The other day, while driving to work during the first snow storm of the season, I was driving on the highway under an overpass while a plow truck was driving over the overpass, and he completely covered my car with all the snow, grime and crap that he was scraping off the over passing road. My wipers were just barely strong enough to clear the windshield. The end result of this lovely experience was that it ended up cracking my windshield. Great...

I have been looking around and getting quotes for a new windshield (insurance deductible is $500) and all the companies are trying to charge me extra for having heated wipers. I have gotten quotes as high as $675!!! If heated wipers is a feature my car has, it's nothing I know about. I have a 2014 2.5i base model with no fancy features at all (I'm lucky I have AC and a radio). One company listed the windshield as having "Solar Powered Heated Wipers." Is that just a fancy way of charging me extra or having the back side of the windshield painted black? There is no heating element under the wiper area and no cold weather accessory package and no tinting on the windshield; no heated seats and no lane sensors; no GPS, no anything extra.

I am I just getting hosed with all these high quotes?

(And as an aside, Yes, I am aware that "Heated Wipers" is a feature of the windshield not the wipers themselves.)

If there are no heating elements in the glass below your wipers, you do not have a heated windshield.

 

You mention it is a 2014 base, so I'm guessing they are quoting you the wrong glass. Generally, the wiper-defroster/heater element is on the all-weather package, which I don't think is available on the base trim. One way to tell (if you can't see the elements, as @jmw15 suggested), is "do you have heated seats?" I had my windshield replaced on my old 2016 and found that question a little odd, until I realized it was the glass shop's easy way of telling if I needed the "heated" windshield.

 

Thanks. Sorry for the late reply. The above info is kind of what I was thinking. I finally got a shop to quote me a reasonable price (in the mid $200 range), so I'll be going with them. Hate to do it i the middle of winter, but may not have a choice. Last time I had a windshield replaced in winter, I had the tape marks on the roof of the car until I traded it in.