Etched windows

[Francophile50]

Here is another question that always bothered me. When I bought my 2002 LW200 the dealer informed me they were etching my vin# on every window as a preventative measure to stop thieves from stealing my windows. I thought that was odd and later found out that they charged me for them.Was that normal practise or was that the dealer just grabbing more money from me? What could they ever stop by doing this? Were windows reallly that valuable? Scott

[onefunkar]

The idea was if thief sees your windows are etched they’d run away and steal a different car. Big money maker.

[Francophile50]

I wonder how long they did this? Since I never broke any of the windows on my car I wonder if that would improve the value of it. Anyway it seemed like a good idea at the time but had I known that it was just a waste of money I would have said Scott

[onefunkar]

I started hearing about etching probably around 2000. Cost was about 50 bucks so most places were charging about 299. Person who sold it usually got 25 bucks. Can’t imagine it would do anything for resale.

[fdryer]

Etched windows may be a leftover from the days when chop shops sprouted out of nowhere, stealing cars for disassembling to sell on the black market. With zero markings, parts sold made more money than the whole car. Now cars are stolen right off new car lots and shipped over seas to third world markets.

[Francophile50]

At the time it seemed like a good idea. I wonder how long they did these or was it just some local dealers idea of making money. I never replace my windows but to be quite honest I can't remember if the etching lasted long. Scott

[onefunkar]

It was a national company that sold this to dealers. Etching should be permanent as the acid cuts the glass.

[Francophile50]

To be honest I no longer have the car so I can't check but from what I remember some of the numbers seemed to fade off which makes me scratch my head and wonder were they really etched?

[fdryer]

Etched glass as in taking a sand blaster and aiming it at a junkyard car window. It should be obvious in a few seconds what etching means - permanent markings. If the etchings faded then they weren't etched, maybe pressed on labeling to appear as etched markings. Running a finger nail over etchings and a sharp single edge box cutter blade can determine what's real or phony. The things people do to..... turn a sows ear into a silk purse.