Yesterday I was looking over the budget and my bank account, doing the routine of balancing out the checkbook and making sure I had paid all my bills. I noticed that I was under budget by about $800.00 this month and I was thinking cool, throw half in savings and the other half towards an additional car payment to expedite the payoff process. I was excited because normally I am only a few hundred under budget, so having this much extra is great!
My wife got home from work last night around 5:30, the sound of her truck pulling in was followed by the sound of a loud crash. Instantly I knew she had just hit the garage door! I controlled my anger pretty well, at least pretty well for me. I told her to walk away from the truck and garage so I would not start yelling at her. I could see she already felt bad enough about it I didn’t want to deal with the garage door being broken and her crying. Assessing the damage I concluded it was not that bad, the truck was fine and the garage door could be hammered back out using a rubber mallet. The one thing I noticed however was the bottom bracket which holds a wheel was slightly bent and needed to be corrected otherwise the garage door would not function properly. I suppose in my contained anger I completely neglected the warning sign that said “ Do not remove the red bolts.” I removed them, and soon thereafter realized the err of my ways! Those bolts held the bracket for the tension line that holds the garage door. Now my garage door is lopsided and really messed up!
I can’t fix the problem myself since I’m not a hands on person, I’m more of a hands on computer person and am more than willing to pay someone to do what I can’t. The real question is, do I file a claim with my own auto insurance for this? Do I file a claim with my home owners insurance? Do I pay for it out of my emergency fund? Or the alternative, pay for it with my monthly excess money?
Since it was motor vehicle related I’m unsure whether I can claim it against my home owners. The truck that hit the garage door was mine, so it would go against my auto policy and that’s only if the repairs don’t exceed $500.00 (my deductible). Does this constitute an Emergency? I guess the moral of this story is don’t count your chickens before they hatch. I really hate sometimes how life will throw curve balls such as this at you, but I guess it makes life more interesting!
What do you think? How should I pay for this? Do you have a “Spouse stole our extra money” story? Leave a comment!
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I think the moral of the story might actually be “Don’t remove the red bolts”
It sounds like a fairly simple repair and it shouldn’t cost too much to have fixed. If the repair is only a few hundred dollars, it’s probably not worth making an insurance claim.
So, emergency fund or monthly excess? I’d be inclined to use your surplus rather than tapping in to emergency savings. I like to save emergency funds for OMGWTF type emergencies, but I’m a little anal about that. Unless it’s sudden job loss, catastrophic emergency, or zombie invasion, my emergency fund doesn’t get touched.
After talking with the company that installed the door they said it should not be much more than $150.00 so I’ve pretty much concluded on excess cash. I’m similar to you in my use of emergency fund. My wife however, is more liberal with the use of it. I explained to her that it’s purpose is mainly for unexpected Medical expenses and since I am a contract worker, its there incase we lose a contract and the company decides not to keep me on overhead.
Now I’m just hoping that when I get to the house and the repair guy shows up it won’t be more than what they said on the phone!
Thanks for the comment