Finding auto glass service on short notice

[Dan Robinson]

How do you find auto glass replacement on short notice? I see chaser reports of losing glass due to hail, then being back on the road the next day.

The two times I had window loss from a storm, I had to wait a week before there were open slots and/or the type of glass was in stock. Yesterday, I hit a turkey and destroyed my windshield (hail shields don’t work on those unfortunately) and had to call all over St. Louis before finding a small shop that both had the glass and an open slot tomorrow morning. All of the chains and big name companies had waits of several days, and some even required leaving the car at their shop for the entire day when they did have an open slot!

Is everyone just renting a a car when that happens? Carpooling with someone? Or is there some trick to getting auto glass service same-day or the next morning? I live in a major metro area and couldn’t find a way to get mine done today.

 

[Mark Gressman Jr]

I've always used Safelite and had them come to the house... usually within 48 hours. I think it's luck of the draw with how quick they'll make an appointment though, and you'll be paying more for the convenience. The other factor is the availability of the glass, so more popular vehicle models will typically be in stock as compared to rarer models where they'll have to order it.

 

[JamesCaruso]

I think it’s tough with newer vehicles too, with windshield sensors that detect the amount of rain for automatic wipers

 

[Jamie H]

I would also guess people getting back on the road quickly are happy to find somewhere cheap, maybe cash only, and get something fitted ASAP, rather than worrying about getting the right glass for the sensors etc.

 

[Sean Ramsey]

Last time I lost a windshield (caught baseball sized hail) I called my wife and had her set up an appointment with a local windshield guy. Finished up my chase and drove home that night, next morning at 8am he was at my house replacing my windshield and I was out on the road by 10am.

 

[Dan Robinson]

My last and current vehicle have the safety systems, and so far I haven't had to have them recalibrated after replacing the windshield. The recalibration is a separate step and can be done at your convenience after the windshield replacement (if it is needed). I've done tests to make sure everything is still working (lanekeeping, adaptive cruise, AEB) and so far haven't had issues. Strangely enough, this recent incident had the lanekeeping camera displaced upward and to the left (it is attached to the glass on this vehicle) and everything still worked! I think it's able to account for some movement. The AEB/adaptive cruise in my current vehicle runs off of a radar unit in the front grille, so it wasn't affected by the windshield.

 

[Randy Jennings]

My experience in DFW is the big names are booked way out and over priced. Looking online for small indy shops usually gets quicker service at low cost. May of these places aren't even glass repair places - they run a muffler shop and get finders fees from indy glass installers.

 

[Drew Terril]

My experience in DFW is the big names are booked way out and over priced. Looking online for small indy shops usually gets quicker service at low cost. May of these places aren't even glass repair places - they run a muffler shop and get finders fees from indy glass installers.

That was my experience in the OKC area when I still lived there. I was able to find a small independent shop that was much cheaper, and they were able to work me in much more quickly than the big names. Funny enough, I wasn't the first chaser that they'd done a windshield on either (although mine was cracked from the previous winter rather than damaged by hail).

 

[Jeff Duda]

The small, independent shops can certainly offer a quick turnaround, but be careful for shoddy service.

When I got my front and rear glass busted out on a chase in March 2017 I had a seemingly reputable local auto glass shop in Norman take care of it. It was replaced the next day, too. However, the front windshield leaked for weeks afterward, despite going back several times in that stretch. Water would cascade down the inside of my windshield as well as down the A pillar (this happened while driving in rain a few times in the rainy April that followed). Also, the rain would soak through the roof and soak the driver's seat. They finally got it taken care of after 3 or 4 weeks and 5 or 10 soakings from rain, and it eventually fried the body control module of my car, rendering the key fob useless. I've been manually unlocking my driver's side door since the spring of 2018 when it finally went kaput for good. But no recourse of course, because I probably wouldn't have been able to prove it in small-claims court, and I wasn't about to shell out $750 + labor to get the part replaced given the age and mileage of the car.