A $60 chip today. A $700 windshield in January.
Spokane winters run chips into cracks — a cold snap, a defroster blast, one pothole on Division, and the legs start walking. A resin repair takes half an hour, stops the spread for good, and with most comprehensive policies it costs you nothing at all.
Thirty minutes, four stages, one cure.
A chip isn't filled like a pothole — it's evacuated and re-fused. The resin's job is to reach every hairline leg under vacuum, then harden into the laminate under UV light.
Clean & open
Loose glass dust is picked out and the impact point opened a hair's width so resin has a door in.
5 MIN
Vacuum cycle
The injector pulls air out of the break — every leg, every micro-void. Air out first, or resin never gets all the way in.
8 MIN
Resin & UV cure
Optically-matched resin floods the void under pressure, then hardens under the UV lamp into part of the laminate.
12 MIN · UV
Scrape & polish
Cured resin is razored flush and polished. You inspect it under the lamp with us before you pay.
5 MIN
The honest part: a repair is structural first, cosmetic second. The crack stops spreading permanently, but a faint scar usually stays visible at the impact point — expect the blemish to fade about 80–95%. If you're chasing showroom glass, that's a replacement, and we'll quote it without pushing it.
The quarter rule, and its three exceptions.
If the whole damage field hides behind a quarter, it almost certainly repairs. Cracks up to about six inches are case-by-case. Beyond that, resin can't restore the laminate's strength — that's replacement territory.
The edge. Damage touching the glass edge undermines the bonded perimeter — the structural part. Edge cracks run fast and don't repair.
Your sightline. Directly in front of the driver's eyes, even a good repair leaves a slight lens. Washington's inspection standard — and ours — says replace.
The camera's window. Damage inside the forward camera's view cone distorts what lane-keep sees. Repair scars there aren't acceptable; the glass gets replaced and recalibrated.
Hold a quarter over it.
Then do one thing before you call: put a piece of clear tape over the chip. It keeps water and glass cleaner out of the break — both make repairs harder to fill invisibly.
Skip the drug-store DIY kit. A half-filled break can't be re-injected properly — it turns a $0-with-insurance repair into a replacement.
Often free. Never mysterious.
With comprehensive coverage
Most comprehensive policies waive the deductible for a repair entirely — insurers would rather pay for resin now than glass later. We verify yours on the claim call and tell you before we start. Typical answer: $0 out of pocket.
Paying cash
First chip $60 flat, additional chips in the same visit $25 each — the setup is already out. Cracks that qualify for repair are quoted on the photo, usually $80–$120.
Either way
If a repair later fails and the glass needs replacing, the repair price comes off your replacement here. A repair with us is never money down the drain.
Sample pricing for the demo — set your own numbers in this block. Insurance terms vary by policy and state; the claim call confirms specifics before work begins.
Chip repair questions, straight answers.
Will filing a claim for this raise my rates?
Glass falls under comprehensive coverage — not-at-fault, and treated differently from collision claims. Most carriers don't surcharge a single glass claim, but only your policy knows for sure; it's one of the questions we get answered on the claim call before anything is filed.
How long can I safely wait?
Every day is a coin flip you don't need to take. Temperature swings, car washes, and rough pavement all extend cracks — and once a crack leaves quarter-rule territory, the repair option is gone. Tape over it today, repaired this week: that's the play.
Can you repair it in my driveway?
Yes — chips are the easiest mobile job we do. The one requirement is shade or an overcast sky: direct sun cures resin before it finishes penetrating. A garage, a carport, or the north side of a building all work. Mobile service.
My chip is old. Still repairable?
Usually, with honesty about the cosmetics: an open break collects water and grime that resin can't push out, so an older repair holds structurally but shows more scar. The sooner and the cleaner, the more invisible.
Do repairs pass Washington State Patrol inspection?
A sound repair outside the driver's critical viewing area passes. Damage inside the sightline is a replacement regardless of size — that's exception two, and we apply it to ourselves even when a repair would be easier to sell you.
Tape it. Text it. Done by lunch.
One photo tells us repair or replace. Chips slot in between appointments — today usually works, tomorrow almost always does.