What Does Full Coverage Car Insurance Cover?
While most states require drivers to carry liability insurance, drivers with new or exceptionally expensive vehicles may also need full coverage, both to protect themselves and because their lease or loan agreements may require it. While liability insurance only covers damage to your car caused by an accident with another driver declared to be at fault, full coverage protects you from everything from intentional damage to so-called "acts of God."
Other People Are Reading
-
Auto Accidents
-
Full coverage includes collision insurance, which reimburses the driver for repairs to or replacement of the vehicle, regardless of who is at fault for the accident. It even covers accidents where no other vehicle is involved, such as running into a lamppost or over a curb.
Theft and Vandalism
-
Unlike liability insurance, which only protects you if you're involved in an accident with another driver, full coverage includes comprehensive coverage, which protects you in the case of malicious acts such as theft and vandalism. In the case of theft, the insurer will likely reimburse you for an amount somewhere between the car's trade-in value and what a dealer would charge for the vehicle, says Liz Pulliam Weston in her MSN Money article "When to Buy Full Car Insurance."
-
Natural Disaster
-
The comprehensive coverage component also protects you in case of damages to your car not related to an auto accident, such as fire, explosion, falling objects or natural disasters such as tornadoes, hail or flooding.
Rental Car Coverage
-
Most full-coverage auto insurance policies provide the same protection to rental cars as they do to your personal vehicle. If you have this coverage, you can skip the protection offered by the car rental company, and still be protected from accidents, theft and other damage.
-
References
- Photo Credit Police officer at the scene of the Jeep and car road accident. image by Dragan Trifunovic from Fotolia.com
