TL;DR:
Protect your bike (and sanity) from avoidable rack mishaps—especially garage collisions—by installing visual reminders and smart cue systems that alert you of your bike-mounted load before you drive off
- Garage impacts are shockingly common
- Use bright visual cues on your garage door
- If the worst happens, your bike insurance covers it
If you carry your precious bike around on the roof of your car you probably live in fear of the day you forget the bike is up top and drive somewhere that your car and bike will not fit, and the bike is always the loser in this type confrontation.
The ride is over, you are feeling good, and an hour at home relaxing sounds nice. As you roll up to the house, punch the garage door opener, and drive into the garage with thoughts of a nice relax in front of the TV there comes a nasty crunching sound that snaps you back to reality...nooooo! your bike is on the roof rack and you just drove into the garage. Ahhh “choose your favorite expletive”
As the realization of what just happened seeps through your anger and while you hesitate to get out of the car to survey the damage, you sit there stunned, realizing that your relaxing afternoon just disintegrated like the carbon frame that took on the garage door.
How to prevent accidents from ever happening?
There are a couple of preventative measures to avoid turning your frame into a mangled mess. One precaution is to place something in front of the garage door that forces you out of the car and hopefully seeing your bike on the roof rack. This only works if you can be 100% certain that a helpful neighbor of family member doesn’t remove what they consider an obstruction.
Another precaution is to hang several bright pieces of tape from the bottom of the garage door so when the door goes up the tape says “STOP, your bike is up top”, and unless you are asleep at the wheel this will cause you to remove the bike before driving into the garage.
The object in front of the door requires you to put it there as you leave the house. This can be easy to forget at 5:30 in the morning. It also relies on no helpful people moving the object, so it is far from foolproof.
The bright tape on the door is always there and it should remind you of what’s up top. If you combine the tape with placing the garage door opener on the passenger side floor or seat you might stand a better than even chance of never hearing what a bike sounds like as it is struck head-on by a garage door.
If the tape, traffic cone, and out of reach door opener all fail remember that when moments like this happen Velosurance has your back. Even momentary lapses of concentration are covered by a Velosurance bicycle insurance policy. So don't hesitate and get a bicycle insurance quote
Key Takeaways
- Avoid head-on garage crashes—place a visible object or bright tape on the garage door to remind you that your bike is on the roof
- Hang visual cues—especially bright hanging strips—on the garage door to help prevent driving into a bike mounted overhead
- Keep the garage door opener located away from the driver’s side—so you slide over before entering the garage and spot your bike
- Using both physical and visual reminders together gives you a much better chance of avoiding a disastrous collision with your bike
- If a crash still happens, remember that Velosurance's insurance covers bike damage during rack-related incidents
Frequently Asked Questions
- What visual reminder works best to prevent driving into a garage with a bike on the roof?
- Hanging several bright pieces of tape from the bottom of the garage door is the most reliable option. When the door goes up, the tape acts as a permanent "STOP" sign that is always in place regardless of what time you leave or who else uses the garage. The caveat worth knowing: a physical object placed in front of the garage can get moved by a helpful neighbor or family member, and it is easy to forget to set it out at 5:30 in the morning.
- How does placing the garage door opener away from the driver's reach help protect a roof-mounted bike?
- Moving the garage door opener to the passenger side floor or seat forces you to reach across the car before opening the garage. That physical movement increases the chance you will look up and remember the bike is on the roof before driving through the door. Combining this with bright tape on the garage door gives you a much better chance of avoiding a collision.
- What type of rack accident is most common when carrying a bike on a car?
- Forgetting the bike is on the roof and driving into a garage or low-overhead structure is the scenario that catches riders most often. The result is typically a completely destroyed frame. Roof racks limit where your loaded car can go, and the consequence of forgetting that fact even once can be devastating to your bike.
- What coverage applies when a bike is damaged in a rack accident?
- A Velosurance bicycle insurance policy covers damage to your bike even from momentary lapses of concentration, such as driving a roof-rack-mounted bike into a garage door. The policy is designed to get you back on a replacement bike as quickly as possible. The article confirms this coverage explicitly for these types of incidents.