How we chose
We started from the windscreen repairers Google Maps shows across Telford. Scheme memberships were sourced from the IMI website and each firm's own pages [4]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Three firms met all three and all three made the table. We looked first at what customers say, then proof of competence, then whether the firm has traded two years or more and whether its cover is stated, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated September 2026.
How to hire
Start with the damage itself, because it decides whether you are shopping for a repair or a replacement. A small chip away from your line of sight can usually be filled in under an hour, while a large or spreading crack, damage at the edge, or anything across your view means a new screen [3] [5]. The MOT test draws the same line in law: damage wider than 10mm in the band your wipers sweep in front of you, or wider than 40mm anywhere else in the swept area, fails where it affects your view of the road [2]. A repair finished flush and all but invisible does not count as damage [2].
No licence is needed by law to fit glass, so paperwork here means voluntary accreditation. The dedicated route is IMI Accreditation Autoglazing, which grades technicians by years in the glazing trade up to Master Technician [4]. Ask which accreditation the person attending holds and check the detail on the IMI website; a badge with no name or number behind it tells you little. Stated ATA and IMI accreditation on a firm's own site is a starting point, so get the detail alongside your quote.
If your car brakes, steers or watches the lane for you through a camera behind the glass, say so in your first message. Replacing a screen with driver-assistance sensors or cameras means recalibrating them afterwards, and current guides list sensor-laden screens among the dearest replacements [5]. Ask whether recalibration is included in the fitted price, who carries it out and what record you get; a screen fitted without its cameras reset leaves a safety system guessing.
Call your insurer before you pay for anything yourself. Many comprehensive policies include glass cover, often with little or no excess for a repair and a bigger excess for a replacement, so one call can shrink the bill dramatically [3]. Some fitters settle the claim with the insurer directly and collect only the excess on the day; others want you to pay and reclaim. Agree which route you are on before the van arrives, and get the excess figure in writing.
A proper quote names the glass, not just the price. Ask whether the screen is genuine manufacturer glass or an equivalent, whether mouldings, clips and trims are included, whether recalibration is in the figure, whether the job is mobile or at the centre, and whether VAT is included. Then pin down the warranty: whose it is, how long it runs and what it covers — workmanship, leaks and stress cracks at minimum. Anything vague here gets vaguer after fitting.
Mobile fitting suits Telford well, from driveways in Wellington to farmyards outside the town, but the van needs a fair pitch: flat ground off the road, the keys and alarm fob to hand, and shelter from hard rain while the bonding cures. Ask how long the adhesive needs before the car is safe to drive and keep to it; curing time is chemistry, not caution. If the damaged vehicle is plant or agricultural kit, send photos with measurements where you can and confirm the fitter cuts glass on site.
Telford's layout shapes the booking. The estates across Wellington, Dawley, Madeley and Lawley mostly give a mobile fitter what it needs: a driveway or a quiet bay off the road with room to open both front doors. The Gorge villages are the exception: Ironbridge sits inside the Severn Gorge conservation area, one of several across the borough including part of Wellington [6], where streets are narrow and parking is tight. If that describes your street, say so when you book and agree exactly where the van will stand; drivers based near the industrial estates may find the Stafford Park centre the simpler option for the same reason.
A typical job runs the same course whatever the damage. First contact is a message or call with the registration, the damage photographed against a coin for scale, and a note of any cameras behind the glass; the fitter replies with an inspection slot or a fitted figure. Next comes the insurance call, then the visit itself — mobile on your pitch or a morning at the centre — with the curing wait afterwards. Sign-off is the invoice, the warranty slip and any recalibration record changing hands before anyone drives away.
When the job is done, leave with paper: an itemised invoice showing the fitted total and VAT, the warranty terms in writing, any recalibration record, and the insurance receipt if you paid an excess. Photograph the finished screen and its edges before the fitter leaves, and check washers, wipers and sensors on the spot. If anything is wrong, raise it in writing the same day while the job is fresh.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, a chip repair is the bargain of this trade. National guides put the typical repair between £40 and £118 depending on the car — around £40 for a budget car, £60 mid-range and £118 premium — with minor chips sometimes costing less than £40 and most paid-for repairs staying under £100 [1] [3]. Within that band, the car around the chip sets the figure: size and glass specification decide whether you pay nearer the bottom or the top [1].
Replacement is a different bill. The same guides put a new screen at around £260 for a budget car and £420 mid-range, rising to around £1,350 for a premium car with the dearest reaching £1,650 [1]. Other 2026 guides sit in the same field: typically £150 to £400, or £350 to £700-plus for a premium or sensor-equipped car, against a garage-quote average of £343.83 [5] [3].
What moves your figure is the car and the damage together: vehicle size and glass specification, whether rain sensors or cameras need recalibrating, and whether the damage is a chip or a crack, its size and depth and where it sits on the screen [5] [1]. A chip left through a cold snap often spreads into a crack, which is how a forty-pound job becomes a four-hundred-pound one.
Side windows and heated rear screens skip the dearest parts of a screen job: no bonding cure and no camera recalibration. None of the Telford three publishes a figure for them, so treat the quote the same way — glass type, trims, VAT and warranty named before fitting.
Plant, agricultural and campervan panes price differently again: shapes vary, some panes are cut to size on site, and the machine standing idle sets the real cost. The Broseley specialist is the only ranked firm set up for that work, and with no published figures anywhere, a photo with measurements gets you the fastest accurate figure.
None of the three Telford firms publishes prices, so every figure comes from your quote. Check whether it includes VAT, whether recalibration and trims sit inside the total, and how long the warranty runs — then get all of it in writing with the drive-away time before the work starts. Two or three fitted quotes on the same written scope is enough to see the market.
Red flags
Quotes a replacement without asking the make, model and year or which sensors sit behind the glass.
Cannot name the glass it will fit or say whether the price covers recalibration of cameras and sensors [5].
Promises a repair on damage square in your line of sight that would fail the MOT visibility check [2].
Starts work with no written fitted price showing VAT, warranty and the safe time before driving.
Asks for full payment in cash before starting, with no written quote or terms.
Will not say who carries out the recalibration or show the calibration record afterwards.
Tells you to drive off immediately after a bonded replacement with no curing time stated.
Has no findable business identity — no matching website, phone number or company record.
Presses for an on-the-spot decision before the quote is written down.
Drives away leaving sealant smeared across the paintwork or trims unclipped.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.