Comprehensive Car Insurance: Quotes, Discounts (2023)

You’re buying an auto insurance policy—great! Now you have to choose your coverage types and limits. Should you add comprehensive coverage? What is that, anyway?

Read on to learn about comprehensive coverage and how it fits into a full-coverage car insurance policy. And while you’re at it, make sure you consult Insurify, America’s leading car insurance comparison tool, which helps you get cheaper auto insurance. It’s fast, free, and you could save hundreds on your car insurance premiums.

Cheapest Companies for Full-Coverage Car Insurance

Insurance rates for full-coverage car insurance can vary a lot by the value of your car, your deductible, and other factors. Here’s a quick list of the cheapest companies offering full coverage:

See More: Best Car Insurance Companies

What is comprehensive car insurance?

Comprehensive insurance covers damage to your car that doesn't have anything to do with a car accident. Typically, it applies to events that occur while your car is parked, like theft, vandalism, falling objects, natural disasters (particularly hailstorms), and damage from animals (if you didn’t hit them).

When you make a comprehensive claim, you first have to pay the deductible. The coverage limit on your comprehensive insurance tends to be the actual cash value of your car. If you drive a valuable car, that makes your comprehensive insurance cost more.

Comprehensive insurance has a twin called collision coverage. Both are components of a full-coverage car insurance policy, but you can buy them separately. Collision insurance covers damage from accidents that aren’t your fault or don’t involve things (like parked cars or deer) that don’t have their own insurance policies to cover collision damage to your car.

Because comprehensive insurance and collision insurance go hand in hand, comprehensive coverage also gets called “other-than-collision” coverage. So if the damage involves a collision with an animal, road sign, or a guardrail, comprehensive insurance won’t cover it.

Is your lender saying you need a full-coverage auto insurance policy? A full-coverage policy includes comprehensive insurance and collision insurance. Comprehensive insurance is part of full-coverage, but you can also buy it on its own. It’s confusing, and all the words sound the same, but you’ll get it!

See More: Car Insurance Quotes

Types of Full-Coverage Car Insurance

There are three types of auto insurance coverage: liability insurance, collision insurance, and comprehensive insurance.

Think of full-coverage car insurance like a BLT. If you order a BLT (full-coverage), it’s got to have bacon (liability insurance), lettuce (comprehensive insurance), and tomato (collision insurance). Without all three, it’s not a BLT!

Remember, comprehensive and collision coverage are optional coverage. You can still order a sandwich that isn’t a BLT and leave off comprehensive auto insurance from your policy. And it might be cheaper.

If your lender says you need a full coverage car insurance policy, that means you need comprehensive and collision coverage. Liability insurance is the insurance that’s required for you to drive legally in the first place. So a full-coverage policy has all three. Make sense?

Liability Coverage

Liability coverage is legally required for drivers in almost every state (it’s optional in New Hampshire and Virginia). This provides insurance for when you are at fault in an accident, covering any medical expenses and repair costs you’re responsible for. Liability insurance has no deductible, but it does have coverage limits. The higher the limits, the higher the insurance premium.

Collision Coverage

Because liability coverage only covers damage to other vehicles and people that you are liable for, many drivers find reason to buy insurance that protects their own vehicle should they be involved in a collision. If someone else is found at fault, their insurance might cover your damage—but if no one’s at fault or you hit something by yourself, collision coverage helps.

Comprehensive Coverage

Lots of stuff can happen to your car even if a car accident isn’t the reason for the damage. Vandalism, theft, and damage from natural disasters like hailstorms and fires aren’t covered by insurance companies unless you have comprehensive coverage.

See More: Best and Worst Sites to Compare Car Insurance

Cheapest States for Car Insurance for Full-Coverage Car Insurance

The cheapest states for full-coverage car insurance are low in traffic and population density, where thefts and collisions are infrequent. Check out these states where your insurance premiums for full coverage are lower than anywhere else:

Tips for Cheaper Comprehensive Car Insurance

When you drive with comprehensive car insurance, you’ve got some peace of mind that the value of your vehicle is protected, and if you have a new car, your investment won’t be lost because of some freak accident. That can be worth a lot to people. But you still want your premiums to come down. Here are some tips to make it happen:

You Might Not Need It at All

Depending on the value of your car, comprehensive coverage just might not be worth it. If you drive a vehicle that doesn’t have a high actual cash value, think about the amount of money your comprehensive insurance costs over the course of a year. If that adds up to a significant fraction of your car’s value, you’re better off keeping your money.

Go with a Higher Deductible

If you need full-coverage insurance and are having trouble fitting it into your budget, opt for a higher deductible than the standard, which tends to be $500 or $1,000. Your comprehensive deductible is what you pay out of pocket before the insurance company pays anything out for your insurance claim.

Bundle with Other Cars and Policies

Other insurance products, like homeowners insurance and insurance on other cars or boats, can be combined with auto coverage to lower premiums across the board. Working with an insurance company that offers a broad range of insurance types can give you access to these bundling discounts.

Shop Around for Car Insurance

Finding low insurance premiums is a game of finding the lowest car insurance quotes. So if you want to get a huge head start on shopping around, use Insurify’s fast and free one-stop shop for insurance quotes—it’s helped millions save money. Why not you?

The Best and Cheapest Comprehensive Car Insurance

The peace of mind that comes with comprehensive car insurance feels priceless—but it’s actually not! You can pay lower insurance rates if you look for the cheapest auto insurance quotes available to you. And that’s so much easier thanks to Insurify, which gives you a personalized list of auto insurance quotes in just a few minutes. And of course—it’s free.

Frequently Asked Questions