Can't get a rear window

Big Frog

Big Frog

Active member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Sep 4, 2012
Messages
439
Location
Somewhere near Mudgee, NSW
Asking for a friend.
His 2016 Citroen Cactus has a broken rear windscreen, and no replacement available in Australia. It broke some 4 months ago!
Insurance company has even supplied a hire car because they can't get a replacement.
Suggestions to get, make, any type of solution?
Steve
 
thinking ,cant get a rear hatch complete from a wrecker ,same colour ?
 
You might find someone who can make one from polycarbonate sheet (lexan). Many screens in motor racing are made from this, being virtually unbreakable (safer), and lighter than glass. Downside is longer term it will be scratched by the wipers, but it would last a couple of years I reckon. Available in various thicknesses, same as the glass fitted originally. Relatively inexpensive compared to getting a one-off in glass.
Cheers.
 
i dont know how the insurer would feel about a plastic screed with regard to vehicle security ,?lexan can be heated and slumped to a contour ,just how that would be achieved ,i dont know other than using an existing screen to slump it over risking brakeage of that one as well ,did they sell these in N.Z . by any chance
 
An importer has an obligation to provide parts for a vehicle for a reasonable period of time which in the motor trade is generally regarded as ten years. The part should have been placed on back order. Shipping time for sea containers can be long now but four months should cover it. Individual screens are expensive to ship because of the packaging needed.
Happens to all makes, often down to a glitch in ordering. Need to send it up the chain.
 
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No doubt a Covid caused issue. A Lexan one could be the best short term solution in my mind, no doubt the replacement will arrive the day after the temporary one is installed.
But heading to 5 months things are a bit desperate.
 
Chase it up with the importer. Good spare parts operations aren't that common now and a follow up might find where the problem is. It sometimes happens the order is misdirected or not even sent. If the importance of the order is stressed something may happen. Individual windscreens are usually crated because they seem to be an invitation for handlers to crack them. So maybe wrong for air freight but waiting for a sea container consignment.
 
This should not be that difficult. Here are just two wrecks that might yield the rear glass ...
www.ebay.com.au

CITROEN C4 CACTUS 2018 VEHICLE WRECKING PARTS ## V001669 ## | eBay

VEHICLES WRECKING. HYUNDAI TUCSON 2018 VEHICLE WRECKING PARTS ## V001361 ##. Rocklea Auto Parts Pty Ltd Is Wrecking all Late Model Cars & 4x4?. s Located in Rocklea. Rocklea Auto Parts is One of the Biggest Wholesale Car Parts Suppliers in Brisbane.
www.ebay.com.au
www.ebay.com.au

CITROEN C4 CACTUS ENGINE PETROL, 1.2, HN01, E3, 11/16- | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for CITROEN C4 CACTUS ENGINE PETROL, 1.2, HN01, E3, 11/16- at the best online prices at eBay!
www.ebay.com.au
There are others that have been written off and had the rear glass intact. I've seen yellow, purple, black wrecks quite recently.
If the glass was placed on backorder via a dealer a few months ago, it should be about to arrive. Covid has seriously disrupted their logistics and air freight became extremely limited and difficult to arrange. For heavy items like glass, sea freight was likely the only viable option unless the insurer wanted to pay for DHL - doubt it. So, it would have been a 3-4 month wait. A few hail storms could have depleted what local stock was on hand late last year. Check there is in fact a backorder in place and then ask a dealer about the part's ETA next week.
 
Lexan would be easy for that shape.
My neighbour had a window supply problem with his Jeep. He want to the local glass/perspex guy who had some lexan, bends easy and does not fracture or crack. Supplied and cut to a template he made (under supervision) all done in 2 hrs and under $100. He has now had it for a year and it still looks like a brand new real glass one.

Two problems would be the rear window wiper, even lexan will scratch badly with all the road grime, your MV insurer may reject any subsequent claim without full disclosure of the modification, check with the Insurer.
 
Although I suggested Lexan (polycarbonate) I have since had a rethink, and that should really only be necessary were it to be a 50 year old classic restoration, or similar, when a new screen is just not manufactured any more.
In this case with a 5 year old mass produced car, it is very poor of the Australian distributor of Citroen not to have sufficient stock of this component, though if there was truly a high usage due to hail damage, I guess there are mitigating circumstances.
As some comments above suggest, it seems that you would ensure that the order is correctly in the system, and just wait it out.
One hopes that the insurance company is not exacerbating the situation by not accepting the cost of a genuine screen, and waiting for a cheaper non-genuine, or something like that, or even not accepting an air freight cost.
Cheers.
 
Fordman said:
Although I suggested Lexan (polycarbonate) I have since had a rethink, and that should really only be necessary were it to be a 50 year old classic restoration, or similar, when a new screen is just not manufactured any more.
In this case with a 5 year old mass produced car, it is very poor of the Australian distributor of Citroen not to have sufficient stock of this component, though if there was truly a high usage due to hail damage, I guess there are mitigating circumstances.
As some comments above suggest, it seems that you would ensure that the order is correctly in the system, and just wait it out.
One hopes that the insurance company is not exacerbating the situation by not accepting the cost of a genuine screen, and waiting for a cheaper non-genuine, or something like that, or even not accepting an air freight cost.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
I think it’s the later
 
I know it did take them a hell of a long time to clear the cactus stock with some machinatoons to get it done years after they landed, but this does not say “Confidence”.
 
Hi all,
Thanks for the input, suggestions and discussion.
My friend says the end is in sight, and asked me to post his comment below.

The problem is not that it is a Citroen, as a 3 to 4 month lead time on parts is common for many brands at the moment. Part of the problem is around the supplier (Australia’s largest) providing the wrong glass in the first instance and the insurer (a bespoke veteran car insurer) not instructing the provider to re-order the correct one for a a lengthy time afterwards whilst they investigated the problem. The lesson learned is to have your local, friendly panelbeater to organise,and to not to think a specialist ‘unique and classic car’ insurer is better than any other.
 
Big Frog said:
Asking for a friend.
His 2016 Citroen Cactus has a broken rear windscreen, and no replacement available in Australia. It broke some 4 months ago!
Insurance company has even supplied a hire car because they can't get a replacement.
Suggestions to get, make, any type of solution?
Steve
Click to expand...
It's not that hard there's a few being wrecked. We have one with 3,371kms that we are wrecking but we are in Melbourne and freighting glass is always difficult.
 
So the insurance company as normal won’t put a genuine one in and the delay is because of the insurance company not Pca a five minute phone call will confirm a rear screen is in stock for a cactus.
 
So how does that work out from the insurance company point of view? Only genuine screen is available so we'll supply a hire car for four months at what cost to save how much? In machinery I've sometimes found the unavailable part had never got past the ordering stage. And when a part really is unavailable how valuable a really good spare parts bloke can be in finding one. Like Wickham Flower.
 
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