Fully Covering the Definition of Comprehensive Insurance

Definition of Comprehensive Insurance, H&K Insurance Agency Inc. Watertown, MA

In the realm of car insurance, there’s a particularly tantalizing term thrown around: comprehensive insurance. Comprehensive insurance is very useful, but it is not the silver bullet you might think it is: it is only one part of full auto insurance policy. This article aims to not only define what comprehensive insurance is, but also what it is not. We will also hold it up against similar terms, such as umbrella insurance, as well as talk about why certain people might need it more than others.

Defining Comprehensive Insurance

Comprehensive insurance covers damage to the insured car that doesn’t involve collisions with other cars or property. In this way comprehensive insurance is not the primary part of the car insurance (collision), but instead helps to cover non-traditional damage to your car. This includes insuring against the risk of fire, theft, falling objects, missiles, explosion, earthquake, flood, riot, and “civil commotion,” the last referring to a general public revolt that contains more people than a riot.

But comprehensive insurance doesn’t stand alone as part of complete auto insurance. A full policy would include the following alongside comprehensive insurance:

  • Collision – Protects against collision with another car or public property such as a fire hydrant.
  • Bodily Injury Liability – For injuries to a person caused by the policy holder’s car.
  • Personal Injury Protection – For injuries for the driver and passengers of the insured car.
  • Property Damage Liability – For damage caused to another person’s personal property.
  • Uninsured Motorist Coverage – For injuries to the policy holder from an uninsured vehicle.

Remember to always check your state’s requirements for types of coverage needed and the minimum liability limits, as it changes from state to state.

Comprehensive vs. Umbrella

While similar sounding, comprehensive insurance and umbrella insurance do radically different things. While comprehensive insurance covers a specific listing of non-collision related damages on an auto insurance policy, umbrella insurance instead is applied to existing policies to provide additional liability insurance that activates if the base liability coverage is exhausted. Umbrella insurance does share something with comprehensive in that it also extends this extra liability things these policies might normally exclude—such as libel, slander, false arrest, and renting—depending on what policies it is attached to.

Why Get Comprehensive Insurance?

Now that we’ve covered the basics of comprehensive insurance, a question still remains: why buy it? Some leasing and lending institutions require you to purchase comprehensive insurance as part of leasing or an auto loan. If the area you are in has a higher-than-usual-chance of the covered risks (such as being in a hurricane state or near an active fault line), it might be worth getting. If you spend a lot of time driving in wilderness areas, comprehensive could be right for you as it covers wildlife collisions, such as hitting a dear.

Comprehensive insurance isn’t for everyone, but if you’re thinking about fully insuring your automobile, it can be invaluable. If you’re interested in talking to a broker about comprehensive insurance and if it’s right for you, contact to H & K insurance today, and we’ll help you get the policy that’s right for you.