The price for a car tint can vary dramatically from the cheapest fly-by-night shop from $100 to the luxury tint shop’s $400 or more. For each of these situations, the price can be considered REASONABLE. What a REASONABLE price is depends on many factors:
Your Car Type
Quite simply, a small percentage of cars are harder to tint than others. When getting a price quote, a tint shop always asks you for the make and model of your car. This isn’t to see how much money you have and charge you up the wazoo (often it is with less reputable tinters). Tinters know which cars take more time to tint properly. Some cars with steep and curved rear windows, like the Volkswagon Beetle or Corvette, tinters often charge a premium to tint. Additionally, each square foot of window on your vehicle requires more window film to tint. This makes tinting an SUV or station wagon cost more than sedans.
Type of Tinting Film
Just like comparing a Hyundai to a Porsche, there are wide performance and cost differences in tinting film. The cheapest tinting film can be many times less in price than more expensive film, but you get what you pay for. Cheap film may look good at the beginning, but can fail to block the summer heat, fade, turn purple, or bubble soon after installation. Higher quality window film offers both advanced performance and a lifetime warranty. These films are worth the higher price.
Performance Warranty
You are highly encouraged to ask about the Performance Warranty before you pay for tinting services from anybody. Typically these warranties can last from as little as one year to a lifetime. Not all warranties are created equal! Most warranties only cover problems such as cracking, glazing, bubbling, and peeling. Some films carry a “Color-Safe Warranty” that gives you peace of mind that if the color of your tint ever changes, it will be replaced. The best warranties are “transferable” which allow you to transfer the warranty to another person when you sell the car. This adds permanent value to your car. Be careful! Irresponsible tint shops can also offer “lifetime warranties”; however, if they go out of business next year, who is there to replace your bubbling tint? You should always factor in this “hidden” cost when buying low priced car tint.
Dealer’s Reputation
Reputable tint shops take great pride in their work. They have high standards when it comes to who they hire, the film they use, and overall customer service and experience. Naturally, this increases the cost for them to do business, and they charge more as a result. To make sure you are talking to a quality dealer, ask these questions when choosing a tint shop.
