You drive in and out of your garage door hundreds of times per a year pretty much on autopilot. Eventually, an accident is bound to happen — causing damage to either your car or the garage door. Usually, the damage is minor, but if it’s the door, it is something you’ll want to have looked at. A bent garage door track, for instance, can cause serious and expensive damage to your door if you continue to use it.
Backing into the Door
If you’re in a hurry, it’s easy to back into the door as its still opening. An easy way to prevent this is to open the door before you even get into the car. Since winters are so mild in Rancho Cordova and Sacramento, it’s not like you’ve got to worry about the cold. You never want to start the car until the door is completely open anyway due to carbon monoxide poisoning concerns.
Scraping the Bottom of the Door
If you are driving a larger car into the garage for the first time, or you have something on the roof such as luggage, a bike, or kayak, it’s easy to scrape the bottom of the door as you go in. This can damage the bottom seal of the door or the door itself and require repair. You might also scrape or damage your car itself, which will need repair.
Opening Your Car Door
It’s easy to misjudge distance when you are opening the door. This can cause scrapes to the car door, but if you scrape the track it can cause serious damage to the garage door.
Insurance to the Rescue
If your door was damaged by someone else’s car, the repair may be covered under their insurance under a collision policy. It works just like any other car accident. If the damage was your own fault, the repairs still may be covered under your homeowner’s policy. Check with your insurance agent. Save the receipts for any repairs made by your garage door company just in case.
A word of caution: Just because your insurance company will pay for the garage door repair caused by your car doesn’t mean they should. You have to weigh the cost of the garage door repair against what reporting the accident can do to your premiums. Paul may be paying you today so Peter can charge you exorbitant interest later. If a repair is minor, you might consider paying for it out of pocket rather than having your premiums go up.
And if someone else should hit your garage door? Their liability insurance should cover it — or have them pay for the repair out of pocket. Either way, the cost of the garage door repair should not be your responsibility.