“Always take photos of it inside and out when you drop it off!”
A Colorado driver says she left her Toyota RAV4 at a dealership for work covered under warranty and collected it with a cracked windshield the dealership has refused to pay for.
Carolyn (@cosmicallyrad) condenses the whole story into an overlay caption. “Brought my Toyota into the dealership to get service that’s covered under warranty and got my car back with a cracked windshield,” it reads. “The dealership won’t take responsibility and an aftermarket replacement not from the dealership is still $850+.”
Her video caption adds a second grievance: “And they didn’t even install the part from the original service correctly so I still have to go back in again.”
Motor1 reached out to story subjects. We will update this if they respond.
A viewer asked what she could possibly be driving that needed an $850 windshield. “I drive a 2024 RAV4,” she answered. “The $850 quote is the lowest I found w the front cam calibration bc of the safety features.”
Toyota’s driving-support manual for the 2024 RAV4 puts a front camera behind the glass, working alongside a radar sensor at the grille. Under a warning that the camera “may not operate properly, possibly leading to an accident resulting in death or serious injury,” the manual instructs owners to “replace the windshield if it is damaged or cracked.” It adds, “After replacing the windshield, the front camera must be recalibrated.”
AAA priced that work in a December 2023 report. Across the vehicles it tested, the driver-assistance element of a windshield job, meaning the components and the calibration, came to “$360.00, or 25.4% of the average total repair estimate of $1,439.78.”
“Calibration cannot be ignored,” the report says. “Sensors that are out of alignment generate faulty information that will cause ADAS to operate improperly or not at all—creating a safety hazard.”
She listed three prices in the replies: $850 for aftermarket, around $1,200 for Safelite fitting Toyota glass, and around $1,700 for Toyota to do it.
The cheapest option carries a manufacturer warning. Toyota’s glass replacement requirements, summarized by industry training body I-CAR, note that with aftermarket glass “the black ceramic border may not allow the camera to see through it properly,” and that “the aftermarket glass may be missing the brackets necessary for mounting the camera.”
Toyota lists what stops working if its own parts are not used: lane departure alert, the forward recognition camera, dynamic radar cruise control, the pre-collision system, and automatic high beam.
Commenters in the trade put her numbers in the normal range. “I work at a dealership, windshields run 900-1000 before install and recalibration of any sensors/cameras, and that’s without a markup,” wrote Paige.
The thread urged her to seek documentation from the dealer. “Most dealers do multipoint photo inspections, which means if they did, there’s a picture of your car in the driveway with a non cracked windshield,” wrote TheRealVR6Lori, who said she works at a dealership. “Get that and get your new windshield free.”
“They only have a video of the bottom of the car conveniently,” she replied. Pressed further, she said she had asked about the cameras in the bay she drives into: “I can see they have cameras and they are still trying to say they don’t have any footage of it.”
The paperwork would have settled it either way, she says. “If the crack was there when I dropped it off I would not be so upset and would just pay for it, even tho it’s $$.”
The dealership has not told its side of the story, and not every viewer believed hers. “$100 says it was already there and they have proof of that which is why they won’t cover it,” wrote Dan Holloway.
A commenter posting as 4GSCARTI offered the mechanism: “People come in with rock chips on their glass that spread while it’s in service. Grab a pen, track the crack until you find the rock chip you didn’t fill, and now it spread.”
A steady stream of viewers told her to claim on insurance. Her own figuring rules that option out. Asked whether she has a deductible, she answered: “Yea it’s $1000.”
Her cheapest quote is $850, so a claim would pay her nothing at all. Colorado’s Division of Insurance notes that “collision and comprehensive coverage is typically written with a deductible,” and glass damage falls under comprehensive.
Some commenters urged her to directly pressure the dealership. “Have you tried talking to the GM, in the middle of the showroom floor on a busy afternoon?” asked Dani90432223. Carolyn’s reply: “I might do this on Saturday.” Katie vouched for the method: “I cleared their entire showroom of customers.”
She says she has already gone over the dealership’s head. “We have a case out with Toyota corporate,” she told a viewer who suggested exactly that. “It’s been a week now and no resolution yet.”
Alan Molina summed up the general lesson from her experience. “Always take photos of it inside and out when you drop it off,” he wrote. “AND take a photo of the miles.”
Carolyn’s answer: “100% will do that moving forward….guess I learned this the hard way.”
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