Does Car Insurance Cover Garage Door Repairs?

Your car insurance may cover a lot of different incidents, but does it cover garage door repair? The coverage that your car insurance provides will depend on several factors. However, there are cases in which garage door repair and replacement are covered. This includes the cost of new garage door installation depending on the insurance.

Regardless of whether you know if your car insurance covers damage to garage doors, you may believe that such instances are few and far between.

It’s Not an Uncommon Scenario for a Car to Damage Garage Doors

Cars striking overhead garage doors is more common than you might at first believe. Although sources vary, it is estimated that the number of vehicles that damage garage doors every year is roughly 50,000. Up to 60,000 are injured with as many as 500 dying in accidents involving garage doors.

These range from the most typical which is the homeowner itself hitting the garage door, or the door’s tracks and the garage frame with their vehicle while either entering or exiting the garage. But there are other types of incidents as well, most notably associated with criminal activity.

Does Car Insurance Cover Garage Door Repairs?

This includes cars in high-speed chases, vehicles in the process of being stolen, and other nefarious activities which result in vehicles striking garage doors. And while most instances of garage door damage is caused by the homeowner driving their own vehicle, there are plenty of cases where other drivers cause damage to the door sections and the equipment.

What Should You Do if You Damaged a Garage Door with Your Car?

If someone else has damaged your garage door, it is generally their responsibility to have it repaired or replaced. But what if you were the one who did the damage? This is not all that uncommon as people back into garage doors because of a miscalculation, becoming distracted, or simply getting into a hurry.

So, what do you do when you are the one who causes the damage? You may want to take the following steps to ensure that you understand what happened.

• Make Sure Everyone is Alright: First things first, check yourself and everyone in the vehicle to ensure that they are fine. Most of the time such accidents are little more than bumps or a slight jarring which does no harm to anyone inside the vehicle.
• Assess the Damage: Get out of your vehicle and look at the entire garage door, not just where you struck it. The garage door is part of a complex array of springs, tracks, rollers, and other parts that all work together. What may be a slight dent to the track caused by your vehicle, might’ve damaged the entire garage door assembly. Note areas that do not look right apart from the impact area.
• Test the Door: If the damage appears to be slight, move the vehicle out of the way and then test the garage door. Do so manually, so you can feel with your own hands how smoothly the door slides up and down the track.

If the door does not move smoothly or you see parts that are out of place, you’ll want to call a licensed garage door repair company. The question is, will you have to pay the cost out of pocket for garage door repair that you cause?

Does Car Insurance Cover Garage Door Repairs & Replacement?

The answer will depend on the type of insurance you have, the cause of the event, and the laws governing insurance in your state.

First, your homeowner’s insurance may cover damage to your garage door. You will want to check your homeowner's insurance to see what coverage applies. Next, check your car insurance to see if it covers damage to your garage door if you run into it with your vehicle. In many situations, the insurance company pays for a complete garage door installation instead of trying to replace the section and repair the garage door.

In many cases, the liability associated with garage door repair means that your car insurance is probably not the best option. Of course, that will depend on the cause of the damage and the type of car insurance policy that you own.

If the damage was caused by another party, someone who crashed into your garage door, then you may be able to have new garage doors installed which would be paid for by their insurance. In certain liability cases however, such as ineligible or uninsured drivers your car insurance may take up the slack, if you choose to use it.

Check both your car and homeowner’s insurance to see what it covers before you work to repair or replace your garage door due to an accident.