Car hit the garage door

A bumper that meets a garage door rarely damages only the panel it touches. The force goes into the hinges between panels, the rollers and the tracks, and a door that looks dented in one place can be bent out of line along its whole height. The garage may also no longer close, which turns a dent into a question of who can get in tonight.

First, do not run the opener

A door pushed out of line binds in its tracks, and an opener driving it can bend it further or pull it out of the tracks entirely. The Consumer Product Safety Commission's advice covers this case:

If doors are not "balanced," or if they bind or stick, they should be serviced by a professional.

— CPSC Publication 523

If the car is still against the door, move it back slowly and only if the door is not resting on it. Keep people out from under the door.

What to look at, from where you stand

• Bent panels, and whether the bend is only at the bottom or runs higher.
• Tracks pushed out, bowed, or pulled away from the wall.
• Rollers sitting outside the track.
• A cable hanging loose, or a door that hangs lower on one side. See snapped cable.

Take photographs before anything is moved. They are useful to the technician and for any claim you decide to make; this page does not say what a policy covers.

Repair or replace

Whether a door can be repaired depends on how many panels are bent, whether matching panels are still made for that door, and what happened to the tracks and hardware. A technician answers that after inspecting the door, and the price comes with the answer.

If you are offered a whole new door

The Federal Trade Commission's Cooling-Off Rule gives a buyer three business days to cancel certain sales made at home. A repair visit you asked for is excluded from it, but the exclusion ends at the repair:

If, in the course of such a visit, the seller sells the buyer … additional services or goods other than replacement parts …, the sale of those additional goods or services would not fall within this exclusion

— 16 CFR 429.0

So if a technician who came to fix the door sells you a new door or a new opener in your home, that sale can fall under the rule, and if it does, the seller must tell you in writing that you may cancel it "at any time prior to midnight of the third business day after the date of this transaction." Replacement parts for the repair you asked for are not covered. The rule applies to purchases for personal or household use, not for a business, and a buyer gives up the right to cancel by signing a handwritten statement that the work is needed for a bona fide emergency.

Updated 2026-09-30.