I've been living in Colorado and dealing with the high winds pretty much my entire life , so when my daughter got her first car it didn't dawn on me that she might not know how to handle hurricane force gusts blowing across the plains. The result - 2 broken doors , almost ripped completely off!
Make sure your teen drivers know a few important tips about keeping their (or your) car safe when driving and parking in high wind conditions. - Park facing into the wind! It will make the doors more difficult to open , but far easier to keep them under control and protected from the wind ripping the door out of your hands (and possibly off of the car).
- Only open one door at a time! If you can't park facing into the wind , take turns getting out of the car if you have passengers. Don't try to open multiple doors at once and get out at the same time , it creates a vacuum effect that pulls the doors out even faster (this is what caused the damage I had to pay for) and can damage both doors at once.
- Watch out for debris! Keep an eye out for flying debris while you're driving and flying shopping carts when you're parked. If possible , park between a few other cars and let them play defense for your car against high speed shopping carts that have escaped the bin.
If you do find yourself dealing with wind damage , remember it's considered a comprehensive claim and you'll be stuck either paying for the damage out of pocket or paying your comprehensive deductible if you want your insurance company to help pay to fix the damages.
Robert Edgin