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WINDSHIELD CRACK REPAIR MARKET SURVEYS

Discover The Size of The Windshield Crack Repair Market

What can you be repairing? You will repair more and have far more opportunity if you have a windshield crack repair kit that is capable of repairing long cracks and chips versus a windshield repair kit that only repairs chips. Repair More= Make More.


Here are 20 years of market data from our Windshield Repair and Replacement Business and Parking Lot Surveys from 12 states, so you can see what type of damage and the length of repairs are done the most and the least.


Chip repairs are the most common. They go for about $50 to $65. The average payment from an insurer for a repair is $63. Long Crack repair goes for about $100 -$150. With a long crack, the insurance company will pay the $63 and the consumers will gladly pay the rest because you're saving them hundreds of dollars. NOTE - The insurer or Third Party Administrator (TPA) will now tell the insured they have to pay the difference. You should inform your customer of this before you call in the claim if your customer is going to use their insurance coverage.

Start Your Own Windshield Repair Business

Whether you are starting a new windshield repair business or are looking to expand your current business into long-crack repair, we can help you meet your goals.


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Advent of ADAS Windshields, Game Changer For Windshield Crack Repair

With crack repair, you are competing in the replacement market, which is the consumer market. Cracks will be about 40-50% of your gross repair income. Repairing cracks will open up the ability to market, advertise on the Internet and compete with replacements that are $250+ more on vehicles without ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) and $700+ more on the newer vehicles with ADAS without doing replacements yourself. Almost all new vehicles now have ADAS.


ADAS is now a boon for long crack repair because the cost of a replacement has doubled and the consumer may have to go to the car dealer to get the vehicle re-calibrated after it has been replaced by an auto glass shop. That makes two inconveniences for the customer. The safety features involving the windshield have also doubled with ADAS - that means more safety features can be compromised by a replacement.

A crack is a repair versus replacement, a chip repair is preventive maintenance. Only 5% of chips actually crack-out into a floater crack.

An auto glass Repair Ratio is the total of all Repairs (chip and cracks) versus Replacements. At Ultra Bond this Ratio is 89%.

The "Real Repair Ratio" is Crack Repairs vs Replacements. The Crack Repair versus Replacement Ratio is 84% -This is the percent of replacements in the United States that can be repaired.


The only condition that renders a crack un-repairable is contamination in the form of dust or dirt. Fortunately, this is rare. Contamination in cracks 14-inches and under is less than 3%. This is because the gap of the crack is not wide enough to allow the dirt in. It is also fortunate that when a windshield cracks-out it is cracking to relieve stress and 74% of the time the stress is relieved at less than 15 inches, which is why 74% of cracks are 14-inches and under. This is why the United States Auto Glass Industry's Repair of Laminated Auto Glass Standard (ROLAGS) landed on 14-inches. The Australian and New Zealand Standard is and has been at 14-inches since 1999.

What Will You Be Repairing? Learn More About Windshield Crack Repair Market

If you are new to the windshield crack repair market here are somethings you need to know about the business in general. Whether you are expanding your business or starting a mobile windshield crack repair service, windshield repair is the #1 Auto Insurance Claim in the United States! There are over 250 million vehicles on the road  in the United States and parking lot surveys in 13 cities in 12 different states show 14% of windshields in the U.S. have a long crack. Also for every million vehicles there are over 300 hundred thousand stone-breaks and or chips in the windshield.

  • Windshields are the #1 Auto Insurance Claim in the United States.
  • There are 264,000,000 vehicles in the United States.
  • Parking Lots Surveys in 13 cities in 12 different states show 14% of windshields in the U.S. have a long crack.
  • 79% of these cracks are edge cracks.
  • For every million vehicles there are over 300,000 Stone-Breaks (Chips).


Here are decades of data from Ultra Bond Windshield Repair and Replacement Shop with a comparison to Parking Lot Surveys from 12 states:

Damage Shop Data Parking Lot Surveys
(1) Total Chips 66% 74%
(2) Total Cracks 34% 26%
(a) Edge Cracks 31% 22%
(b) Floater Cracks 3% 4%

* 90% of the cracks you will repair will be edge cracks. 34% of your repairs will be cracks. 66% of your repairs will be chips.

Length of Cracks Repaired: Contamination Rate of Cracks by Length:
3" - 6" = 10% 2.5%
7"- 14" = 64% 2.4%
15" - 18"= 17% 7%
19"- 24"+= 9% 13%

* 74% of crack repairs are 14 inches and under. Contamination in cracks 14-inches and under is less than 3%.

​DECADES OF DATA FOR WINDSHIELD CHIP AND CRACK REPAIR KITS IN THE UNITED STATES

Damage Ratios and Percentages: Shop Data Parking Lot Surveys
Crack Ratio – Edge Crack to Floater Crack 92% Edge Cracks 84% Edge Cracks
Crack Ratio – Floater Crack to Edge Crack 4% Floater Cracks 5% Floater Cracks
% of Chips 66% 74%
% of Cracks 34% 26%
% of Edge Cracks 90% 84%
% of Floater Cracks 10% 16%

For more valuable information you should know to see our Lab Tests and Real World Performance showing Ultra Bond Repairs to be stronger than a new windshield.


Note -The  Ultra Bond vs. Safelite Lawsuit filed in August 2015 is ongoing as of this date.


Ultra Bond filed a Federal Lanham Act (False Advertising) Complaint on Safelite's False Advertising Campaign - telling insurance companies, insureds, consumers, business owners and everyone they came in contact with that a crack longer than a dollar bill (six-inches) is a replacement. During discovery, it was found in Safelite's documents that they know when it comes to repairing cracks, as it was stated in their own documents that - "24-inches is safe and viable". Safelite has also NOT produced any evidence that there is any difference in a six-inch crack versus a 7- inch crack, or 8" or 9" or 10" or 11" or 12" or 13" or 14", etc. In September of 2019 we filed for Summary Judgement to hold Safelite liable for deceiving millions of consumers out of billions of dollars and for an immediate Injunction (stop) to their six-inch size of a dollar bill nonsense.

PROOF THAT EDGE CRACKS CAUSE MOST REPLACEMENTS

The statistics below were obtained by combining several survey results taken from: 1. Replacement shops, 2. Ultra BOND Repair Shops, and 3. Mall parking lots. Multiple surveys were completed, representing over 10,000 vehicles.

More than 80% of windshield replacement are caused by edge cracks. Over 90% of the time the impact point that causes edge cracks is 2.5 inches or less from the edge .

LOCATIONS # OF VEHICLES STONE-BREAKS FLOATER-CRACKS EDGE-CRACKS MISC REPAIRS
Memphis, TN. 350 169 9 36 4 18
Warren, MI. 400 190 8 42 9 2
Las Vegas, NV. 150 61 1 13 3 N/A
Las Vegas, NV. 150 69 6 23 4 N/A
Fairmont, MN. 60 22 1 14 1 N/A
Bloomington, IL. 200 83 2 20 11 11
North Platte, NE. 500 247 25 114 9 13
Grand Junction, CO. 250 106 6 30 3 4
Baton Rouge, LA 450 417 6 103 4 11
Shreveport, LA 200 180 4 33 3 9
Phoenix, AZ 1209 236 15 88 11 N/A
Mall of America, Minn.* 1176 217 13 40 12 N/A
Denver 428 205 25 90 2 N/A
Total 5523 2202 121 646 76 68

* This survey was conducted with Harmon AutoGlass in Minnesota. Findings might not accurately reflect the number of damages per vehicle in the local market because the Mall of America is a tourist attraction. However, the objective of that particular survey was to determine damage types and percentages, which are accurate.

Windshield Crack Repair Facts

Stones cause 90% of windshield replacements. When a stone hits within 2 to 3 inches of the edge, it cracks almost immediately. This is called an edge crack. When a stone hits beyond the 2 to 3 inches of the edge area, it makes a stone break (bulls-eye, star break, etc.) These breaks are about the size of a dime and less than 10% will eventually crack into what is called a floater crack. A floater crack is a long crack not off the edge, caused by a stone break that spread. Cracked windshields will fail at least 4 ANSI/SAE 2.26 safety tests.

Survey Conclusions

  1. 85% of cracked windshields are off the edge of the glass. Edge cracks out number floater cracks 5 to 1.
  2. Less than 10% of stone breaks actually crack, which is probably why consumers don't bother having them repaired.

Facts Obtained From Other Surveys

  1. Over 90% of long cracks repaired at windshield repair shops are edge cracks.
  2. Approximately 80% of replacements are from edge cracks.

More Related Windshield Crack Repair Kit Blogs....

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Date: Oct 17, 2017

Author: Richard Ultra Bond

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One major necessity of owning a windshield repair business or any business, for that matter is efficiency and ethics. If your business can't operate with efficiency and ethics, you'll potentially lose out on significant profits. In the windshield repair and auto glass industry, owners often lose out on opportunities because of a misconception propagated by windshield manufacturers and large auto glass companies such as Safelite...

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For the Edge area of a long crack windshield repair our new injector syringe pressure injects the edge area of an edge crack directly from the syringe. The edge area is from the edge of the windshield in 4-5 inches, this is where there is installation stress in the glass and the gap of the crack is the widest. Our two windshield crack repair resins used in the edge area are 1600 and 2400. ...

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The Six Types of Windshield Breaks and How They Impact the Repair Strategy...

Date: Nov 27, 2017

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If you need advice on how to tackle the different types of windshield breaks, you need to know what to look for. With the price of replacing a windshield getting more exorbitantly expensive, most people are left with only one option: an auto glass business that has a windshield repair kit. We know that finding the best windshield crack repair kit for your customers can take a bit of homework to find....

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