So just how much is a new windshield? This question can confuse and worry plenty of people that don’t fully understand how the process works, or if their entire windshield needs replacing. This article will break everything down for you and will leave no worry or concern for windshields and its costs.
Contents
How Much is a New Windshield?
1. The smaller the problem the better, with home repair kits available to temporarily stop the problem.
3. Shop around for the best price and armed with the knowledge of every local store’s prices, you will find the cheapest alternative and be able to get a great repair done at an affordable price.
New Front/Rear Windshield Prices
Both front and rear windshield repairs should cost about the same amount of money, however, some auto shops may charge a premium. If this happens, shopping around might find you a more acceptable deal. Just because you have got a crack in your windshield, that doesn’t mean you will have to replace the entire thing. There are a few different levels of cracks and chip, detailed below:
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- Little chips or cracks
Frequently, a crack or chip occurs when a piece of gravel or a rock flicks up at the windshield. In this case, all that is needed is a windshield repair kit that doesn’t break the bank at under $50. Later in the article, these will be discussed in greater detail.
- Cracks up to two feet long
Anything more than a simple chip or crack that is described above needs professional work done. Most auto shops will charge $50 to $70 for a repair this size, with the higher price belonging to the larger crack. This is also on a per incident basis and what that means is if you had two large, two feet long cracks on your windshield, it is likely the price tag will be upwards of $140. Of course, if you want the auto shop to come to you instead of you taking your car to them, they will charge a fee on top of the repair.
- Anything more
If the size of the crack is larger than two feet long or if there are so many cracks that fixing them on a per incident basis would be very expensive, the only remaining option is a full windshield replacement. The overall cost for this procedure depends on what type of car is being repaired; a sedan, an SUV, etc. Regardless of the type, however, is the ballpark repair figure. The average price for this full repair is in the $200-$300 range with bigger sheets of glass or glass that needs to be fitted in a more complex manner driving the price up higher. A higher-end sports car or the like may be even more expensive.
Windshield Repair Kits
In most cases, a windshield repair kit will only likely hold off a trip to a glass repair facility. Their main ability is to reduce (likely not remove) visibility of cracks and chips as well as making sure that the crack doesn’t grow and cause bigger problems down the road. Most of these band-aid like solutions are cheap and affordable, so they are a good choice if you can’t afford a professional for the time being.
There are a few options to choose from when you are selecting a home repair kit. A few of the more popular options are discussed below:
- Permatex
The first, as well as the cheapest option, is Permatex. A Permatex repair kit comes in at around $10-$20, placing it at one of the cheapest solutions that provide a quality service. Its technique involves using a syringe to withdraw any air within the crack or chip and then shooting a resin into it to fill it in. As described above, the usual outcome is a reduced, safer crack.
- RainX
Very similar to Permatex, RainX removes air and replaces it with resin. This solution is about $13 and is sold handily on Amazon. These solutions are recommended for small chips and not crack where there is no air present to replace with resin.
- 3M Windshield Repair Kit
3M utilizes a slightly different approach than the earlier options. It uses a plastic bridge which is placed over the crack and then different repair resins are shot into the damaged chip. A similar approach is used by auto repair shops except their bridge is of a higher quality and a diamond-tipped drill is initially used to allow optimal entry of resin. While 3M don’t list anything similar in their instructions, other similar approaches suggest scraping some glass away for the same effect.
DIY Windshield Repair kit reviews can be found here
https://windshieldreplacementcostz.com/windshield-crack-repair-kit/
Windshield Repair Quotes
The nature of the auto repair industry is that every shop will likely offer a slightly different price to each other. This is dependent on a variety of factors such as location, the skill of the laborers and prestige of the shop. Another affecting factor is the current market price of glass which can fluctuate. It does always pay to shop around for the best solution. Simply enquiring ‘how much is a new windshield’ at a few local stores could mean quite a difference as far as price goes, especially in a full windshield replacement.