Driver's Ed classes have long been famous for images of windshields with passenger and driver sticking out of them at wrong angles. In those cases, windshield repair is fairly irrelevant, but just as it is important to practice defensive driving - and wear a seatbelt to keep yourself intact - making sure that you do the best to avoid repeated auto glass repairs is vital too.
Repairs Should Be Done As Soon As Possible
The exact items covered before they let us take our driving tests vary between states and organizations, and of course, no one has the time or budget to teach everything, but far too many important things get left behind in the rush to drill in rules and regulations. Proper vehicle maintenance often gets short shrift, and care of your car glass even less.
Any time you drive, you probably see several cars with plastic or cardboard where a piece of car glass should be. It's true that even the best auto glass specialist can't always get to you immediately - if your vehicle is old or specialized or both, there may be cross-country shipping involved - but so many things are at risk when you put off repairs.
Consider It See-Through Security
Not only is a car with a broken window that much more tempting to a thief, but wind, weather, insects, and noise get in too. You never really appreciate how important your auto glass is until it isn't there.
This applies even more directly to windshield repair. For starters, this is the one piece of glass you can't cover with plastic and keep driving - at least not without getting into an accident or arrested while having an accident. It is your most important piece of glass as far as visibility, security, and structural integrity.
The windshield keeps you in the car. It's not fun to whack your face against the glass in an accident, but when you consider the physics of even a fairly slow speed crash, without your windshield, it would be far worse.
Little Problems Get Bigger
Just because it's easy to ignore chips in your windshield doesn't mean you should. Chips grow into cracks. Believe it or not, the same thing applies to scratches; they may start out small, but with time and pressure, they will grow into a much bigger problem.
While not a lot of car windshields last long enough without getting broken to be sufficiently scratched to impair vision, it can happen. We all know how annoying the reflections of sunlight off the road or the dash can be and how they impact safe driving. Imagine that compounded by dozens of tiny scores all over. That is an accident waiting to happen.
Most car insurance allows for replacing your auto glass simply because you're having a hard time seeing out of it, meaning that your windshield repair shouldn't cost you that much out of pocket.
Furthermore, any good auto glass repair company offers mobile windshield replacement, meaning that they will come to you. So, whether the little chip is now a crack across your field of vision, or scratches are ganging up on you, the cost is minimal compared to the risk of not getting it done.
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