Auto Glass Supply Chain Strains Persist Into Spring: Part Delays and Backorders Mount

In April 2022, first-hand accounts from shop owners showed that glass availability problems were persisting despite industry optimism earlier in the year.

Ryan Mandell, director of performance consulting at Mitchell International, identified supply-chain disruption as the industry's primary challenge of the moment. Mandell noted that new vehicle assembly shortfalls—driven by the semiconductor shortage affecting all automakers—were cascading into the used-glass and OEM-part replacement markets in ways that were difficult to predict or buffer against.

Matt Bailey, owner of 20/20 Auto Glass in Greenville, South Carolina, described a specific pattern that was repeating at his shop: he ordered OEM glass to ensure ADAS camera calibration compatibility, waited months for delivery through a dealership supplier, and then found that the customer had sold the vehicle before the glass arrived. The result was a 25–30% restocking fee on glass he could not install—a direct hit to shop cash flow.

Patricia Smiley of Quackt Glass, which operated locations in Lancaster, Charleston, Fort Mill and Columbia, South Carolina, reported that material costs at her company were up 46% from 2021. Beyond the cost increase, she described "some of the basic stock items" as simply unavailable, forcing customers toward competitors when Quackt could not guarantee timely delivery.

Industry analyst Mitchell International data indicated that supply chain disruptions were also pushing more vehicles to total-loss determinations, reducing the pool of repair candidates. For shops, fewer repairable vehicles meant reduced volume even when they could source materials. The compounding effects—higher costs, lower availability, reduced vehicle counts—made 2022 a particularly difficult operating environment for operators without the purchasing scale of a national chain.

The supply chain constraints also affected how shops communicated with customers about ADAS options. A customer whose OEM glass was on backorder had two choices: wait and keep the correct optical specification, or accept an aftermarket substitute that might be available immediately. For vehicles with forward-facing cameras, that trade-off had ADAS performance implications that many customers did not understand. Shops that explained the trade-off clearly—and documented the customer's informed decision—were protecting themselves from later complaints about ADAS behavior after an aftermarket installation.