When you get a vehicle, most states require you to carry insurance on it. However, when you start to shop for rates, you may begin to notice that some companies offer comprehensive car insurance. If you’re not familiar with this type of coverage and you’re wondering if it’s something that might work for you, keep reading to learn more about it.
What Is Comprehensive Insurance?
Comprehensive insurance is insurance coverage for your vehicle that will help pay to repair or replace it if it’s damaged in an incident that’s not a collision or if it’s stolen. When you choose a plan, you select the amount of deductible that you want to pay out of pocket. Then your insurance company will pay for the remaining damage up to the limit you selected.
What Does Comprehensive Insurance Cover?
Comprehensive insurance will pay for the value of your vehicle if it’s stolen and never recovered. Additionally, it will cover damage to your vehicle caused by weather events, such as hail, tornadoes, or floods. If a tree limb breaks and falls on your car, comprehensive insurance will cover it. Comprehensive insurance will also cover damage caused if a vandal walks by and smashes all your car windows. It will cover your vehicle if there’s a fire or explosion, and it provides coverage if you hit an animal and cause damage to your vehicle.
What Does Comprehensive Insurance Not Cover?
While comprehensive insurance covers quite a few scenarios, there are some things that it doesn’t cover. If the vandal mentioned above smashes your car windows and steals the laptop you had in your vehicle, comprehensive insurance won’t cover the stolen property. Additionally, if you’re in a collision with another object, such as a pole, fence, or other vehicle, you’ll need collision insurance to cover this damage. Comprehensive insurance also can’t help if you need money to cover roadside assistance or towing or need to rent a car because your vehicle is in the shop getting repaired.
Should You Get Comprehensive Insurance Coverage?
As with other insurance options, you have to consider your specific situation to decide if you need to get comprehensive insurance coverage. While there are no states that require you to have it, if you’re financing or leasing your vehicle, the lender or leasing company might require you to carry it. You also have to consider if you can afford to repair or replace your vehicle or someone stole it or it was damaged. If not, the insurance might be beneficial.
Also, consider how often you deal with the risks mentioned above. While your chances of vandalism might be low depending on where you live, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety estimates there are over 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions every year, which results in around $1 billion in vehicle damage.
With this information, you now understand what comprehensive car insurance is and what it covers and doesn’t cover. You can now use what you learned to decide if comprehensive insurance coverage is right for you.
Image “Bad day to be a car” by crazbabe21, used under CC BY 2.0
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