Personal Insurance Blog

Comprehensive Insurance Coverage

Understand your auto insurance options to cover your vehicle with Andrew Gordon Inc

Many people don’t know the difference between ‘Collision Insurance’ and ‘Comprehensive Insurance.’ So we’ll give you the basics.

Collision Insurance

Collision insurance covers the damage done to your vehicle if you are in an accident, whether you are at fault or not. However when not at fault, some people choose to settle the whole thing through the insurance of whoever IS at fault, meaning that they don’t have to go through their carrier.

We recommend that you do go through your carrier, even if you are not at fault, for 2 reasons;

  1. If you are not at fault, you generally pay no deductible (an insurance deductible is the amount of money you pay towards repairs before your insurance kicks in; the higher deductible you’re willing to pay, the lower the cost of your policy will be).  So you don’t pay for the repairs to your car if you are not at fault; even if you go through your insurance provider. Ultimately, at the end of the day, your insurance provider is going to be giving the bill to the other company; you just get to deal with the people you know throughout the process.
  2. As a paying customer, you have much more leverage with your insurance company than with the insurance company of whoever hit you.

Collision insurance is not required by law.  But if you owe money on your car or truck, the bank is going to require it.

Comprehensive Insurance

Comprehensive insurance is similar to collision insurance, but it offers protection from damage caused to your vehicle by unknown losses, including any ‘act of God.’  It is also known in some states simply as “other than collision” coverage.

So let’s say someone breaks into your car, or steals it while you left it parked; these are covered through your comprehensive coverage. Collision with an animal such as a deer or moose are included too, but as always, be sure to check with your agent on the details of your policy to know where your coverage begins and ends.

Comprehensive also generally covers flood, hurricane, fire, and other damage caused by ‘acts of God.’ Like collision insurance, comprehensive coverage will pay for repair or replacement, up to the fair market value of your car.

Learn more about auto insurance here.

  INSURANCE QUESTION?  

Corbin Foucart

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