When kids go back to school, you start spending serious time in your car again. Morning drop-off. Afternoon pickup. Sports practices, dance, after-school activities. Most of those trips happen on busy New Orleans roads with regular debris exposure.
Take five minutes before school starts to check your windshield. Here’s what to look for.
The 5-Minute Visual Check
Park the car in good light. Walk around it. Get close to the windshield and look at it from multiple angles. You’re looking for:
Chips. Small impact craters from rocks or debris. They look like little circular pockmarks. May or may not have spider-leg cracks radiating from them.
Cracks. Longer linear damage, sometimes hairline and hard to see. Run a finger across the glass surface — if you feel a ridge or a catch, there’s a crack.
Star breaks. Multi-pronged damage from a sharp impact. Usually obvious.
Pit damage. Tiny pock marks across the windshield that catch light. Not usually a structural problem, but can affect visibility at sunset and sunrise when light hits at low angles.
Write down anything you find. Date the photos if you can.
Wiper Blade Status
While you’re at it, check the wiper blades. Run them on the dry glass (just for inspection). Listen and look for:
Streaking or smearing across the glass.
Skipping or chattering across the windshield.
Visible cracks or splits in the rubber.
Uneven wear.
Good wiper blades on a clean windshield are non-negotiable for safe driving in NOLA. Afternoon thunderstorms in the school year are routine. You don’t want to discover your blades are shot during a downpour in carpool line.
The View Through the Glass
Sit in the driver’s seat. Look through the windshield from your normal driving position. Is your view clear?
Things to watch for:
A chip or crack directly in your line of sight. This is potentially a citation issue under Louisiana law.
Haziness or yellowing of the glass. Plastic interlayer degradation. Reduces visibility, especially at night.
Wiper streaks even after replacing the blades. Could indicate damage to the windshield surface or built-up grime that needs deep cleaning.
Distortion at the edges. Subtle but real on older or damaged glass. Affects depth perception.
Find something you don’t love? Text a photo to (504) 368-8826. We do mobile auto glass.
Don’t Wait for the First Rock
The temptation when school starts is to wait until something gets worse. “It’s just a small chip — I’ll get it fixed if it spreads.”
Problem: by the time it spreads, repair isn’t an option anymore. You’re now looking at full replacement. The $100 repair becomes $400+ replacement.
With school carpool, you’re putting hundreds of additional miles on the car. More miles means more exposure to debris on the road. More heat cycling. More cumulative stress on existing damage.
Fix it now, on a sunny weekend, on your schedule. Don’t fix it later, on a rainy Tuesday morning, when the crack just hit the driver’s line of sight.
Insurance and Carpool Cars
Most comprehensive insurance covers windshield repair with zero deductible. Replacement is covered minus your deductible. For most policies, that means repair is essentially free and replacement is significantly subsidized.
We handle the insurance paperwork directly for auto glass claims. You don’t file the claim — we coordinate it. You give us your insurance information, we deal with the rest. Whether you’re driving up from Algiers, down from Slidell, or anywhere in between, the process is the same.
No reason to delay a repair based on cost concerns. Call your insurance to confirm coverage, then call us.
One More Thing: Side and Rear Glass
While you’re checking the windshield, glance at the other glass on the car. Side windows that don’t seal tight let in road noise (and water during storms). Rear glass that’s been impacted should be replaced — it’s tempered, and if the impact has compromised the structural integrity, it can shatter unexpectedly during a temperature swing.
Most side and rear glass we replace mobile — we come to you, replace the glass on-site, no shop visit needed.
Call or text (504) 368-8826. Make the car ready for the school year before the school year does it for you.
Ready to Get Started?
Star Glass Inc. serves Jefferson Parish, Orleans Parish, and the greater New Orleans metro. Reach us any way that works best for you:
Call or text: (504) 368-8826 Email: glass@starglass.com
Visit us: 1000 Westbank Expy, Gretna, LA 70053