It’s easy to get a chipped windshield — a tiny rock from that car in front of you flies up and, crack, there it is.

Typically they start out small, but even the smallest chips and cracks can grow up to become big, and expensive, problems.

There used to be a time when the only thing to do was to either ignore them or replace the whole windshield, an expensive undertaking which can set you back $300 to $400.

Dick Walker, owner of Eastside Mobile Auto Glass, said that he had seen quite a few people bring their cars in over the past few weeks to have their windshields repaired, before they needed replacing.

“It makes a lot of sense,” Walker said. “If you get the chip while it is still small, we can repair it before it spreads and cracks. A repair job costs about $40, but if you wait and the windshield needs repairing, then it will cost hundreds.”

Walker, who has been in business for 29 years and in Issaquah for 18, says that this time of year, a lot of the cracks start to grow.

It’s the warmer weather – the glass starts to slowly expand and the cracks that were made in the winter put strain and stress on the windshield.

The good news for motorists is that most insurance companies will pay for a windshield repair.

“A lot of them will even waive the deductible,” said Walker.

Auto glass repair is considerably less expensive than replacement.

But if you wait too long, and the damage has time to spread, windshield repair will no longer be an option.

A faulty windshield compromises the safety of you and your passengers.

In today’s vehicles, windshields are an important component of the vehicle’s overall structural integrity, so you don’t want to put it off until tomorrow.

Since the early 1970s, continual improvements in technology have made auto glass repair easier, quicker and more durable.

Windshield chip repair also allows you to save the original factory seal of your windshield.

And at Eastside Mobile Auto Glass, a windshield repair job takes only about half an hour.