Risks Related To Installing Window Tint On Cars & Vehicles

There are a plethora of little known risks associated with installing the darkest legal window tint on your car, truck or work vehicle and in this article Brad Maguire of Precision Window Tinting discusses the risks and how to protect against them.

Tinting laws vary and so you need to be aware of the laws in your particular country or state. But in all States and Territories of Australia, the darkest legal car window tinting legally permitted on a vehicle is one with a VLT (visible light transmission) level of 35%, on all vehicle windows (excluding the front windscreen, which cannot have any window tint except for a visor strip across the top). The northern Territory and Western Australia are the only exceptions. In the Northern Territory you are legally allowed a minimum VLT of 15% for windows behind the driver; and in WA you are allowed 20% VLT on windows behind the driver.

These regulations are very straight forward so it seems all you need to do is select a film within the tolerances. Unfortunately things aren’t that simple. Most vehicles already have a slight tint in the glass in their front windows, and some also have tint in side windows, so this needs to be taken into consideration when adding tint to your vehicle lest you unwittingly make the vehicle illegal. Here’s how mistakes happen.

If the factory windows on your car already block 30% of light, when a film with the “darkest legal tint” of 35% is added to this glass, it will emit only 35% of light into a window that is already only emitting 70% of light, so the end VLT will be calculated by the combination of both tint ratings, making your vehicle illegal.

This needs to be taken into consideration because if a driver by mistake fails to comply with tinting regulations, the most likely issue, and the least of your worries is the possibility of a fine. But of far greater significance is the fact that, if the vehicle is involved in an accident and its illegally dark windows are considered by the court to be a contributing factor, this could result in the cancellation of your insurance policy, leaving you exposed to the full financial implications of the accident. And if that’s not bad enough a criminal charge could apply if property is damaged or people are injured.

There’s also the issue of having the vehicle declared un-roadworthy. If this happens you can’t drive the car again until it has been put through a roadworthy test, in which case the illegal tint will have to be removed and you’ve gone back to square one, significantly out of pocket! For this reason you need a reputable and professional window tinter handling your installation of darkest legal tint, so the combined VLT of both the glass and film are considered when selecting the appropriate tint for your car.

There are many benefits to installing a nice dark tint on your car, but please, make sure you use a good quality film and that your installer has the knowledge to be able to offer you the best legal solution, that way you’ll end up with a range of benefits, instead of a number of ongoing risks that have the potential to cause you some very serious issues if your unlucky enough to be involved in an accident.