Fifteen minutes and roughly five miles by Chester Road. Swarthmore sits beyond the ring of boroughs we serve out of the bay, so it is either the drive down or the van on your driveway, and driveways here give us plenty of room to work. A chip fill is $60 to $130 and takes half an hour; a windshield is $250 to $450 fitted; door, quarter or back glass $200 to $500. The bay is at 448 Primos Avenue in Folcroft, weekdays 8:00 to 4:00. Call 215-608-1108.
4.9★ on Google — 33+ reviews
Swarthmore has the heaviest tree cover of anywhere we cover, and it is not close. The college campus doubles as an arboretum and the planting runs out from it into the streets around, so the canopy over a Swarthmore road is older, taller and denser than the canopy over a Ridley Park or Yeadon one. Cars parked under it collect everything that falls, all year: sap through the warm months, pods and acorns in autumn, and in a summer squall the occasional limb heavy enough to go straight through a windshield or a back window.
The borough's other habit is cars that sit. Between the college terms, the commuters who take the train from the village, and households with more driveway than daily driving, a lot of Swarthmore vehicles stand still for weeks at a time. That is convenient for us, because it means the van has somewhere to work and no hurry to be out of it, and inconvenient for the glass, because a chip nobody has looked at since September has spent a whole season being flexed by cold nights and warmed by the first defroster of the morning. Half an hour and $60 to $130 while it is still a chip beats $250 to $450 and safe drive-away time afterwards. Call 215-608-1108 with the vehicle details and the VIN.
Chester Road runs through Swarthmore as Route 320 and takes almost all of the traffic, crossing Yale Avenue at the village centre where the shops and the regional rail station are. The campus sits on the hill above with arboretum planting running through it and out into the surrounding streets, which is why the tree cover here is older and heavier than anywhere near the shop. The residential roads climb and curve, many with steep driveways and stone walls at the edge of them. Crum Creek cuts the western side of the borough into a wooded valley that the railway crosses on a viaduct. Parking is a mixture of driveways, a small village lot, and kerbside stretches that fill whenever the college has something on.
“The guys at Stockers Glass are awesome, they are truly glass whisperers. I had them recently do glasswork on my 87 Buick Grand National and it looks incredible. Never go anywhere else for your glass needs other than to Stockers, I certainly will be coming back with my other classics in the future.”
First, the trees, and nothing else is close. The canopy here is old enough that a summer storm puts limbs through windshields and back windows rather than merely dropping leaves on the bonnet, and the rest of the year it is sap, pods and acorns on every car left outside. Second, sap dealt with badly: it bakes on, somebody goes at it dry with a scraper or a blade, and the fine scratches left behind flare at every oncoming headlight afterwards. Third, the driveways, which are steep, curved and walled in a combination that is difficult in reverse and expensive for quarter glass and mirrors. Fourth, cars that stand for weeks, collecting all of the above while a chip nobody has checked quietly turns into a crack.
Chester Road south out of the village until you meet MacDade Boulevard, then east through Ridley toward Glenolden, dropping onto Chester Pike for the last stretch into Folcroft; we are at 448 Primos Avenue, a block back from the Pike, five miles and about fifteen minutes from the village. Carrying on south to Chester and picking up the Pike north-east is longer but avoids the borough lights if something has gone wrong in the middle of the run. Because it is a drive rather than a hop, ring 215-608-1108 first with the year, make, model and VIN so the glass is confirmed before you set off, and say so if you would rather we came to the driveway instead.
Stockers Glass works across Folcroft and the surrounding towns — pick your neighborhood:
Whichever one is open to the weather. A back or side window is tempered and will have gone completely, leaving the car full of small pieces and open to the rain, so that is the urgent one at $200 to $500 fitted. A windshield is laminated, so a limb often leaves it cracked and sagging but still in place; it is unsafe to drive and it is still a $250 to $450 replacement, but it is not letting water in tonight. Cover what is open, leave the fragments, and call.
A gentle slope is fine. What we need is ground level enough to stand on and swing a door wide, plus dry weather for the adhesive. If your drive is genuinely steep, a flat stretch of kerb outside is often the better spot and we would rather agree that when you book than work it out on the day. Tell us what it looks like on the phone and we will pick between the two.
That is the easiest kind of booking there is, and plenty of Swarthmore cars qualify. We need access to the vehicle, the keys or somebody who can open it, the plate and the make so we arrive with the right glass, and a number that will be answered if anything unexpected turns up. There is no cure time to wait out on a side window, and on a windshield the safe drive-away time simply passes while the car goes on standing where it was.
Tell us the vehicle and the glass that's damaged — you'll see your price instantly, and we'll hold it for you.
Odd job the widget can't price? Send us the details and a human will quote it fast.
The instant quote is the fastest way to a price. For unusual jobs, fleet work, or anything that needs a human, use the form — we answer fast during shop hours.
| Monday – Friday | 08:00 – 16:00 |