Is Your Garage Door Covered by Home Insurance?

Home insurance provides a wide range of protections for property owners. It's there to help you when sudden, accidental incidents happen that leave you with a significant amount of damage to repair. In some cases, it can help you to make repairs or even replace your garage door, depending on what caused the garage door problem in the first place. The first step is to check your insurance policy to make sure you know what it covers.

When Does Home Insurance Cover Garage Doors?

The terms of your home insurance policy will provide you with specific information about when your home insurance can be helpful to you. Take a few key situations into consideration.

Let's say you were backing up and hit your garage door. If there is damage to your vehicle, your auto insurance may cover it, depending on why you hit the door. However, it will not cover damage to your garage door. On the other hand, if this was accidental in nature, your home insurance will likely cover the cost of the repairs to your door.

What if your garage door just stops working or the tracks begin to wear down and no longer open and close properly? When the reason your garage door is damaged or no longer working is due to poor maintenance or normal wear and tear, your home insurance is not going to cover the costs related to the repair. That will be up to you to handle.

When Else Can Home Insurance Help You?

Other situations in which your home insurance can help you include instances of a covered fire, vandalism or a severe storm damages. Accidental and sudden damage is often covered as long as the cause isn't something you've created yourself. If your garage door is damaged, be sure to get it repaired right away. If it is not working and then damaged by a storm, your insurer may not cover it.

Home insurance is there to support you when you cannot control the situation. The right policy does make a difference. Be sure your policy offers enough coverage within your limit to keep all aspects of your home in good working order and safe.