Reversed into your garage door: claim it or pay for the repair yourself?

Start with the impact section of your home policy rather than your car's, set an itemised repair quote beside your excess before you decide, and leave the door alone until someone has checked it.

If you've reversed into your own garage door, read your home insurance before your car insurance. Suncorp answers the question directly: if you damage your garage door with your car, it will be covered by your Suncorp Home Insurance, and it marks impact as covered on Classic, Classic Extras and Classic Advantages. AAMI says its Building and Home & Contents policies, for policies starting on or after 24 January 2025, cover garage and garage door loss or damage from insured events, and impact is on its list, though that page doesn't mention cars.

Two insurers, and both list impact as an insured event, subject to each PDS's limits and conditions. That makes the home policy your starting point. Whether a claim is worth making comes down to one comparison: the repair quote against your excess. Either way, the door needs checking before anyone touches it.

Does home insurance cover a car hitting the garage door?

On the pages we read, impact is an insured event for the garage itself. Suncorp's building cover takes in garages, carports, outbuildings and any structural improvements on land at the insured address. It does not cover garages that don't comply with building laws and regulations.

The line between a bump and an old door matters too. AAMI does not cover wear, tear and deterioration. It puts the impact case on the other side of that line.

Sudden damage caused by insured events, including weather events and impact, isn't considered wear, tear and deterioration.

So a door that was sagging long before the car touched it is a different conversation. Our earlier guide on wear and tear versus storm damage walks through that split.

Two limits are worth knowing before you ring anyone. Suncorp's "not covered" examples for impact include driveways, paths and underground services damaged by a road vehicle or earthmoving equipment, so a cracked driveway edge may be treated differently from the door above it. And AAMI sells Accidental Damage at Home as optional cover for an extra premium.

Open your PDS and read two sections: "impact" and "accidental damage". If the wording is unclear, ask your insurer before you decide anything.

Backed into it in your own car: what each policy is written for

What got damaged	Policy to read first	What the source says
Garage door, tracks, opener	Home or building policy, "impact" section	Suncorp: "If you damage your garage door with your car, it will be covered by your Suncorp Home Insurance." AAMI lists impact as an insured event for garages and garage doors (policies starting on or after 24 Jan 2025).
Driveway or path	Home policy, read the exclusions	Suncorp's "not covered" impact examples include driveways, paths and underground services damaged by a road vehicle or earthmoving equipment
Your own car	Car policy	Suncorp: third-party covers exclude accidental loss or damage to your own car; that sits under comprehensive-type cover
A door that was already worn	Home policy, wear and tear section	AAMI: wear, tear and deterioration is not covered, and sudden impact damage isn't wear and tear
Wording from Suncorp and AAMI pages. Your own PDS decides.

Car third-party cover is written for legal liability for loss or damage your car causes to another person's vehicle or property, which points your own garage door to the home policy instead, though your own PDS has the final word.

Your car is a separate matter. Suncorp says third-party covers don't cover you for accidental loss or damage to your own car, and damage to your own car is a question for comprehensive-type cover.

In practice that can mean two claims on two policies, each with its own excess. Keep the paperwork for each one apart from the start.

Why the door should be checked before anyone repairs it

Where the force can travel Springs

1. Bottom panel (dent)
2. Bottom brackets and lifting cables: high tension: technician only
3. Rollers in the vertical tracks: can bend out of sight
4. Horizontal tracks
5. Spring assembly above the opening: high tension: technician only
6. Opener rail and carriage: can strain the opener

Roller door

7. Guide tracks
8. Drum with its spring unit

A bumper hits low, but a garage door works as one system. The bottom panel takes the dent. The force can then run up through the cables, rollers and tracks to the springs and the opener. A track bent a few millimetres can look fine and still bind the next time the door runs.

The springs and cables are the dangerous part. They hold the weight of the door under high tension all the time. B&D's maintenance advice is to disengage the opener before any cleaning or maintenance, and it says repair and servicing should only be provided by a trained professional.

Our advice at Garage Doors Lake Macquarie is simple: once a door has been hit, stop. Don't press the remote to see if it still works, and don't try to force the door shut by hand. Our guide to what's safe to DIY and what isn't explains where the line sits.

Claim or pay yourself? Put the quote beside your excess

1. 1

   Get an itemised written quote.

2. 2

   Find your excess and read the impact and accidental damage sections of your PDS.

3. 3

   Quote at or below your excess: the excess comes off any cash payment or you pay it, so there is little or nothing to claim (our reading)

   Quote well above your excess: ask your insurer how a claim is treated at renewal before you lodge

   4

   If you claim: Suncorp asks for its consent before repairs, unless you can't contact it and the repairs are emergency ones or needed for health and safety.

You can't make this decision without a number, so get an itemised written quote first. Then find your excess.

If an excess applies, Suncorp says it either deducts it from any cash payment or asks you to pay it. Our reading: a quote at or below your excess leaves little or nothing to claim.

Check which excess you chose, too. Suncorp says a higher excess can lower your premium, but you pay that higher amount when you claim.

Then there is renewal. Suncorp's premiums page lists claims among the things that move home premiums, but what it describes is the total of home claims it receives across Australia. It says nothing about how your own claim changes your renewal. Don't guess either way: ask your insurer before you lodge.

Claiming also gives the insurer a say in the repair. Suncorp's claims page says “It's important that you don't carry out any repairs without our consent”. The exception is when you can't contact it and the repairs are emergency ones or needed for health and safety.

The first hour after the bump: a checklist

1. Keep people, pets and cars clear, and don't run the door.
2. Photograph and video all the damage, inside and out.
3. If you must make the opening safe before the insurer can act, keep an itemised invoice; Suncorp can arrange make-safe, with a supplier contacting you within 24 hours.
4. Keep the damaged parts until the assessor has seen them, unless they're a health risk.
5. Get the insurer's consent before repairs, unless you can't contact them and the work is an emergency or needed for health and safety (Suncorp's wording; check yours).
6. Get an itemised written quote.
7. If the car is damaged too, that's a separate claim on your car policy.

1. Keep everyone clear. Move people, pets and cars away from the door, and leave it where it stopped.
2. Record everything. Suncorp asks you to take pictures or videos of the damage to upload with your claim. Shoot the outside, the inside, the tracks and the opener.
3. Make the opening secure if you must. If you have to make it safe before your insurer can act, Suncorp says to keep an itemised invoice. Suncorp can also arrange make safe temporary repairs, and a supplier contacts you within 24 hours.
4. Keep the damaged parts. Suncorp says not to dispose of damaged items before the assessor attends, unless they're a health risk.
5. Ask before repairs. Get the insurer's consent first, unless you can't contact them and the work is an emergency or needed for health and safety. Check how your own insurer words this.
6. Get an itemised written quote. It is the number your claim-or-pay decision rests on.
7. Separate the car from the door. Two kinds of damage can mean two policies.

If you rent, or your door belongs to a strata scheme, the building cover may sit with someone else. Tell your landlord or owners corporation before you arrange anything.

What Suncorp says about how fast a claim moves

Suncorp's stated times; other insurers set their own

1. 1Make-safe supplier contacts you: within 24 hours
2. 2Response to a routine claim enquiry: within 10 business days
3. Progress update: at least every 20 business days (General Insurance Code of Practice)

Suncorp says it responds to routine claim enquiries within 10 business days. It also updates you on progress at least every 20 business days, under the General Insurance Code of Practice.

Those are one insurer's stated times. Yours may set different ones, so ask when you lodge.

Until then, a door that has been hit stays as it is, which is one more reason to secure the opening early.

When the repair needs a licensed contractor

Contractor licence needed for NSW residential building work valued at more than $5,000 in labour and materials, including GST (checked November 2026)

• Maximum fine for unlicensed work, individual: $22,000
• Maximum fine for unlicensed work, company: $110,000

checked November 2026

Home Building Act 1989

In NSW you need a contractor licence for residential building work valued over $5,000 in labour and materials, including GST (checked November 2026). The same page says you can be fined up to $22,000 as an individual or $110,000 as a company under the Home Building Act 1989 for unlicensed work (checked November 2026).

A full door replacement or a structural repair to the opening can pass that line. Whoever quotes, ask to see the licence before you sign.

Times and thresholds at a glance

• Make-safe supplier contact: within 24 hours (Suncorp).
• Routine claim-enquiry response: 10 business days (Suncorp).
• Claim progress updates: at least every 20 business days (Suncorp).
• Repairs: Suncorp asks for consent first, unless you can't contact it and the repairs are emergency ones or needed for health and safety.
• NSW contractor licence: residential building work of more than $5,000 in labour and materials incl. GST (checked November 2026).
• Maximum fine for unlicensed work: $22,000 individual, $110,000 company (Home Building Act 1989; checked November 2026).

Keep these numbers handy while the claim is open. Each one carries its source on the card.

Get the door looked at, then decide

Whether you claim or pay, the next step is the same: find out what the impact actually damaged.

Tell Garage Doors Lake Macquarie what happened through our enquiry page. Our partner installer looks at the door and quotes you directly; ask for that quote itemised and in writing, so you can put it beside your excess or send it to your insurer. Our repairs page covers the kinds of repair work we handle.

Until the door has been checked, leave it shut and leave the springs alone.