Comprehensive insurance is a type of car insurance that pays for damage to your car that isn’t caused by a crash. Comprehensive insurance will pay for your car if it is destroyed by a storm, damaged by hitting a deer, vandalized, broken into, or crushed by a falling garage, among other things.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Comprehensive insurance is meant to pay for damage to your car that wasn’t caused by a crash.
- If you get a loan to buy a car, you may be required to buy both crash and comprehensive insurance.
- If you drive an older car that has already lost a lot of value, it may not make financial sense to buy complete coverage.
- Comprehensive insurance covers damage to your car caused by animals, falling trees, natural disasters, theft, and crime. It doesn’t cover damage to people or other cars.
- Your rates for complete insurance could go down if you raise your deductibles.
How to Understand All-Inclusive Insurance
A car insurance contract is made up of three parts: comprehensive insurance, accident insurance, and liability insurance. Most states require drivers to have liability insurance. Collision and comprehensive insurance, on the other hand, are not required if a person owns a car outright.
If the car was bought with a loan, the auto loan company may require full coverage insurance.
What is covered by an all-inclusive insurance
When it comes to what damage comprehensive insurance covers, the list includes:
Animal contact, like when you hit a deer
Earthquakes, storms, and hurricanes are all examples of natural disasters.
Riots and damage caused by fire
Theft of a car or certain parts of a vehicle
Broken windshields
Things that have fallen, like trees, rocks, or hail
Choosing Between Comprehensive and Collision Insurance
Comprehensive car insurance can be a good idea if you buy a brand-new car, whether you fund it or pay cash for it. No matter what coverage you have for accidents, comprehensive coverage can protect you from both small and big losses caused by things you can’t control.
When you decide to get complete coverage, where you live can also be a factor. A person might want to buy complete insurance if they live in a country area where they often hit animals or in a stormy area where hail is common. The same is true if someone lives in a part of town where thefts and break-ins happen often.
Collision insurance covers you if your car rolls over by itself hits another car, or hits something else. It doesn’t cover break-ins, thefts, or damage caused by the weather. You will have to buy accident insurance if you hire a car. Collision insurance helps pay for repairs to your car if you get into an accident. It also pays for damage to your car caused by potholes in the road.
If you get into an accident, neither insurance will pay for your medical bills or the damage you do to someone else’s car.
Comprehensive insurance pays for damage to your car caused by things other than car crashes. The Insurance Information Institute says that the average cost of full coverage is about $134 per year.
Liability insurance doesn’t have a deductible, but collision and comprehensive insurance do. This means that a driver can choose different deductibles for each type of insurance based on how risky he or she thinks each place is.
If someone doesn’t think they’ll need complete insurance but doesn’t want to go without it, they could choose a high deductible, like $1,000, to lower their rates. The higher a car’s cash value, the more expensive it will be to get full coverage insurance.
If you know how insurance companies classify drivers by risk, you can guess how much you might pay for full coverage. How much you pay for car insurance, including full coverage, can depend on where you live, how well you drive, and how much coverage you get.
Comprehensive insurance has both pros and cons.
Comprehensive car insurance protects you financially against things like theft, natural disasters, and damage caused by the weather. If a tree falls on your car or a thief takes your catalytic converter, this insurance will cover the costs.
There are some cons too. If you get into an accident, your full coverage insurance won’t cover the damage. Also, if you buy complete insurance along with accident insurance, it may cost a lot. If your car is older and already paid off, you could save money by not buying full coverage, especially if theft and bad weather are not a problem where you live.
Pros:
- Full coverage saves you from things like theft, bad weather, and other big things you can’t control.
- Comprehensive insurance usually covers “unexpected events,” such as break-ins or window wipers that break because of weather.
- If you live in a high-crime area and have a new car, full insurance will pay for any damage caused by thefts or break-ins.
Cons
- Damage caused by a crash is not covered by comprehensive insurance.
- If your car is old and has a lot of miles on it, you might not need it.
- Personal items that are stolen from your car are not covered by comprehensive insurance.
- It doesn’t pay for damage caused by holes in the road.
A Case of All-Inclusive Insurance
If you need to make a claim, comprehensive insurance works just like any other type of car insurance. But if you’ve never done it before, an example can help you know what to expect. Here’s an example of how comprehensive insurance works when a driver makes a claim for car damage.
How does insurance cover everything?
Like other kinds of car insurance, full coverage helps pay for some of the damage to your car. The car owner will also have to pay a fee, which is a part of the cost. The money from the insurance can be used to fix the car or buy a new one.
What does car insurance that covers everything cover?
Comprehensive car insurance covers any damage to a car that isn’t caused by a crash. This covers things like hitting a deer or having a branch fall on you, as well as fire, weather, natural disasters, theft, and mischief. But it doesn’t cover damage from crashing into another car or injuries to passengers or other people.
How much does car insurance cover everything?
The cost of a complete insurance contract will depend on the worth of the car, the zip code where it is registered, and the driver’s past insurance experience. In 2017, Car and Driver said that the average cost of a complete policy was about $160 per year. However, this price included group plans that are not offered to individual drivers.
Does full coverage insurance pay for damage caused by potholes?
No, comprehensive insurance doesn’t cover damage to your car caused by rocks in the road. But accident insurance does since it pays for any damage caused by running into something.
In conclusion
If you’ve paid off your car in full and can’t afford full coverage insurance, or if you have an old car that’s not worth much, you might think you’re not at much risk of damage that wasn’t caused by an accident. In this case, you might decide not to get full coverage. Or, if you’d rather take care of your own insurance, you might decide not to buy complete insurance.
But keep in mind that if your car gets broken and you don’t have full coverage, you might have to pay a lot to fix it. So, compare the cost of any possible fixes to the amount you might have to pay in fees or deductibles to keep your full coverage.
