One thing that fascinates me is the phone calls I get, some just make my day. The usual calls are requests for price quotes for both windshield repair as well as replacement. Hey nothing wrong with looking for the best deal. While I know we aren’t the cheapest guy, I feel in this business you get what you pay for. I’ve had people tell me I’m too expensive, the majority find the price fair. What I don’t understand is why a person would spend all their time trying to get the absolute lowest price on an item that could mean life or death for themselves or a loved one in an auto accident. According to the Car Care Council, the windshield is the third most important safety device. Just behind seatbelts and airbags. Looking for the cheapest price is kind of like shopping for the lowest price on heart by-pass surgery.

Besides in the case of a windshield repair, a bad repair is prone to fail. It also can affect the value of your car when you sell it, or at trade in or lease return time. I talked with a customer earlier this year, she asked me if anything could be done with a windshield repair that her husband had paid someone to perform. According to her he had bragged how he had gotten a better deal. That good deal cost her $300 for a windshield replacement. Why, well it seems that the repair had turned yellow, it also had not been totally filled with resin. The repair person had used a large drill bit when they drilled in to the laminate. Something that both the N.G.A. and N.W.R.A., don’t recommend. The drilling had actually created more damage. Both of the Glass Aid repairs which were older had passed the inspection.

With all that said, I took a call from a fleet customer today, they needed a chip repaired on their company’s windshield. When I arrived at their location I was disappointed. Someone had already tried to repair the chip, it was one of the poorest attempts to fix a windshield I had seen. See the below picture.

In looking at the repair it was quite obvious that someone who knew nothing about windshield  repair had been at work.

• First they had drilled into the laminate, which creates more damage and scarring. It is not recommended by either the N.G.A. and N.W.R.A.
• Second they had applied way more heat than was required. It appeared they had melted the laminate. Now there is nothing wrong with warming a windshield during the repair, however heating it up to the point you could cook an egg on it isn’t. I do heat a windshield when it’s cold, but only say to 70 degrees. I also do it to dry out a chip. Most times I draw a vacuum at the same time. Doing so lowers the boiling point of the moisture in the chip, thus speeding up the drying process. This windshield was heated so much that the blue tint is gone forever.
• I know that they had used a flame, probably a cigarette lighter to heat the windshield, soot was still on the windshield.
• Finally while it was still hot, excessive pressure was applied, distorting the repair even further.

The final result is that nothing can be done to improve the appearance. The area will most likely fail. The so called repair has taken what could have been an inexpensive repair and changed it in to a replacement. I checked on the price of a replacement windshield for a 2006 Buick LaCrosse it’s $710. I don’t think the cheap repair was worth the savings.