Driving in hot weather today could hit drivers with £180 bill with damage warning
Drivers may be slapped with hefty repair bills due to heat damage this week with temperatures likely to soar.
Motorists could be hit with a whopping £180 repair bill if they use their vehicles in hot weather this summer.
According to car mechanic experts at Prestone, a maintenance and protection fluids brand, driving in searing heat can lead to major windscreen damage.
Petrol and diesel vehicles may be at risk of suffering “mechanical tension” with windscreens at risk of “exploding” under the right temperatures
The glass can quite easily “crack” or shatter with existing damage likely to be worsened by the conditions.
Prestone issued the warning as temperatures rise with the UK set to experience a mini-heatwave.
Prestone said: “Slightly counterintuitively, it isn’t the heat directly that causes damage, it is the fluctuation in temperature that could cause damage.
“Mechanical tension is placed on an object when parts of it are being expanded due to heat and some are contracting due to being cooled down.
“When this happens to brittle materials such as glass, it can cause them to explode or crack; this is called thermal shock.”
Motoring experts at BookMyGarage, the leading price comparison site for vehicle service and repairs, revealed it would cost road users to fix windscreen damage.
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The specialists have estimated that the cost of a windscreen replacement is around £180 for most vehicles.
However, the bills are likely to be higher for top-end vehicles such as Mercedes, Jaguar or Land Rover models.
Repairs for these models are likely to charge up to £500 with heated windscreens set to “cost much more".
Preston has stressed that road users could do their best to avoid windscreen damage by taking a range of simple precautions this summer.
They added: “To stop your windscreen from accumulating a lot of heat, avoid parking in direct sunlight. Consider parking under a tree, in a garage or other forms of shade.
“A windscreen in good condition is less likely to be affected by changing temperatures.
“Regularly washing your windscreen and checking for chips or cracks will allow you to fix the small issues before they require a full windscreen replacement.”