Front windows tint advice

Author
Discussion

Robert Burns

Original Poster:

909 posts

169 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
Hi all,

In need of some advice.

I bought a car recently for the OH and she picked the car up. It has front window tints which I know are illegal.

The question I want to ask would be. The government website says "It’s illegal to fit or sell glass (or a vehicle already fitted with glass) that breaks the rules on tinted windows."

Do I have enough evidence for the dealership to pay for the removal of the tints from the glass??

Cheers

Rabbie

JumboBeef

3,772 posts

177 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
Is it film? If so, just peel it off.

Davel

8,982 posts

258 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
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I bought a s/h R R Sport a while back with tinted windows all round, from a main dealer.

On the first day, I dropped the kids at school on my way to work and was stopped by VOSA for illegal tints.

The dealer agreed to remove them f.o.c

Prizam

2,335 posts

141 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
I quite fancy some limo tints on the rear of my car. not sure if its now a bit council or not.

Its a 7 series LWB, so suspect i could get away with it.

hman

7,487 posts

194 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
limo is fine from the b pillar backwards - dont tint the fronts, the police LURVE stopping cars for this.

untakenname

4,966 posts

192 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
Can also invalidate insurance as well in the event of an accident so no worth it imo.

hman

7,487 posts

194 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
on of my first vehicles was a customised van - I put limo tint on the front windows, then removed it as it was undriveable at night !

gemini

11,352 posts

264 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
I think you can tint the fronts. Its just the level of tint.
Checks are done on the percentage of light allowed to permeate through.

Robert Burns

Original Poster:

909 posts

169 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
Its just a film, just annoyed that they allowed the car to be sold like that.

I've been in touch with dealership but i'm just be passed around.

Moderator edit: no naming & shaming please.

Edited by jeremyc on Wednesday 2nd September 07:55

JumboBeef

3,772 posts

177 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
If it's film, just peel it off! It's not rocket science.

Liquid Tuna

1,400 posts

156 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
JumboBeef said:
If it's film, just peel it off! It's not rocket science.
I know what you're saying and don't disagree. But why should he have to? A dealer has sold him a car with illegal tints (or at least that's what we're led to believe) and he's asked the dealer to remove them but the dealer doesn't seem to want to.

TooLateForAName

4,744 posts

184 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
gemini said:
I think you can tint the fronts. Its just the level of tint.
Checks are done on the percentage of light allowed to permeate through.
Pretty much any tint will be enough to fail the test.

JumboBeef

3,772 posts

177 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
Liquid Tuna said:
JumboBeef said:
If it's film, just peel it off! It's not rocket science.
I know what you're saying and don't disagree. But why should he have to? A dealer has sold him a car with illegal tints (or at least that's what we're led to believe) and he's asked the dealer to remove them but the dealer doesn't seem to want to.
I know what you are saying but:

1/ remove tints and clean windows: 15 mins.
2/ take car to dealer, leave it there and return later, or wait while they remove the film: what, a couple of hours?

Maybe the dealer doesn't want to because he is thinking "why does he just peel if off himself?" It's not as if it is going to cost OP anything to do it himself.

Or are we talking about stress, arguments, inconvenience and wasted time because of a principle....?

I know what I would do. Peel it off, get on with life.

Cat

3,019 posts

269 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
TooLateForAName said:
gemini said:
I think you can tint the fronts. Its just the level of tint.
Checks are done on the percentage of light allowed to permeate through.
Pretty much any tint will be enough to fail the test.
Front windows (in front of the b pillar) need to allow at least 70% light transmission (the windscreen 75% transmission). If you can find a tint which when fitted still meets this requirement then there is no issue.

The problem is that most modern cars come from the factory with tints which are more or less at this legal limit so any level of tint will likely push them over.

Cat

Vaud

50,425 posts

155 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
untakenname said:
Can also invalidate insurance as well in the event of an accident so no worth it imo.
Care to cite your reference for that?

LudaMusser

159 posts

113 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
With reference to the people telling the OP to 'simply peel off the tint'. It's not always that simple, often the tint will leave glue across the entire piece of glass.

I've worked at a number of main dealers and I've seen at least one car with illegal tints on the front glass sold s/h with the tints left on. The majority of Sales staff don't realise that there are laws on tints forward of the B post.

IMO the car should be rectified FOC by the dealership. They've sold a car that is illegal for the road. And yes, if there was an accident i.e car pulls out of a junction and hits motorbike. If the car had front tints it could be claimed that the driver's visibility has been impaired.

calibrax

4,788 posts

211 months

Tuesday 25th August 2015
quotequote all
Vaud said:
untakenname said:
Can also invalidate insurance as well in the event of an accident so no worth it imo.
Care to cite your reference for that?
If you haven't declared it as a mod, then it can certainly invalidate insurance.

liner33

10,690 posts

202 months

Wednesday 26th August 2015
quotequote all
LudaMusser said:
With reference to the people telling the OP to 'simply peel off the tint'. It's not always that simple, often the tint will leave glue across the entire piece of glass.

I've worked at a number of main dealers and I've seen at least one car with illegal tints on the front glass sold s/h with the tints left on. The majority of Sales staff don't realise that there are laws on tints forward of the B post.

IMO the car should be rectified FOC by the dealership. They've sold a car that is illegal for the road. And yes, if there was an accident i.e car pulls out of a junction and hits motorbike. If the car had front tints it could be claimed that the driver's visibility has been impaired.
^This

Get the dealership to do it , they will get someone with the right cleaners , removing the glue is a total pain

Retroman

966 posts

133 months

Wednesday 26th August 2015
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I managed to remove my window tints myself without too much trouble with the aid of a wallpaper stripper.
No glue residue left behind that way.

Kateg28

1,352 posts

163 months

Wednesday 26th August 2015
quotequote all
Vaud said:
untakenname said:
Can also invalidate insurance as well in the event of an accident so no worth it imo.
Care to cite your reference for that?
Our BMW estate has rear window tints and I love it for dimming headlights in the rearview mirror so we enquired on our Insurance company if we could get tinted windows for our Skoda (done by Skoda but aftermarket) and our Insurance Company said they would not continue to insure us. Now we could have swapped Insurers but couldn't be bothered, didn't want the tints enough to go through the hassle.