It’s often said that as soon as the first drops of snow fall in England, the entire country grinds to a halt. The slightest film of ice on a road causes untold numbers of accidents as cars pirouette into each other, or the kerb. Even though we know it’s going to be cold, we never seem to take any precautions with our cars, and always get caught unawares.

This Wednesday morning was exceptionally cold (by October in Surrey standards at least) and at 7;30 am, there was around an inch of thick snow and ice covering my car. Now usually, a bit of nice fluffy snow is no problem for the windscreen wipers and a few swipes and it’s all gone, leaving a clear windscreen. This was proper ice though, and before I got in the car I tried to lift the wiper blades of the screen, but they were stuck fast.

Despite owning a garage that sells de-icer spray, naturally I never have any in my car so I sat in it for 10 minutes with the engine running, listening to BBC London discussing the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand scandal, waiting for the heater to melt the ice off the windscreen.  At no time did I attempt to switch the wipers on, as I also know what can happen if they’re frozen to the window. Unless you’re mechanically-minded or know how the wiper system works, you’ll probably be totally unaware of what damage can occur to the car just by the innocent act of flicking the wiper switch.

Once I’d arrived safely at work, the number of customers that phoned or called-in throughout the morning because their wipers weren’t working was astonishing! As the customers brought their wiperless cars to us throughout the day, the remedies that my cold-handed technicians had to carry out ranged from the very simple and cheap, to the very expensive and complicated. Here’s a list of what CAN happen to your car if you DON’T de-ice the windscreen and wipers BEFORE switching them on. Depending on the type of system fitted to your car, any one of the following could apply.

  1. As you turn the wipers on, the power of the electric wiper motor overcomes the ice, but tears the rubber wiper strip from the blade, leaving it still stuck to the windscreen - this’ll just need a new set of wiper blades, costing between £10 and £70 (depending on the car)
  2. As soon as you switch the wipers on, the electric motor cannot overcome the extreme sticking force of the ice but the rubber blades hold out so the motor draws too much electric current, overloads the circuit and blows the fuse in the fusebox. This is the best scenario as a fuse costs around 25p and normally takes a couple of minutes to find.
  3. When you switch the wipers on, the motor starts to operate but can’t, and the blades wont move so the linkage betwen the wiper motor and the wiper arms breaks or pops-off. This can be either a straightforward case of popping the linkage back together (it’s usually a ball and socket type joint), or at worst, a new linkage. This can cost anywhere from £25 to over £150, depending on how much the part costs and how accessible it is. Some cars (like a Fiat Punto) only take a minute or two to fix, whereas an MCC Smart Car can take 2 hours as even the bonnet has to be taken off to access the mechanism.
  4. As you switch the wipers on, they stay stuck to the winscreen but the motor operates and loosens the nut on the spindle that holds the wiper arms on at the base. The spindles are then moving back and forth as if the wipers were operating, but just moving inside the wiper arm as it’s still stuck to the windscreen by the icy blades. This’ll normally just require the nut on each wiper arm tightening up (once the ice has gone) and if you catch me on a good day, we probably wouldn’t even bother to charge if it only took a minute or two.
  5. When you switch the wipers on, the motor that can’t move SHOULD blow the fuse, but for some reason the fuse is slow to blow and the motor burns-out first! This is the most expensive option as a wiper motor can cost anywhere from £60 to around £200, as well as a minimum of 1/2 hour of labour and usually a lot more. This scenario often also rips the blades apart, so also bank on a new pair of blades (another £20 or so)

Every one of these has happened to one of our customers this week, and each could have been avoided by simply de-icing the windscreen first, or better still, lifting the wiper blades off the screen at night and putting a piece of cardboard over the windscreen.  If you’ve ever tried driving without wipers in rain or snow, it’s not a fun experience and I certainly don’t envy the death-defying journeys a couple of customers made to get the cars to us that morning!

So, to save a bit of inconvenience and possibly a lot of money, don’t let any of the above happen to you this winter. I have to admit though, the ‘global warming’ we’ve all been promised is taking a bit longer than I expected!

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