Oops. I Backed into My Garage Door!

What to Do if You Hit Your Garage Door with Your Car

It seems like a silly mistake for someone to make, but it happens more often than you think. Backing your car up into your garage door can happen when you are feeling tired, rushed, or distracted. If you back into your garage door, what should you do?

Kansas’ garage door experts at Cheney Door Company have the answers to help you out.

Damage Report

The first thing to do after backing into your garage door is to take a moment to assess the damage to your garage. It may have sounded worse than it really is.

When you are assessing the damage just look, do not touch. You could hurt yourself or cause more damage if you try moving or fixing anything yourself. Using an automatic garage opener or forcing your door open manually could create damage to the overall system. A damaged door being forced to move has the potential of coming down quickly, and you do not want to be underneath it if/when that happens.

Get out your phone and take some photos of the damage. Take any notes of what happened and any damage you see. Then call a professional garage door company for an experienced repair technician, like our team at Cheney Door Company. Give us a call for a quick repair at (316) 262-2098.

You will also want to look over your car for any damage to your vehicle. Think about the next steps you might need to take regarding car repair and if you may need to file a claim with your insurance.

Check if the Garage Door Still Works

If you don’t see any obvious damage to the garage door operation such as the tracks, you may want to see if the door can open. But if you do this, you need to make sure you are doing it safely. By putting yourself at a good distance from the door and all its operating components above, try using your garage door opener to see if it will open.

You want to be sure you are quite a distance away – at least 8 feet away from the garage – as there are components like the garage door spring that are under incredible tension that could cause serious damage if they snap off. You could even cause significant damage to your or your vehicle if some part of the garage door operation suddenly sprang out of place.

While the garage door is opening, if you hear any odd sounds or it is moving slowly or not smoothly, stop opening it. Unplug your garage door opener from the outlet and do not touch any parts. Call for a garage door repair to handle what could be a potentially dangerous fix for a non-professional.

Damage Caused by a Car That Backed Into Garage

There are different types of damage that can occur from a vehicle that hits a garage door. Sometimes the issue is minor, and the repair is essentially cosmetic. Other times the damage is so severe a full replacement is your best option.

Sometimes a car that backs into a garage door will only damage an individual panel or a couple of panels. Depending on your garage door, this could be a relatively quick fix. If the matching material to the damaged section is available, a busted garage door panel can easily be repaired.

You may be able to operate your garage door after backing into it, but then realize it does not look quite right. Perhaps the door is crooked and doesn’t sit level with the ground anymore. A crooked garage door usually means there are more problems in your garage door system. You will want to get that repaired quickly.

If your garage door was halfway open as you hit it, it may become stuck in that halfway position. You won’t be getting your car out (or in if it happened when you were out of the garage) until you get it repaired.

A garage door can usually be repaired in less than a day. Call on Cheney Door Company right away and we will try to be out there as soon as possible.

Cheney Door is Here to Help

A broken garage door is a major problem. It can keep you from accessing your garage and potentially cause security concerns if it does not close completely.

If you need help repairing your garage door, contact Cheney Door Company. In Wichita, call us at (316) 262-2098. We are available for 24/7 emergency service.

• For our Salina office, call (785) 820-8366.
• For our Hutchinson office, call (620) 669-9306.