Glass Shortage in SF Due to Massive Amounts of Car Break-Ins

November 3, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO, California—Asian Crime Report first uploaded footage of San Francisco food blogger Yen Phan’s car windshield violently smashed while she was parked on Mission Street near 22nd Street a few weeks ago.

“I thought it was bird poop or some kind of stain, but no it looked like it was smashed with a baseball bat, and there were about four marks, and then the roof was also dented,” Phan stated to KPIX5.

After calling about half a dozen glass repair shops, Phan found out they all faced a glass shortage.

“Normal glass repair is about 2 to $300,” Phan stated. “And then when I talked to the guy I was like why is it $900, does it really cost that much, and can you not get it done any sooner, and he was like yeah, ‘No.’”

KPIX5’s Betty Yu reported an owner of a brand new Audi RS7 also ran into the same headaches after burglars broke into her vehicle on Hawthorne Street near Howard Street in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood back in September.

“We went to probably seven auto glass shops in the Bay Area,” said Trisha Bantigue. “All of them were backlogged, and especially you know add in the manufacturing delays from all over the world, it took me more than 4 weeks to replace that car window.”

The cost was $2,000.

“We have not seen a glass shortage like this,” said Co-Owner of MAZ Auto Glass Kevin Sarat-Guzman. “We’ve seen low supply, but not until the aspect where even when we order through the dealer they have no projected timeline, so we could be waiting weeks to months.”

Various auto glass repair shops stated windshields are usually replaced in a couple of days. However, since most of the glass is imported, compounded with an astronomical number of car break-ins in the area, and poor pandemic supply-chain leadership issues from the Biden administration are causing massive delays.

Feature Images via Twitter

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