The body shops and glass shops will most likely tell you not to use hot water after you have cracked your first windshield and they know that you will not do that again. The best method is to start the vehicle and put the heat to the windshield and also put on the rear defogger. In about three to five minutes you can scrape the ice off the windshield with little or no trouble. It takes about the same amount of time to boil water and put it a sandwich bag but it is much safer to let the engine do the job for you.

QUESTION

I hope that you can help me get my money back from an accident that I was involved in. I was travelling on a country road about five weeks ago when a steel rod fell off a truck that I was following and bounced off my hood, then hit my grill and fell under the car. The steel rod however, damaged my steering rack. The tow truck took my car to a garage that they generally use and I was told that they could fix the car in a day or two. From the garage, I phoned my insurance company and they spoke to the garage and arrangements were made for me to get a courtesy car. The car was ready in three days and when I went to pick up the car, the garage told me that I would have to pay for the repairs and that the insurance company would then send me a cheque for the repairs. After two weeks, I called the garage and they told me that the cheque problem was between the insurance company and me and that they had nothing to do with it. I then called my insurance company and they told me that the cheque was sent co-payable to the garage and me. The insurance company called me back about five hours later and told me that the cheque had been cashed and that it was now up to the garage and me and that they had nothing to do with it. I called the garage back and they at first told me that they had never received the cheque. I told the garage that the insurance company told me that the cheque had been cashed. The garage then told me that they would look into it right away. Two days went by and I again called the garage and they told me that the cheque had somehow been deposited and that they would send the cheque out to me right away. Two weeks have passed and I still do not have my cheque. Can you help me please?

Marlene from Milton

ANSWER

The garage should not have deposited a co-payable cheque that required your signature and the bank should not have cashed a co-payable cheque without the two signatures. I only contacted the garage because they are the ones that have your money. After calling the garage, they immediately apologized and told me that their accountant made a mistake and accidently deposited the money in the bank, without the follow-up of the proper paper work.

Marlene emailed me that she had picked up the cheque for the repairs and thanked me for my help.

PS: MY COMMENT

I have always believed that a mistake was when you were not subconsciously aware of what you were doing or had done, so I decided to look up the work mistake. The word mistake is defined as “an action or judgment that is misguided or wrong”. So in today’s world, it looks like an apology, along with admittance of bad judgement, can get you an out of jail card.

The garage did not make a mistake because paper work has to follow the money and I believe that the garage consciously made the decision to use this lady’s money for a few weeks and once again, an apology along with the admittance of bad judgment, can be twisted into the word mistake. People make lots of mistakes over their lifetime and I have made a few myself but in my opinion, the word mistake can legitimately be used when you subconsciously did not know what you were doing.

To my readers: Please indicate the town, city or village that you live in. Be advised that not all emails can be answered. Send your questions (including address) by email to: dennis.osullivan@cogeco.ca