Know When to Call Los Angeles Garage Door Repair

So you’re getting ready to leave, have everything you need and just finished that mental checklist. You pull the car into reverse to back out of your garage and realize too little too late you never opened the garage door. While it might seem like an obvious thing to miss, it happens to people more often that you might think. Depending on where the damage is, everything might still work just fine, or it might be time to look into Los Angeles garage door repair.

Stay Calm

Car accidents are almost always a jarring experience, even if it is something like backing into a fixed object. Don’t let the stress get to you and keep your cool. You might accidentally cause more damage if you let the panic and stress set it, either by forgetting to put the car in park, pulling further back instead of forward, or if your garage is on a slant, even just letting it roll further back into the door when you get out to inspect the damage.

Assess the Damage

The first thing you need to do before anything else is take a look at the damage and see how bad things might be. Pull your car forward so you can inspect the panels and see if there is any bending, warping, or cracking of the panels themselves. If there’s any warping or significant bending to the garage door panels, it’s likely you’ll need to have those replaced. Since the doors, track, opening mechanism and guides are all interconnected, it’s important to check all of the components for any bending or warping. If you have an automatic opener, double check the brackets that attach to door to the automatic opener as well. While it’s rare, sometimes there can be some damage to the automatic opener depending on how hard the door was hit. ‘

Try to Open The Door

If there isn’t severe damage to the door or tracks and your car is still in the garage, try to manually open the door enough to get the car out of the garage. It’s important that you don’t use the automatic door opener for this. Using the automatic opener might put stress on the motor if the door catches and gets stuck, which can cause even more problems like overheating the motor and burning it out if the door refuses to move, or pulling the entire door off of the track and making the repair that much more complicated. Carefully ease the door up by hand and feel for any catches or sticking as you lift. If you do hit a snag, don’t force the door further. You might end up just forcing it right out of the track.

Call a Los Angeles Garage Door Repair Company

If the damage is causing problems with the door opening, or even if the damage barely like some minor scuffing that a little buffing or a touch of paint could take care of, it’s time to call in your local Los Angeles garage door repair company. Even the slightest shift in the frame or bend in the tracks could cause problems with the opening of your garage door, and the replacements to things like cables and guides might be a bit more complex than they might first appear. Your repair technician will be able to properly assess the damage and give you a quote for the damages, as well as tell you what’s going to be involved with the repairs.

Call Your Homeowners Insurance

Once you’ve gotten in touch with the repair company and maybe even have a quote, it’s time to call you insurance. While you might be hesitant to file a claim, there’s a good chance your insurance company will cover the damages. You’d still be responsible for the deductible though, so if the damages are less than your deductible you might want to hold off on filing the claim. You’ll also want to contact your auto insurance company if there’s any severe damage to the car if you don’t plan on covering the damages out of pocket. The damage would be filed under your collision coverage through, if you have it, so keep that in mind when filing for the damage to your vehicle.

Get Your Inspections and Quotes

The repair company is likely going to want to see the damages, and your insurance company will also if you’re making a claim. Make sure your insurance company can inspect the damages before having repairs done so you can get an accurate quote for insurance coverage. If you don’t have a Los Angeles garage door service company that you use regularly already, your insurance company usually has a list of vendors they work closely with who they can recommend. Once you’ve had your garage door inspected by your insurance company, you’re free to start the repairs. If you’re unable to get your car out of the garage because of the damages, you might also want to talk to your insurance company about taking advantage of any rental coverage you have on the policy and if rental coverage would apply in your situation. Every company is different so what they do and do not cover might vary.

Schedule Your Repairs

The last step is to schedule the actual repair process. The labor and replacement of the broken or bend parts usually doesn’t take too long, but sometimes it can take some time to get the parts in needed for repairs. You can call the repair company and set up a date for the repairs if you have your inspections scheduled and set up, just make sure the repairs don’t start before any inspections by your insurance company. Depending on the extent of the damage, the repair itself can usually be taken care of in a single day.

After the initial shock, dealing with the repairs for your garage door isn’t all that complicated if you just stay calm and make a few phone calls. The insurance company and garage door service in Los Angeles actually take care of most of the heavy lifting. Just stay calm and keep on top of things, and your garage door will be as good as new in no time.