Oakland vehicle burglaries are down 37 percent year-to-date per OPD, and the auto glass shops on San Leandro Street that once filled service bays with smash-and-grab repairs are feeling it — one owner has cut his installer staff from seven to four.

On San Leandro Street in East Oakland, the five service bays at Low Price Auto Glass are still busy — just not the way they used to be. Where smash-and-grab repairs once made up a dependable chunk of the work, owner Raj Singh says that segment of his business has fallen roughly 30 percent over the past year.

The cause, counterintuitively, is good news: Oakland vehicle burglaries are down 37 percent year-to-date, comparing May 2025 to May 2026, according to the Oakland Police Department's crime dashboard. The shops that built revenue streams around a particular strain of Oakland misery are now adapting to its decline.

James Serwa, owner of Glass on the Move Inc., puts his own drop at 35 to 40 percent. He has cut his installer staff from seven to four. "It's a lot. We've taken quite a hit," Serwa told KTVU this week.

He dates the shift to roughly a year ago — about the same time catalytic converter thefts also fell off. Both owners attribute the slowdown to the crime drop itself, alongside inflation-driven costs, global supply pressure, and stiffer competition in the industry.

What fills the bays now: windshield replacements from road debris, a steadier but less lucrative stream of work.

Singh frames the adjustment without grievance. "It's a surprise," he said, "but I would say from a community point of view, it's a good surprise."

The bays on San Leandro Street are still running. The reason they're not full is the story.