What should I do if the garage door closed on my car?

The order of operations matters

Almost all the expensive damage in these calls happens after the door lands, when someone panics and drives. The bottom section catches the trunk lid or roof rail, the door racks sideways, rollers tear out of the track, and a minor repair becomes a major one. Work through it in this order:

• 1. Take your foot off the pedal and hands off the remote. The opener may try to finish its cycle if triggered again.
• 2. Pull the red release cord. This disconnects the door from the opener trolley so it moves freely by hand.
• 3. Lift the door straight up. With a properly balanced door, one adult can raise it. If it feels like dead weight, a spring may have failed at the same time; stop and call for help rather than forcing it.
• 4. Hold or brace it open while a second person moves the car. Locking pliers clamped on the track below the bottom roller will keep it from sliding down.
• 5. Close the door gently and leave the opener disconnected until it is inspected.

Why it happened, and why that matters more than the dent

A closing door should never have made it to your car. Either the photo eyes did not see the vehicle, or the contact reversal did not trip when the door touched it. The usual causes we find on these calls across the metro: photo eyes knocked out of alignment or mounted too high, down-force cranked up to mask a heavy door with a dying spring, or a logic board fault in an aging opener. Each of those will hurt something else next time, and next time it might not be a bumper. That is why we treat this as a safety call, not a cosmetic one. A sensor and opener inspection is quick work for a technician, and if the root cause is a tired spring, replacement is a routine same-day fix — estimates are always free at (405) 247-0336.

Damage, costs, and the insurance question

On the door side, a scraped or creased bottom section, bent track, or a snapped bottom bracket or cable are the usual repairs, and what each costs depends on panel availability and how far the door racked. On the car side, tailgate and roof-rail damage is common. Two insurance notes for Oklahoma homeowners: damage to the car generally falls under your auto policy's comprehensive coverage, while damage to the door falls under homeowners, and each has its own deductible. Get a written estimate before filing; plenty of these repairs come in under a typical deductible, and we provide free estimates so you can decide with real numbers.

Once everything is fixed, get in the habit of the monthly safety checks in our auto-reverse testing guide, and keep sensors at the correct height, covered in this answer. If the door will not lift off the vehicle or anything is under tension, call our 24/7 emergency line; average response across the metro is 20 to 50 minutes, with no after-hours surcharge.