Understanding Comprehensive and Collision Coverage on Your Car Insurance Quotes

By: David Schneider, Car Insurance Expert
CheaperCarInsurance.com

If you’re on our website looking for car insurance quotes, you’re in the right place. But before you get your free custom quotes, we wanted to make sure you understood comprehensive and collision coverage. After all, they’re a big part of your car insurance policy; shouldn’t you take the time to understand what they are?

Collision Coverage 101

Collision coverage is the part of your car insurance policy that insures your car against damage during a collision. If someone hits your car, or if you hit someone else and damaged your own car, your collision coverage will pay to repair your vehicle.

You are required to pay a deductible, should you need your car repaired under your collision coverage. When getting your car insurance quotes, look at high and low end deductibles to see how they change your policy rate. A higher deductible will lower your overall rate, but you will have to shell out as much as $1500 if and when you need to file a collision claim. A lower deductible will cost more, but will be easier to pay out of pocket in the event of an accident.

You do not have to carry collision coverage, but the newer your car is, the better it is to carry it. If your car is older, you may elect to opt out of collision coverage when getting your car insurance quotes on our site.

When you build your car insurance quotes, you will see two amounts listed under collision coverage. The first is the deductible you will be responsible for in the case of an accident, and the second is the maximum your insurance company will pay to repair or replace your damaged vehicle.

Comprehensive Coverage 101

Comprehensive coverage, also called “comp,” is the portion of your car insurance policy that insures your vehicle against loss or damaged caused by something other than a collision. Like what, you ask?

• Your car getting hit by an animal
• Wind, rain, tornado, flood or hail damage
• Fire damage
• Vandalism
• Theft of your vehicle

If you live in an area of the country that’s prone to hurricanes or tornadoes, you will want to make sure you have sufficient comprehensive coverage.

On the comp portion of your policy, you have a deductible. You are required to pay this deductible before your insurance company will pay for the remainder of the bill to repair or replace your car. Deductibles can range from $250 to $1500. Choose the deductible you can afford.

You aren’t required to carry comprehensive coverage in most states. However, if you took out money to pay for your car and still owe on it, the lending company may require that you carry comprehensive coverage. Check with your lender to see what they require.

If you have an older car, you might consider foregoing the comprehensive coverage when you get your car insurance quotes online. If your car is damaged, the cost to repair it may exceed what the car is actually worth, so carrying comp can be a waste of cash in this situation.

Getting Your Car Insurance Quotes

Now that you understand comprehensive and collision coverage, you can decide for yourself what size deductible you feel comfortable paying, should you be in an accident. If you have an older car, get your car insurance quotes without comp or collision and compare it with quotes with coverage to see how much more you’d pay to have it. From there, you can determine whether it is worth the investment to have protection for collisions and other accidents.

Posted: January 06, 2010