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Autoglass Irish Finals Take Place Today

Autoglass National Final
Posted by Shane Teskey on 11 March 2010 in Road Safety

Did you know that there are over 120,000 windscreens replaced on Irish roads every year? As it’s insurance companies that pick up 80% of the bills price competition in the sector is fierce.

However, recent studies show that quality and safety are fast becoming more important than price. Most of us don’t realise that a poorly fitted windscreen can be a very dangerous thing to have on your car.

An ill fitting windscreen can be difficult to identify but the experts tell us that at least one in a hundred of us are driving with exactly that.

Safety Concerns

Apart from providing protection from the elements, a cars windscreen will determine the effectiveness of the passenger airbag.

Car Roll Over

Your windscreen is responsible for 30% of structural integrity

When this airbag deploys it needs the support of the windscreen behind it to provide the protection necessary for the occupant.

If the windscreen has been poorly fitted it could be pushed out by the airbag leaving the passenger completely exposed.

Believe it or not, if you were unlucky enough to experience a roll-over in your car your windscreen would be responsible for 30% of the structural integrity. If it’s not fitted properly your car could crumple in a way that the manufacturer didn’t intend leading to serious injury or worse…

Autoglass Competition

One provider who takes this responsibility very seriously is Autoglass an Irish company that’s part of the International Belron group. When it comes to fitting windscreens these guys should know their stuff as Belron replace a piece of glass somewhere in the world every 5 seconds.

The winner of today’s national finals held at the Europa Academy will have been judged against a number of headings including technical, quality, safety and customer interaction. Autoglass is the only company to run this type of competition which is highly regarded in an industry where anyone can claim to be a ‘windscreen fitter’ without any formal qualification or industry standard.

Winning the overall competition means claiming the title ‘Best of Belron’ and being able to put ‘best fitter in the world’ on your CV. The finals will be held in Paris in June where one Irish finalist will be competing for glory.

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2 comments so far

Reply
Peter
March 11, 2010 at 3:56 pm #

We should have the details of the winner of the competition by 6pm today. We will keep you posted.

Reply
Shane Teskey
March 12, 2010 at 7:05 pm #

Congratulations to Anthony Campelli, winner of the Ireland ‘Best of Belron 2010’ event held here at the Europa Academy on Thursday.

Anthony Campelli

Anthony has been windscreen fitting since he was 17, starting his career with Autoglass in the Santry branch in Dublin. A born and bred Northsider and pretty much up for anything – he even did a try-out for the first Autoglass Ireland TV commercial!

Anthony will be representing Ireland at the global ‘Best of Belron’ competition in Paris in June. It will be an exciting summer for Anto as his partner is expecting twin boys 2 weeks after the competition!

Autoglass General Manager, Rolfe Deppe described the event as a very tight contest with 9 points (out of 400) separating the top 3 and only 2 points between 1st and 2nd! The runner-up was Wojceich Szewczyk, originally from Southern Poland who joined Autoglass in 2008. As runner up he will join Anto in Paris as a reserve.

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