Garage Door Hit Tenants Car

[Byron Bohlsen]

Hi Folks, 

New tenant informed me the garage door was going down and hit his car trunk as he was backing out of the garage, there are some light scratches on his trunk. 

They are looking for advice (and I think hoping for me to pay for the damages). I am curious if anyone has been in this situation and knows how to respond and what my responsibilities are. I verified the garage door safety sensors work just fine and the last tenant of 2 years never had any issues. I am guessing the garage opener got bumped as they were backing out and the sensors didn't trip because the wheels weren't to the sensors yet. 

This seems to be a case of bad luck/accident. I dont think I am responsible for anything but looking for advice from others, maybe offer to pay for half as a good faith?

[David Avetisyan]

If you feel the tenants are hinting that you pay for it, I suggest you instead hire a specialist to "service" the door and make sure all sensors work -- which in this case, you say they work properly. 

Following this, Inform the tenants that you had the garage door checked and it works properly.

This way, you have evidence that the door was functioning and it was simply user error.

Typical service fees are relatively low; shop around locally and on CL. Your really doing this for formality sake. 

To your success!