This message is about the good, bad and the ugly of tint Warranties. Most tint shops are reputable. I know a lot of the tinters in the Portland area. Their work is just as good as mine in many cases. However, I am different in at least one BIG way. I do my level best to educate you on what’s legal as far as Window Tint on your car. It’s your decision after that. Not everyone will like what I’m about to say.
Some get turned off by this truthfulness while others get really mad at me. And I’m not telling you what to do. This message is intended to inform not to offend. You see, many shops are not telling the truth about this important issue. And I feel obligated to do so. I have little to gain by exposing this industry wide problem. So, If this message offends you… I offer NO apologies here.
Here’s the bad and the ugly? I am telling you these things because NO OTHER TINT SHOPS will! I am THE ONLY tint shop that will disclose this to my knowledge. Literally! I am THE ONLY guy telling people about the benefits of legal tint. My motive is to protect you and inform you, not to make you mad. If the $310 ticket for having illegal (too dark) tint isn’t bad enough, let me drop another bombshell on you.
ANY TINT WARRANTY is completely invalid if you have your car tinted darker than the legal limit. If you go to a shop to get your car tinted and they give you a lifetime warranty but you had them tint it illegally, you’re out of luck when you need warranty work done. The tint manufacturer actually VOIDS the warranty. As far as I know, I am the ONLY tint shop owner telling the public this “secret”.
Oh. Another thing. If you ask the shop to tint your car and YOU do NOT specify you want it done legally, they may install illegal tint. If you get a $310 ticket the police will also require that you remove the tint. That makes your tint job very expensive. When you’re in an accident and someone gets hurt, you open yourself up to an insurance claim, right? If it’s your fault, your insurance company will pay for it.
You have no worries. If it’s the other guys fault, his insurance company will pay for it. No problems so far. However, if you have illegal tint on your car and a smart insurance adjuster notices that, your insurance company or the other guys insurance company can refuse to pay for anything. Why? They can cite your illegal tint as the cause of the accident! So, even if it wasn’t your fault, now it could be.
An accident can easily create medical bills of $15,000.00 for non-life threatening injuries and more than $100,000.00 for more serious ones. If your insurance company refuses to pay, how will you pay for it? (Remember this is not a scare tactic!) Look up articles on the internet to prove this to yourself. This actually happened to one of my clients. I tinted their vehicle legally. But it took a lot of convincing because they really, really, really wanted to have dark window tint on their car. They also had a new baby.
And the ironic thing is, the guys mother followed them over to give them a ride when they dropped off their car to me. Her car was tinted illegally, big time! Anyway, I tinted their car and two months later they were in an accident and the car was totaled but thankfully they were not critically injured. They were hurt bad though. They were all in the car, including the baby. And you know what happened? I’ve been preaching the risks of illegal tint for years until I’m blue in the face and this was the first, and so far only time this has happened to one of my clients. Their own insurance adjuster looked at the vehicle and said they weren’t going to pay for any of the damages to their vehicle or the other vehicle. They were not going to pay for any medical bills either. The reason? He said your car is tinted! He assumed it was illegal. And his job is to save his company money whenever possible. This would have forced them into bankruptcy and probably into civil court to face a lawsuit.
Good news though. They had proof that it was tinted legally and the insurance company paid. They called me to tell me this story because they remembered me preaching to them about the potential risks of tinting darker than the law allows. They thanked me! And I was happy I didn’t take cash and tint their car illegally. It’s not worth it. Be sure to ask what the tint laws are for your area. I hope this information is beneficial to you. Have an outstandingly wonderful day!