How a Chipped Windshield Changes Used Car Sales

Chipped windshields represent very different things depending on whether you are a car owner, or a car buyer. As an owner, this minor nuisance can be rectified without too much hassle, especially if the problem is identified and treated early. However, as a buyer without concrete knowledge of how or when the damage occurred, a tiny chip can be cause for a big headache.

When buying a car with significant chipping damage, or cracks resulting from smaller chips, you risk being left without a roadworthy vehicle at the most unexpected and inopportune times. Many car safety tests insist that there be no visible chip present within the arc of the driver’s side windshield wiper. Finding this out the day before you planned to commute to a special family event or new job can be disastrous, and you may fail the test on the grounds that the chip could obscure the driver’s vision. An unexpected safety test failure could force you into a situation where you are scrambling to have a repair or replacement done, leaving you at the mercy of whichever installer you come across first.

Fortunately, when equipped with the proper knowledge, you can turn this unpleasant scenario into serious bartering leverage. After scheduling a free quote online, you can approach the used car seller with concerns about expanding cracks and failing safety tests, and demand that they lower their asking price to accommodate this inevitable cost. Having given yourself plenty of time to research fair quotes, you can proceed with confidence knowing that you are not demanding anything unreasonable, or simply trying to wrestle the price down for nothing.