Picture this: Someone just crashed into your driveway’s front gate. Fortunately, they weren’t hurt, but their car mangled the gate’s pickets. Your once-stately front gate now looks damaged beyond repair.
Gate damage can be worse than a pain in the you-know-what. If your gate’s been damaged in any way, then you definitely want to know how to fix it. To learn how to do so, read on.
Dealing With Gate Damage
While gate damage is a nuisance, it’s far from the end of the world.
If you or someone nearby has security cameras that caught the damage occurring, review the footage from multiple angles, if possible. Try to make out the driver’s face and license plate. Use that information to then get the driver to cover as much of the repair costs as possible.
Maybe the best fix is prevention. Prevent your gate from being damaged again by taking a few steps.
First, install some barrier arms or gates. LED barrier arms, for example, would work well for an entrance that’s dark at night. Some arms turn green while opening and are red when closed.
These arms illuminate the gate.
Another preventative measure is high-speed barrier arms that quickly close after a car drives through them. The fast closure prevents tailgaters from entering.
Or, you could install barrier arms in front of a gate. That way, a motorist can drive through the open barrier arm that then closes when they’re between the arm and gate. When the arm closes, the gate opens, and one car can proceed.
Prevention Is Key
There’s a saying in healthcare: prevention is the best medicine. The same’s true of gates. To prevent your gate from being damaged again, there’s even more you can do.
You can, for instance, display warning signs on both sides of the gate. You should know that automatic gates aren’t for pedestrians, so don’t let them near them.
Keep and use your installation and maintenance manuals. Keep track of all inspections and maintenance that are done. Never use a damaged, malfunctioning, or hard-to-move gate.
Also, check gate movement and functions on a regular basis. Perhaps most importantly, never try to repair the gate yourself. Rather, always hire a trained technician to repair and maintain your gate.
That’s not all.
To protect yourself legally and financially, take out higher limits of business-liability insurance. It’ll safeguard you against property-damage and bodily-injury claims. In a lawsuit, business liability would take care of the sums that you’re legally responsible to pay, up to the policy’s limits.
In any case, contact your lawyer and car insurance agent immediately for help.
Gates of Protection
Although gates can obviously break, you can prevent damage from ever being done in the first place by taking a few of the easy steps explained above.
Gate damage isn’t such a big deal after all. It’s fairly simply handled and just as simply prevented. For gates that are nearly impervious to damage, get in touch with Florida Gate Masters today.
