Ten minutes, from almost anywhere in South Philadelphia. Russell's works out of 2640 Snyder Avenue, between 26th and 27th, so the shop sits inside the neighbourhood rather than out on a highway somewhere. A chip fill takes about 30 minutes and costs $60 to $130. A windshield is $250 to $450 fitted, roughly an hour of work plus safe drive-away time. Door, quarter and back glass runs $200 to $500. Call 215-608-1108.
4.1★ on Google — 137+ reviews
South Philadelphia keeps its cars outdoors. Almost nobody here has a garage, the blocks are one-way and barely wide enough for a car to pass a parked one, and a space you find at nine on a Sunday is a space you defend until Tuesday. That single fact shapes most of the glass work we do. Cars sit outside through every freeze and every heatwave, they get walked past all night by everybody on the block, and damage is usually discovered in the morning rather than seen happening. People arrive holding a carrier bag of glass they swept off the seat themselves.
It also means the trip matters. Most people who call us are within two or three miles, and a good number walk over, leave the keys and get a call when the car is ready. Common windshields are on the shelf, so a call at half eight often turns into a car you can drive that afternoon; anything unusual gets sourced the same day rather than booked for next week. The price is agreed before the work starts and nothing is added while the car is in the bay. We are closed Sunday, so a Saturday-night break-in means tape and a Monday morning; if you can catch us before four on the Saturday, do.
Broad Street runs the length of the neighbourhood north to south, and Snyder and Oregon Avenues are the two crosstown roads that carry everything east to west. We are on Snyder itself. Passyunk Avenue cuts across the grid on the diagonal, and both Passyunk and stretches of Snyder still have trolley rail set into block paving, so a car crossing them takes a hard, repeated knock at the same point in the wheel. Washington Avenue along the top is lined with building-supply yards and the trucks that serve them. Columbus Boulevard on the river side carries port traffic. In between is the rowhouse grid: one-way streets with about enough usable width for a single moving car, parking on both sides, and no off-street parking to speak of.
“They were able to install a new drivers side rear window for me the same day I called, when all the other shops were saying it could take a few days. They did a wonderful job and even cleaned up all the glass that was in my car (even folded a blanket I had in there that got glass on it) from my window being busted in.”
Break-ins first, by a distance. A side or rear door window goes in seconds on a quiet block, and tempered glass ends up in the seat rails, the door card and the heater vents. Second is stone damage picked up on the working roads: Washington Avenue, Oregon Avenue and Columbus Boulevard all carry loaded trucks, and what comes off a tyre at thirty is enough to star a windshield without you hearing it. Third is what the neighbourhood does to a chip once you have one. The rail seams and block paving flex the glass every time you cross them, and a mark that would sit still for a year on smooth road runs across the screen in a fortnight here. Fourth is winter: a frozen windshield, a defroster on full and a scraper is the classic way a $60 to $130 repair becomes a $250 to $450 job.
Snyder Avenue is the simplest answer for most of South Philly, because it runs the full width of the neighbourhood from Columbus Boulevard out past Broad and keeps going west. We are on it between 26th and 27th Streets, on the north side. From anywhere east of Broad, stay on Snyder and drive. From the Passyunk Avenue blocks, drop south to Snyder at Broad and turn west. From south of Oregon Avenue, come north on 20th or Broad and turn west onto Snyder. If you are close enough to walk it home afterwards, leave the car with us and we will call you when it is done.
Russell's Auto Repair works across South Philadelphia and the surrounding towns — pick your neighborhood:
Usually. Common windshields for the cars people actually drive around here are on the shelf, and door glass for popular models turns up the same day from the local suppliers. What decides it is the detail: a rain sensor, a heated wiper park, an aerial or a camera bracket changes the part number. Give us the year, make, model and the VIN if you have it when you call 215-608-1108, and you will know before you move the car.
Tape a bin liner or a sheet of plastic over the opening from the inside, edge to edge, and get the car somewhere covered if you can. Do not vacuum it out yourself; you will push glass further into the door skin and the seat rails. Call at 8:30 Monday. Door glass is $200 to $500 fitted, most of it is same day, and the cleanup, including the channel inside the door, is part of the job.
Yes, and plenty of people do, because the shop is inside the neighbourhood and walking home is realistic from a lot of South Philly blocks. A chip fill is about 30 minutes if you would rather wait for it. A windshield is around an hour of work, then safe drive-away time before the urethane has enough strength, and we give you that as a specific time rather than a vague wait. We are open 8:30 to 5:30 Monday to Friday and 8:30 to 4:00 on Saturday.
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| Monday – Friday | 08:30 – 17:30 |
| Saturday | 08:30 – 16:00 |