Auto Insurance FAQ: What is the difference in Comprehensive and Collision Coverage?

So you have just finished arranging your auto insurance and you are on the way home from the auto insurance office and your significant other poses a question to you. What is the difference between comprehensive and collision coverage in the auto insurance world? While we all know that you know the answer and don’t need anyone’s help, consider the following few paragraphs a brush up to your vast knowledge.

Think of collision coverage as anything that has to do with your vehicle and another vehicle. In the auto insurance world two cars colliding can’t be a comprehensive claim, but a car and another object can be a collision claim. For example, if you have a minor fender bender with another vehicle in traffic that is a collision claim. However, if a tree topples over for no reason and falls on your car, that is a comprehensive claim.

Auto insurance agents will generally recommend that you carry a lower deductible on your comprehensive coverage for a couple of reasons. First, your comprehensive deductible won’t alter your premiums all that much for a reason that directly flows into point number two. Second, comprehensive coverage can have a lower deductible for very little because you aren’t generally at risk for comprehensive accidents like you are for collision accidents.

In short, auto insurance views collision coverage as the coverage for your vehicle striking another object be that a vehicle or a pole, etc. Auto insurance views comprehensive coverage as what covers those things that are out of your control, such as fire, vandalism, flood, and hail, etc. Don’t believe the hype that liability coverage is all that you need on your vehicle, you need comprehensive and collision coverage if you hope to ever recover your vehicle.