The world of auto insurance can be confusing, and comprehending what comprehensive auto insurance covers can seem tricky. It can be mind boggling when you see lists of different types of insurance such as liability, full coverage, collision and comprehensive car insurance. The key is to stay focused and use guides such as this to help clarify things and clear up any questions you may have.

The most basic thing to know about an auto insurance policy is that you must first meet your state’s minimum requirements to drive legally on the road. This varies from state to state and you must make sure you meet your state guidelines, especially if you have recently relocated to a new area. If your vehicle is financed, you must also be sure to meet certain requirements in order to avoid having an expensive supplemental policy put in place by the lender. Aside from that, the rest is usually up to you.

What’s Inside Your Comprehensive Auto Insurance Policy?

If you have done any research on different types of policies, you may realize what certain types of car insurance policies cover and what they don’t cover. Many drivers make the mistake of assuming comprehensive includes collision and vice versa. Each different type of policy has a distinct type of detail it specializes in.

For comprehensive insurance your coverage usually includes:

• Windshield damage
• Theft, vandalism or damage done as a result of malice
• Riots
• Fire
• Flooding
• Falling objects
• Storms
• Acts of God
• Collision with an animal and sometimes structures such as buildings

Of course yours may not include each of these and you should verify these with your current provider or check before getting a new policy. Also, your comprehensive car insurance policy may not be limited to these things and could have more extensive coverage than this.

So while many drivers assume their collision policy will cover these things, they could be sadly mistaken. Not to mention if they assume their comprehensive auto insurance policy will cover collision with another vehicle they are probably wrong. The only crossover may be which policy covers collisions with certain things.

For example:

• Collision car insurance covers an accident involving another car, but may not include anything else.
• Comprehensive coverage may cover the other types of collisions such as with a bird, animal, inanimate objects and structures such as buildings.
• It is better to have two policies that both cover this than policies that both leave a gap when it comes to different types of collisions.

Many drivers also make the mistake of assuming their standard car insurance policy also covers theft or vandalism. You do not want to learn this only after you have your car stolen. This means you are still stuck making the car loan payments, but without that brand new car to drive around.

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