One of the important decisions for every car owner is the type of insurance that will cover their vehicle in case of accidents and other unforeseen troubles. One of your options is called a “comprehensive car insurance”, which you may have heard before. Truth be told, many drivers are intimidated by how it sounds – especially if they are first-time car owners or non-car enthusiasts – but experts will tell you that it’s a big deal for many car owners everywhere.
The Insurance Services Offices (ISO) – an insurance industry support, rating, and information organization – states that there are two main categories of covered physical damage losses, including collision damage losses and losses other than collision. These two categories are referred to as a “collision coverage” and a “comprehensive coverage”.
The comprehensive car insurances cover several perils, depending on what the insurer has indicated. The most common incorporations are third-party, fire, theft, and accidental damage, but again, the benefits vary between insurers, which makes it imperative that you find out what yours cover (or will cover).
In case your car is damaged for several situations that a comprehensive car insurance covers, you can claim from your insurer compensation for the repairs that your car will have to undergo to bring it back to its original condition. Without it, you’ll have to shell out money yourself, and depending on your status and the damages, may be quite expensive.
A surprising note about comprehensive car insurance is the fact that it can be cheaper, or just as cheap, as that of a third-party one. Confused.com says that this can be brought upon by a rise in third-party policies due to so many people availing of it that makes the overall cost of that cover to go up. In short, there comes a point that they may match or even overtake a comprehensive car insurance’s costs. Of course, this is a case-to-case basis and may be different for other third-party policies or comprehensive car insurances, so it pays to do extra research on what you’re getting.
As with all insurance policies, you should check with your insurance agent to make sure what perils are included under the comprehensive coverage of your auto insurance policy. This cover incorporates third-party, fire and theft cover and also includes accidental damage to your car. The benefits of comprehensive policies vary between insurers, so you need to always check with your insurer when you are taking out this cover.
More often than not, it covers the following unfortunate incidents and situations:
- Theft and Vandalism
- Weather and Natural Calamities
- Animal Damage
- Lower Deductible
- Expense in Excess of CPTL
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