It happens to the best of us — usually before the coffee has kicked in. You’re backing out of your garage door and swing a little too close to your garage door track, causing serious damage. Or perhaps you start to back out before the door is completely up, hitting the door. Sometimes it’s not even your fault — the door gets stuck halfway and before you know what’s happening, you’ve backed right into your garage door.
Fortunately, you may not need to buy a whole new garage door — assuming the door was in good shape to begin with. Most crashes only require minor garage door repair, like track and panel replacement. And it may even be covered by your homeowner’s insurance or perhaps even your car insurance policy.
How Much Garage Door Damage is Too Much?
The great thing about garage doors is that they’re comprised of many different parts. Does that have its downsides? Sure. But the upside is that when you ram your car into the bottom panel or take an entire track out, you can replace just the panel or just the track. And we all know a call for garage door service costs a lot less than a call for a whole garage door replacement.
Impact damage that can commonly be dealt with via repair include:
- Sensor damage/displacement
- Door off track, broken rollers
- Bent or broken garage door track
- Single damaged door panel
- Broken hardware
- Dents and scratches
Sometimes, things just aren’t salvageable. Typically, these include:
- Damage to multiple door panels
Structural damage to the garage door’s framing or infrastructure
Will Insurance Cover Your Garage Door Repair After Car Damage?
If you or someone else hit your garage door with your car, keep in mind that the garage door repair may be covered by either homeowner’s or auto insurance. This will depend on your policy, how the accident occurred, whose car it occurred in, and who was driving.
If someone else hit your garage door, the repair will likely be covered under their liability insurance. It’s treated exactly as if they were in a car accident, because technically that’s exactly what happened. If you or your teen hit your garage door with your car, the repair may be covered under your homeowner’s insurance policy.
Whether or not you want to use your policy depends on the nature of your coverage and the expense of the repair. Using your policy to repair your door may make your insurance premiums rise substantially, so you may actually pay out more than the price of the door over time through heightened insurance premiums. Talk to your insurance agent to find out the details of your policy.Many garage door repairs aren’t actually that expensive, especially when you consider the alternative of scrapping the garage door and having a whole new door installed. Call SACS GARAGE DOOR REPAIR for fast, friendly, affordable garage door services from a local company that retains the most experienced, skilled garage door repair technicians you’ll find in the Sacramento area.