Was driving down the freeway today and all of a sudden I noticed this tiny little speck on my windshield, it didn’t even make any noises, so I thought it was like dust or bird poop. Anyway it’s a pretty small nick on my windshield, I wouldn’t even really call it a chip at this point but wondering if
Does lease end check call that sort of thing.
I also know it could lead from a small nick to a larger chip than a crack, so it might be a good idea to address these things early.
The thing is this chip is almost like a pencil dot as it’s not bigger than the head of an eraser.
A chip will always turn into a crack (this is what every Windshield Installation & Repair/Auto Glass Service told me as I was looking to repair a break on my BMW). Better to spend the small amount of money it will take to fix the windshield, rather than replace it.
Spend $20 on patching the chip to prevent it from spreading. Don’t think that’s something that is checked for on lease turn in, and $20 is better safe than sorry
I don’t know what Subaru would do, but this also happened to me with a Toyota and they were very serious about it. I paid to have it filled in, but sure enough, at lease end they told me the windshield had to be replaced.
What really irked me was the guy I talked to at the dealership played everything down and convinced me it wasn’t a big deal.
Not sure if this would happen with a different company, but I’d get it fixed quickly and then hope inspection didn’t catch it.
I would Google to find the lease turn in guide for your vehicle if it’s not directly available from the financing or manufacturing company’s website.
Different makes use different criteria, and in the case of body work will often look worse upon attempts to repair than what they would consider acceptable wear and tear. Might not be applicable for windshields, but they might not care.
Sorry it’s not a great answer, but it depends so check the guide and act accordingly depending on how much time you have left on the lease.
I still have like ~30 months on the car, so it’s like way out in front of me and I took a very careful look today at the damage. It’s like if you flicked the tiniest of pebbles at the glass, it took off a small layer of the polished surface. I know when I had my old vehicle in Washington state the fluctuation of Summer vs Winter made the small chip turn into a whole entire crack.
Now $20 isn’t a big deal on a repair but I don’t know if this is something that will happen often where there will be like on average 1 chip per 6 months, I’m looking at at least another 5 chip repairs. So I can fix them as they come, or wait til the end and do an entire windshield repair.
But, I’ll also look into my paperwork to see if there’s any mention of how they would handle the chip, based on size, etc, being in CA I don’t see weather affecting the chip but I also read up on how fragile Subaru windshields are and some owners on Subaru forums say their windshield’s develop those swirl marks after a while.
It is kind of hard to obviously avoid getting rock chips with any amount of regular highway driving so I’m surprised there isn’t a level of acceptability in play on this subject the same way the front bumper you would expect paint chips, where if x < a dime don’t worry about it.
It may say it in your contract, but I’m guessing it’s up to whoever does your turn-in inspection. I don’t think you’re as likely to have this issue in CA since the weather here is super mild. Only way is if a truck knocks one up at you on the highway. But I have had way worse rock chip luck in cities that have winters (and the seasons) than in CA.
Check your insurance policy. It may cover the replacement of your windshield for free (mine does). I also have a Subaru and will take advantage of the pre-inspection before turning my car in. I was told that if you are considering getting a new Subaru at lease end, the dealer may be more lenient and overlook some small issues.
Chips/dings in windshields should be repaired shortly after they occur. Many insurance companies will do the repair for free, hoping they can avoid the cost of a full replacement. Otherwise as others have noted, it about a $25 repair job. Either way go thru your insurance, cause if the chip spreads and crack the whole windshield, then they would cover a replacement.
I would not replace the windshield now, since you could end dup having more. If you do, I would consider replacing the windshield at some point near lease end, and the insurance should cover w/ a $150-200 deductible.
I have pencil dot chips all over my windshield every time I turn my car in, from driving highway daily, and have never had an issue at turn-in. The captive sets a minimum threshold of how big the chip has to be before you get dinged. Save yourself some headache and look at the lease turn-In guide online before you do anything. Without seeing a picture of how bad it is, nobody is going to be able to tell you if you should have the windshield repaired/replaced or not. It’s all going to be speculation based on everyone’s perceived size of the chip.
Had a very similar problem with my Civic a few weeks ago. Geico covers fixing/replacing glass free of charge, no deductable required. The glass company technician even showed up to my office location to patch up the small crack
I agree I will take a picture of the chip to update this post later tonight so that there’s a more definitive idea of the damage. I know the word chip could mean so many different things to each driver, my best answer would need the best facts presented.
That size is part of wear and tear, they won’t even notice it during the lease end inspection. I got bunch of them when I take the delivery of my Loan X1, they told me it’s fine… as long as not bigger than a dim, it should pass the inspection…
And that kind of size of chip can’t be repaired since it’s too tiny.
Good to know that it’s not big enough to repair. I can deal with the rest of my lease if that’s the case. I know it’s not crystal ball like or anything but this type of chip sounds like it won’t spread further?
