Car Trapped in the Garage in Florida: How to Get It Out Safely
If your car is trapped behind a garage door that will not open, check the opener for power first, then pull the red manual release with the door closed and lift the door by hand with a second person. If the door is very heavy or will not budge, a spring has broken and the door has to be propped, not held. Never run the opener on a broken spring. Spring replacement in Florida is $150 to $350 per spring, and same-day or after-hours dispatch adds $150 to $300.
Check the power before anything else
In Florida the most common reason a door will not open with a car behind it is not the door. It is an opener with no power. An afternoon storm takes the power out, or the surge when it comes back trips the GFCI outlet the opener is plugged into, and the door sits there doing nothing while you press the button.
Look at the opener light. Press the wall button. If there is no light and no sound, the opener is dead and the door itself is probably fine. That is the easy version of this problem: pull the release, lift the door by hand, and drive out. Openers with a battery backup keep working through an outage, which is why we recommend one on every install here. Our guide to battery backup and power outages covers that.
If the opener has power and runs but the door does not move, or it hums and strains, keep reading, because now the door itself is the question.
Look at the spring before you touch anything
Stand inside with the door closed and look at the shaft above the opening. A torsion spring that has broken has a visible gap in the coil, usually an inch or two wide, with the two halves sitting apart on the shaft. If you heard a loud bang earlier in the day or overnight, that was probably it.
Florida springs do not break from cold. They break from cycle count, and a Florida garage door cycles hard because it is the front door for most of the family, the way to the storage and the workshop, and in golf cart communities it can run several times a day. A standard spring is rated for about 10,000 cycles, which at four cycles a day is around seven years. Humidity and salt air within a few miles of either coast shorten that by pitting the steel. Our guide on how long springs last goes into the numbers.
If the springs look intact, the problem is more likely the opener, and the door will lift normally by hand once it is disconnected.
If the springs are intact
- Make sure the door is fully closed.
- Pull the red manual release handle down and back toward the motor. It should click as the trolley disconnects.
- Lift the door by hand. With working springs it should feel like twenty or thirty pounds, not two hundred.
- It should stay up on its own. If it does, drive out.
- Close it by hand, slowly, and leave the opener disconnected until it is fixed. There is no spring problem here, but a door coming down fast still hurts.
Our step by step on using the manual release explains which cord to pull if you are not sure.
If a spring has broken
This is the situation that needs care, because there is nothing holding the door up except you.
Most Florida garages have a 16 foot by 7 foot double door, and a double steel door with no spring support is 200 to 350 pounds. A single is 130 to 200. Our article on how much a garage door weighs explains why an insulated or hurricane-rated door sits at the top of those ranges.
- Do not use the opener. Not once, not to see if it helps.
- Get a second person. Two people can lift a single door with a broken spring. A double door is a three person job, and if you do not have three, stop here.
- Lift together, evenly, hands flat on the bottom section and clear of the joints between sections. Fingers get caught in section joints, which is a real and common injury.
- Prop it. Not with a broom. Use something that will hold that weight if you let go: a pair of stepladders, or locking pliers clamped onto the track below the bottom rollers on both sides.
- Move the car.
- Bring the door back down slowly, everybody together, and leave it closed.
If you cannot lift it, stop. Trying harder is how people get hurt. Call for emergency service and say the car is trapped, because it changes the priority. Our guide on what to do with a broken spring covers the rest of that day.
What not to do
Do not run the opener. It will strain the motor, crease the top section, and it can pull the door off the track. It also turns a $150 to $350 spring job into a spring, panel and off-track repair costing several times that.
Do not stand under a propped door any longer than you have to.
Do not touch the springs, the cables or the bottom brackets. The bottom bracket in particular is under full cable tension even when a spring has broken, and it is one of the most dangerous parts on the door. In coastal areas the bracket bolts are often rusted, which makes them more likely to let go if disturbed, not less.
Do not leave it propped and use the garage normally around it. Get the car out, bring the door down, and keep it closed until it is repaired.
What it will cost
| Situation | What you do | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Opener has no power, springs fine | Reset the GFCI, or pull the release and lift by hand | Nothing, or opener repair from $95 if the unit took a surge |
| Opener runs, door stays put, springs fine | Pull the release, lift by hand, book a repair | Opener repair $95 to $300 |
| One spring broken | Lift with help, prop, book spring replacement | Spring replacement $150 to $350 per spring |
| Both springs replaced together | Recommended when the second spring is the same age | Adds $120 to $250 to the first spring, not double |
| Door run on a broken spring and came off the track | Stop, leave it, call | Off-track repair $140 to $600 on top of the spring |
| Same-day or after-hours dispatch | Say the car is trapped when you call | Adds $150 to $300, stated before we roll |
Every price on this site is a starting price for a standard single door in normal condition, with the full list on our prices page.
When the emergency premium is worth it
If the door is safely closed and you can manage without the car until the morning, waiting for normal hours saves you the $150 to $300 dispatch premium, and we are open seven days a week including Sunday. If you need the car for work, or the door is stuck open and the house is exposed, pay it. Our guide on emergency repair cost explains what the premium covers.
One Florida note. If a named storm is approaching, a door that will not close is a structural problem for the house, not an inconvenience, because the garage door is the largest opening in the house and the one the roof depends on. We treat a door stuck open ahead of a storm as an emergency and so should you. Our guide on preparing a garage door for a hurricane explains why.
We serve the whole state, from Miami-Dade County to Tampa Bay and Central Florida. Tell us what you saw when you call and we will tell you before we leave what the visit will cost.
Related questions
Where is the manual release cord?
A red handle hanging from the trolley on the opener rail, usually near the middle of the garage ceiling. Pulling it down and back toward the motor disconnects the door from the opener so you can lift it by hand.
Is it safe to pull the release with the door open?
No, not if a spring has broken. Without spring support, releasing a raised door lets it come down under its own weight. Only pull the release with the door closed or nearly closed.
How heavy is a garage door?
Between 130 and 350 pounds for a residential door, depending on size, material and insulation. A 16 foot double door, which is the Florida norm, sits at the top of that range. With a working spring you barely feel it. With a broken one you feel all of it.
The power is out after a storm. Can I open the door by hand?
Yes, if the springs are intact. Pull the manual release with the door closed and lift. It should feel light and stay up on its own. If it is heavy or will not stay up, stop, because that means a spring has failed and the outage was a coincidence. An opener with battery backup avoids this entirely and runs through an outage.
Should I replace both springs if only one broke?
Usually yes on a two spring door. The second spring has the same cycle count and the same years of humidity, and it tends to fail within months. Doing both on one visit adds $120 to $250 to the first spring rather than doubling the price and the trip.
