I have full coverage, right?
Ugh, this is a taboo expression in the insurance world. Us insurance agents sit around at our insurance conventions – in Hawaii of course – and in between rounds of golf make fun of our clients who had claims that weren’t covered…..totally kidding. Don’t get triggered! Just seeing if you were reading along 🙂
Full coverage is a bad saying though. It really is. There are so many “things” that can happen to your car, and most people assume that “insurance pays for everything, right?” Wrong. Insurance is a contract written by an insurance company between you and them. If you know anything about contracts, only one side wins…typically the side that writes the contract.
This is not news though. This is a reason to get educated about your coverage. Today we will shed some light on two common coverage options on your auto insurance that people refer to as “full coverage” – which it is not.
Comprehensive & Collision Coverage. Both of these coverages carry their own deductibles. That means that if your policy is paying to repair your vehicle utilizing one of these coverages you would be out of pocket your deductible and they would pay the rest.
Example – covered loss of $5,000 damage to your car. Your deductible is $500. You would pay the body shop $500, and your insurance company would pay the body shop $4,500. Fairly straight forward.
What is the difference then?
Comprehensive coverage covers damage to your vehicle caused by events such as fire, theft, vandalism, windshields, falling objects, natural disasters, hitting a deer, etc. Keep in mind on windshields – most insurance companies offer Glass Coverage which can carry a deductible as low as $0!
Collision coverage covers damage to your vehicle in the event of, well, hitting something other than a deer AND the dreaded Hit & Run. Not you hitting a car and running off – that is a crime. I mean the – waking up late for work running out the door and your car is smashed up against a tree, and nobody is around. No note. Nothing. Hopefully the karma police are on the case, but until then…Collision coverage.
Deer = Animal, sorry we are from Montana where people hit deer all the time.
There are a whole host of other scenarios that these two coverages can pay for that we have not discussed yet. The point is this – you now have a better understanding of what these coverages meant before you read this article. If you would like to know more about it please reach out to us, and we would be very happy to educate you!
Just like Dry-Land in Waterworld – Full Coverage is a myth.
