Windshield Replacement Costs A Fortune For These Cars

Budgeting for maintenance and repairs is an unfortunate but important part of car ownership. However, no matter how much you plan, there's always the chance that you'll need an unexpected repair or maintenance service. 

Some unforeseen issues, such as door dings and scratched alloy wheels, can be ignored. Yes, they are unsightly and probably frustrating to see every day, but they are not usually a safety concern, so there is no pressure to fix them pronto. A damaged windshield, however, is another matter entirely. Cracked windshields obscure vision and may even be at risk of shattering. Furthermore, while windshield chips may not seem like a huge problem, they can easily become cracks, especially in cold weather. So, it's best to fix windshield chips sooner rather than later. While you can repair chips relatively cheaply, cracks are not so simple. If your windshield is severely cracked, sometimes the only solution is to replace it entirely.

The average price for a replacement windshield is around $350 to $550, although there are many variables that can send this price soaring north. For example, luxury, prestige, and performance cars can often see this bill swell to well north of $1,000 or more. While a pricey windshield bill is unlikely to be a huge issue for the type of customer that can afford one of these cars, big bills like this are still a nasty surprise. So, if you'd like to keep this one unexpected bill down to a minimum, be sure to avoid these following five models.

This first one is a bit of a shocker, because it's not a multi-million-dollar supercar — it's not even a relatively low-production sports car. The G30 5 Series is a recent production model, and while, yes, it is a premium car, it's not exactly special nor exclusive. BMW made more than two million of these models, so you'd naturally expect parts to be on the affordable side of things, if not only slightly pricey, due to the brand they're associated with.

However, numerous owners have reported that windshield replacements for a G30 5 Series regularly come in at around $2,500 – a pretty upsetting quote to receive for a fairly regular, everyday car like the 5 Series sedan. These costs are likely due to the amount of sensors and driving assist features that modern cars are fit with, such as heads-up displays and rain sensing equipment.

So, when ticking the options sheet and inspecting the specs on a secondhand 5 Series, consider how much you really value those options and extras. Not only may you pay more for them at the point of sale, but if you ever need a windshield replacement, it could end up costing you a small fortune down the road.

Though cheaper than other replacements on this list, an Aston Martin Vantage windshield replacement is still extraordinarily costly. It's especially expensive when placed in context of how cheap Aston Martin Vantages are in 2025. While an '07-era Vantage is never going to be the budget commuter that a Corolla is, it's still impressive that smart, low-mileage examples are available for around $32,000.

Former Jalopnik contributor Freddy "Tavarish" Hernandez purchased one such Vantage from another former Jalopnik contributor you may know, Doug DeMuro. After a successful and lengthy drive home, Tavarish took a cool hose to his hot windshield and the rest was history. Before his eyes, a huge crack formed, and a replacement was his only option.

After discovering that these occurrences are quite common and covered by most policies in Florida, Tavarish reached out to his insurance provider. Geico sorted the windshield for him footed the bill, which came out to $4,414.41. This wasn't just a one-off ludicrous bill, either. Nicholas Mee, an Aston Martin specialist in the UK, sells V8 Vantage windshields for the equivalent of nearly $3,000, plus taxes. Factor in fitting and any other charges that might be applicable, and you could soon be matching Freddy's bill. 

This windshield takes us into the unattainable realm of supercar experiences. The Pagani Zonda is a supercar classic we'll always love. While a 20-year-old Vantage might be a semi-realistic goal for many of us, the Zonda now commands prices that are at lotto-win levels. It's not uncommon to see costs easily exceeding seven-figures for just about any iteration of the iconic Italian supercar.

The Zonda is a mightily scarce vehicle, and only 140 street-legal Zondas have ever been produced. Spare parts then, such as windshields, might understandably be pretty difficult to find. So, when a new-old-stock windshield does come up for auction in its original Pagani crate, you can imagine that many Zonda owners are keen to stash it away for a rainy day. One such lot recently came up for sale with RM Sotheby's and managed to fetch £7,200, or roughly $9,600 in U.S. dollars. That might sound reasonable when compared to the cost of a Vantage's windshield, especially considering that some Zondas are eight-figure cars. 

However, it's worth noting that, in our previous example, Tavarish paid $4,414.41 to replace his Vantage windshield, while this $9,500 cost only includes the glass in a box. Finding someone brave enough to install it is another thing altogether, and we'll bet whoever is bold enough to take the job would be happy enough to produce an invoice fit for the supercar brand. Other Pagani models reportedly come with windshield replacement costs more in the region of $30,000, so there's a good chance actual that replacement costs are well over $10,000.

If someone told you that it costs $33,000 to replace the windshield on a McLaren F1, you probably wouldn't be that surprised. After all, it's a McLaren F1, a car which is now worth in excess of $20 million. With a value like that, $33,000 kind of sounds like a bargain — even if it is only for the windshield. Apparently, it's $25,000 for the windshield itself, and then a another $8,000 or so to cover installation fees.

Windshields are generally unique to the car they are found on, apart from in the instance of a badge-engineered car, but they are the expectation here, and not the rule. There are certainly no badge-engineered cars that share a platform with the Mclaren F1, that much is for certain. In fact, just 106 models were ever built – seven of which are 'missing' -– and so, spare parts aren't exceedingly common, especially as these cars are now nearly three decades old. So, when you do chip or crack the screen on your F1, it might actually prove quite difficult to find a replacement.

Fortunately, Mclaren still holds spare parts for the F1, and the chances are, $33,000 is a drop in the ocean for the average owner, too.

The Veyron came along in 2005, clocking an impressive 253 mph top speed courtesy of its 1,001-horsepower W16 engine. The Chiron was the difficult second act, but it managed to build on the success of the Veyron, as the Super Sport 300+ model registered an awe-inspiring 304 mph top speed in the record books.

The Chiron also puts up huge numbers in another, this time more unfortunate, category — windshield replacement costs. In fact, the cost of replacing almost any part on a Bugatti is ludicrously expensive, with oil changes costing in the region of $20,000. A windshield replacement for your Chiron will set you back almost three oil changes though, with a reported cost of $59,949 for the service on a Chiron Pur Sport.

So, while owning a super or hypercar is never going to be a cheap endeavor, just the tire costs alone are enough to bankrupt a regular individual when it comes to the Chiron. For clarity, a set of comfort tires will set you back around $8,000, while performance tires reportedly cost just shy of $42,000. Having to withstand speeds north of 250 mph means these tires must be specially engineered, and with that comes a hefty price tag. 

Even with millions in the bank, costs like these have got to be pretty painful to stomach. A cracked windshield and some tire punctures could leave you facing a six-figure bill, plus fitting, transport,and whatever else the shop finds to bill you for while the car's with them. Yeah, we'll give this one a miss, thanks Bugatti.