What is the Average Cost of Garage Door Repair in California?

We feel fortunate that you have stumbled across this page of our website. Our company hopes that this article will help you save money and protect you from predatory companies.

Our garage door repair company has been serving the greater Riverside California area for over 25 years. The question every customer asks is “how much is it going to cost? It’s a completely logical question for any customer to want to ask. The price of service is a very important factor for any consumer, especially when money is so tight for so many households. Giving a price over the phone is a complicated and difficult because there are so many variables with garage doors. However, when the time is taken to ask necessary questions, a garage door repair company can usually tell you what the price range will be. The following are a few things you must consider when receiving a quote over the phone.

Don’t Take The Bait

Most of you have heard the phrase “bait and switch.” If you have not heard the term before, it is when a company will quote a low price either verbally or through advertising and then switch the price.

The bait and switch practice has been taking place long before garage doors even existed. Unfortunately, there are a plethora of garage door repair companies willing to use bait and switch tactics. Over the last decade or so, there has been an influx of bait and switch garage door companies.

There are two primary types of bait and switch garage door companies. Below we will discuss the two primary types of bait and switch tactics used by garage door companies.

Basic Bait and Switch

The first type of bait and switch garage door company will simply advertise a cheap price and then add on all sorts of hidden fees. These hidden fees are on top of their advertised service call fees and estimate they provided. Usually these are for things like garage door removal, dump fees, spring removal, and sometimes even a mileage fee. This will quickly turn what sounded like a good quote over the phone into a high-priced repair. They may also say that the advertised price is only for a certain type of garage door or opener. They will then go on to tell you your garage door does not qualify for the advertised special rate. Here are side by side examples of a legitimate garage door estimate and a basic bait and switch estimate.

Both quotes are for the same garage door with a broken spring. Both quoted around $200 on the phone.

Real Garage Door Quote
Service Call Fee———————$89
Spring———————————–$20
Labor———————————-$100
================== Grand Total $209

Basic Bait and Switch Quote
Advertised $19 Service call fee, but you are outside their service area so there is a higher service call fee.
Service Call Fee———————$99
Spring———————————–$99
Labor———————————-$199
================== Grand Total $397

The bait and switch company changed their service call fee from $29 to $99. Additionally, they said their quote only included the labor and not materials. This type of bait and switch practice is far more common than you might imagine. Bait and switch garage door repair companies know that once they arrive on a job their tactics leave homeowners with the difficult decision between paying the increased fees or gambling on another garage door company.

The “Everything is Broken” Bait and Switch

Now, on to the second type of bait and switch garage door repair company. We like to call it the “Everything is Broken” bait and switch. This is the most common type of bait and switch garage door repair tactic. They will advertise a low price and then intentionally misdiagnose the issue with the garage door. Garage doors have many different moving parts and elements that can break or fail. Therefore, some garage door companies use this to their advantage. They basically use your lack of garage door repair knowledge to charge you more money. Their company simply chooses to lie to you about what is wrong with your garage door. News organizations have done a pretty good job at exposing this bait and switch garage door tactic by using hidden cameras. Click the following link to check out some Youtube videos of hidden camera garage door repair scams. As you can see there are hundreds of videos showing garage door companies using this deplorable tactic.

Here are side by side examples of a legitimate garage door estimate and a basic bait and switch estimate.

Both quotes are for the same garage door with a misaligned sensor.

Real Garage Door Quote
Service Call Fee—————————————$89
================================= Grand Total $89

“Everything is Broken” Bait and Switch Quote
Service Call Fee—————————————–$89
Claim your sensors need to be replaced—-$189
Claim your pulleys need to be replaced—–$399
================================= Grand Total $677

Here are a few tips to avoid bait and switch garage door companies:

• Don’t be afraid to call another garage door repair company. We know it can be hard to make the decision to call another garage door repair company when one is already at your home. That is what the bait and switch garage door company is counting on. Call someone else, even if you pay for another service call fee, you will still end up saving money.
• Do not allow them to schedule an appointment late in the day. Schedule your appointment early in the day. If you schedule your appointment late in the day, a bait and switch garage door repair company knows that you will be less likely to call another company. Most garage door repair companies charge higher fees after hours. An appointment late in the day may leave you with a choice of: Paying the bait and switch company high fees, paying for another garage door company to come out after hours at an increased rate, or having a broken garage door overnight. Simply refusing to schedule an appointment in the afternoon will relieve any hesitation you may have had to call another garage door repair company.
• Check the California State Contractors Board (CSLB) to make sure the company is licensed. A large amount of bait and switch garage door companies are not licensed with the state. Sometimes individuals setup fake entities just to use bait and switch tactics. When the entity starts to get too much attention they simply shut it down and start a new fake company under another business name. Doing a simple search on the state contractors licensing board will allow you to avoid a goo percentage of bait and switch companies. It is important to note that if you are in a state other than California, not all states require licensing at the state level. If you are outside California click here to see if your state requires licensing for garage door repair contractors.
• Read Reviews! Once you have followed the steps listed above, you should take a few extra moments to read online reviews. If a company has a history of using bait and switch tactics, they will likely have negative reviews. Keep in mind that some companies are willing to write fake reviews for their own company. Therefore, we recommend you look at the reviewer’s history. Have the reviewers written reviews for a lot of other local companies? If so, they are likely a more trustworthy reviewer. Check other online review resources besides just Google. Make sure you check popular review sites like Yelp and the BBB as well.
• Ask friends and family members for recommendations. Bait and switch garage door companies are much less likely to get repeat business. That means when you ask a friend or family member for a recommendation, you are less likely to run into a bait and switch garage door company. It is still important if you receive a recommendation from a friend or family member to do your due dilligence to ensure the company is the right fit for you.

Average Cost of Garage Door Repair

The cost of garage door repair depends greatly upon the make, model, type of door and repair needed. We will try to give you a basic price range of reputable companies so you know what to expect.

Sensor Misaligned————————-$0
A quality company will charge the service call fee only.
Spring Repair——————————–$150-$250
Broken Cable——————————–$125-$225
Garage Door Track Bent—————–$100-$200

Do You Still Have Questions?

If you still have questions about garage door repair prices or garage door issues, call us. The only bad questions are the ones that are never asked. We are here to help. It’s what we do and we love it! You can reach out to us through our website or just call us. It is our genuine hope that this page of our website allows you to get a fair price on garage door repair services.

(951) 276-0444