COMPREHENSIVE AUTO INSURANCE

The term "comprehensive" is a bit misleading because it implies that this type of insurance covers every possible thing that can go wrong with your vehicle. A better term for this coverage might be "Non-Collision" Insurance because it is designed to provide coverage for certain events that happen to your vehicle aside from collisions.

Comprehensive Insurance covers damages:

• if an engine fire damages your car.
• if your car is vandalized (keyed, defaced by graffiti, etc.).
• if your car is damaged by hail.
• if your windshield is damaged by a flying object or anything else
• if you hit a deer on the road.
• if a wind storm blows down a tree limb atop your car.
• if your vehicle is water damaged inside or outside due to a flash flood.
• if a tornado picks up your car and tosses it into a building.
• if your car is stolen
• if your car is totaled by almost anything other than a collision

Every Comprehensive Auto Insurance policy comes with a deductible (usually anywhere from $250 to $1,000). This is the amount of money that you are responsible to pay after you file a claim. For example, if your auto repair bill from a telephone pole falling on your vehicle came out to $5,000 and your deductible was $250, the insurer would pay $4,750, and you would be responsible for the deductible amount.

If your vehicle is stolen or totaled because of a non-collision incident, Comprehensive Insurance will reimburse you for the value of your vehicle. Value is based on depreciation, mileage driven, age of the vehicle and other factors. It does not represent what you owe on your auto loan or what you paid for the vehicle when you bought it. (For this reason, you may want to consider buying Gap Insurance as well.)

One of the greatest benefits of having Comprehensive Auto Insurance is that you won’t be left without a working vehicle for any considerable length of time.