Has any one used on of these do it yourself window etching kits?
How were the results (Does it look clean)?
Insurance Discount?


http://www.vinetcher.com/index.htm

 

VIN etched cars have a 64% lower theft rate than non-etched cars.

How so?

An etched car that is stolen has a better than 85% chance of recovery.

How so?

Police Recommended.

Really? I'll ask my brother-in-law tomorrow.

 

When I bought my truck the dealer etched all the glass as an anti theft measure. The theory is if it's stolen the thief would have to replace all the glass to make it untraceable. Does it work? Not sure. This only really applies to situations where the vehicle is stolen for that purpose, not if it's stolen by some punks for a joy ride. My opinion? Anything you can do to make your vehicle even slightly less of a target for thieves is worth doing.

 

VIN etching is a scam.

If a vehicle is stolen entirely, and the intent is:

- Parts; you're never going to see the vehicle again; it'll be disassembled within a week, and the only thing VIN etching does, is make the glass unsellable. That's a small drop in the bucket compared to all the other parts the chop shop will profit on.

- Resale; Without going into detail, there are ways to 'scrub' a VIN. In doing so, the car becomes 'clean' to sell with a fresh title in another state. It's horribly unethical, but it does exist. In this way, you'll STILL never see the vehicle again. (DO NOT ASK ME FOR DETAILS. I WILL NOT GIVE THEM)

- Joyride; when some punk dirtbag teenager decides your vehicle will be his fun toy for the night/weekend/period until he gets caught, bored or destroys your vehicle from abuse, it makes NO difference if the windows are etched. When he's done, he's going to discard the vehicle, and guess what, the odds of it being returned to you do not change one lick whether the glass is etched or not.


Bottom line, VIN etching was just another scam dealers thought up in the 90's, as yet another thing to sell you at contract close. What was laughable was when they started 'doing it in advance' as a courtesy to their customers; but then they'd try to strong arm you into buying the etching insurance policy. I don't know how many ridiculous dealers I walked away from when they said, 'Well, we do it to every car when it arrives on the lot'. <shakes head> Guess they can't sell any of your cars to a person that chooses not to buy the policy then, eh? Morons...


E.

 

I am mainly interested in the insurance discount, and how well did the do it yourself kit work compared to a professional/dealer install.

 

When I order my vehicles, I specifically request that the dealer not VIN etch. The last thing I want to look at everytime I get in my vehicle is some cheesy numbers etched into every piece of glass on my baby! Looks terrible and sticks out like a sore thumb to me!

I'm glad you brought this up, however -- I'll be putting the order sheet together for my '08 Mustang soon, and now I'll remember to specifically put into my purchase agreement "no VIN etching", along with my normal "no dealer prep", etc.....

 

When I get parking tickets they never jot down my VIN# and right some witty 'filler' like "Truck is too lifted". Glad I don't have window etching.

 

Any idea what the insurance discount is for VIN etching?

 

why do you think that? There are legit auto parts salvage places that resell used parts of wrecked vehicles all the time, you think they (or the police) actually check up on them to see if they have a specific vin on a piece of glass, motor, etc?

 

its absolutely nothing for me, I dont know how many insurance companies do this

 

Assuming you're talking about the 'make the glass unsellable' comment, that's exactly my point crazy;

Anyone that LEGALLY is in the parts recycling business, knows it's impossible to run every VIN that comes through on a part they are selling. They trust the DMV titling system for history and ownership. (you'd wish they would take the time to run traces; it would definitely cut down on the demand for parts, which in effect would reduce the frequency of theft if the chop shops couldn't offload parts as easily)

That said, the recyclers I know of try to avoid handling 'questionable' pre-separated parts. If they did not remove it off a salvage vehicle themselves, they won't buy any auto glass that's etched. From how it was explained to me, it's the only highly visible part with a VIN (if it's been etched) that might catch some law enforcement officer's eye at some point. Since they don't want the flak of a potential nightmare accusation situation coming back to bite them in the butt, they avoid etched glass. (especially since there's no DMV history; they didn't buy the salvage title themselves in those cases) Besides, there's more than enough non-etched glass out there for them to work with as is.

E.