Comprehensive claims

What comprehensive covers

The standard personal auto policy doesn't use the word comprehensive. It lists the losses it treats as "other than collision," and most insurers sell that coverage under the comprehensive name. The NAIC describes it as coverage for damage to your car not caused by a collision, such as theft, hail, windstorm, flood, fire or impact by an animal. Under the 2005 edition of the standard form, these count:

• Missiles or falling objects, such as a branch or a rock thrown up by another car.
• Fire and explosion or earthquake.
• Theft or larceny, of the car or of its equipment.
• Windstorm, and hail, water or flood.
• Malicious mischief or vandalism, and riot or civil commotion.
• Contact with a bird or animal, such as hitting a deer.
• Breakage of glass. If the glass breaks in a collision, you may choose to have it treated as part of the collision loss, which can mean one deductible instead of two.

Comprehensive is optional under state law, and your declarations page shows whether you have it for each car and the deductible that applies. If you only carry liability coverage, none of these losses to your own car is covered. What to do on the road after hitting an animal is in hitting a deer or other animal.

What it leaves out

The standard form excludes damage due and confined to wear and tear, freezing, mechanical or electrical breakdown or failure, and road damage to tires. A cracked engine block from a frost is a maintenance problem, not a covered loss. Your own policy may add exclusions or limits of its own, for example on electronic equipment or custom parts, so read that section before a claim over a stolen stereo or aftermarket wheels.

Swerving to miss an animal and hitting a guardrail is a collision, not a comprehensive loss, because the damage came from the impact with the guardrail. That matters when your two deductibles differ; see collision claims.

A hail claim, worked through

The insurer pays the lesser of the repair cost or the car's actual cash value, minus the deductible. On the last line the repair is 90% of the car's $14,000 value, so many insurers would total it instead. State title law treats hail differently in some places: Texas leaves hail damage out when it decides whether a car becomes a salvage vehicle, and North Dakota leaves out glass and hail damage when it applies its 75% salvage threshold. See Texas claim rules and North Dakota claim rules.

After a storm, photograph the car before it is moved, with the date, and cover broken windows so rain doesn't add damage. The policy asks you to protect the car from further loss and pays reasonable costs of doing so.

When your car is stolen

1. Call the police and get a report number. The standard form requires prompt police notice of a stolen car.
2. Report the theft to your insurer with the report number, all keys and fobs you still have, the title or lender details and the car's mileage and options.
3. Ask about transport. Under the 2005 standard form, the insurer pays temporary transportation of up to $20 a day, to a maximum of $600, with no deductible, starting 48 hours after a total theft and ending when the car is returned or the insurer pays for it.
4. Keep paying the loan and the premium while the claim is open. If the car isn't found, the insurer pays it as a total loss, at its actual cash value minus your deductible.

If the car turns up, the insurer may return it to you and pay for the damage the theft caused. If it pays you first, it usually takes the title. How an actual cash value settlement should be built is in total loss claims.

The coverage is for the car and its equipment. Belongings you left inside, such as a laptop or a bag, are not part of the car, and a homeowners or renters policy may cover them instead, subject to its own deductible.

Glass claims

A rock that cracks the windshield is a breakage of glass, an other than collision loss. If the repair costs less than your comprehensive deductible, the claim pays nothing, so get the price first. Some policies carry a glass endorsement with a lower deductible, and some states set their own glass rules, so ask your insurer or your state insurance department; the department for each state is listed in claim rules by state.

Questions people ask