Published on Apr 16, 2026
Welcome to another Q&A session where I answer questions from y'all on the internet.
Today's question is:
The first thing most people try to do is start to clean it up. I definitely advise against that because there’s a large opportunity where you could get hurt or cut from messing with broken shards. Leave that to the professional. Most auto glass places, including myself, will vacuum out your vehicle of all the glass shards while we’re doing the replacement—and we don’t charge extra for it. Nobody does.
So definitely cover up the hole: put some tape over it, put some cardboard, put some crash wrap on it, but wait before you start to clean it up. Generally, that cleanup comes with most auto glass door glass replacements. The priority is safety—protect yourself from cuts—and then secure the vehicle opening so weather and additional theft don’t become the next problem before the replacement is done.
Do not clean broken glass yourself after a break-in due to injury risk. Cover the opening temporarily and let the auto glass professionals replace the window and vacuum out glass shards as part of the service, typically at no extra charge.
