This type of scenario could possibly happen to you if you do not have comprehensive car insurance. Imagine that you just bought a brand new car and paid it in full with cash. You saved up thousands of dollars to buy your Audi TT dream car and sacrificed so much to finally make payment for the car of your dreams. Before you drive the car off the lot, you try and find the cheapest auto insurance available as you put all of your money into your car. You probably think that if you drive really carefully and you don’t hit anyone, then you will have fairly cheap car insurance and will be able to slide by with just auto and personal liability. You end up purchasing enough to cover your limits and think that this will suffice for your driving habits. Also, you purchase collision insurance because you think this will cover you from all other accidents that may occur. Feeling great about your car and your insurance, you drive your car off the lot and beam as this is probably one of the happiest moments of your life. You earned this! During the night time a storm comes by and it becomes really windy. You are really worried about your car as it’s sitting outside and you do not want debris to scratch the new paint. Luckily you purchased a car cover for your car just for these types of occasions. You pull the cover of your new “baby” and go to sleep feeling assured that your car is safe from the elements. The next morning, you wake up and run to the window to catch a glimpse of your pride and joy, and utter shock fills your face when you look outside. There sitting on your brand new Audi is a big fat tree (the tree on your property). It seems like during the night, the wind uprooted a tree which fell on your car. The roof of your car is caved in, the windows are smashed, and it looks like your car has become a metal “taco”. Luckily, you have insurance to cover this, right? Unfortunately, since you only purchased liability and collision, your car will not be covered for these damages because you did not purchase a cheap comprehensive car insurance policy. Instead of paying a low deductible to fix your car, you will have to pay out of pocket for ALL of the damage done by the wind and the tree. See how important comprehensive car insurance is? Comprehensive car insurance can be the determining factor between having a new and luxurious car and a new luxurious piece of junk. What is comprehensive car insurance and how can it save you thousands of dollars in car repairs?

So what exactly is comprehensive car insurance and what type of people should buy it? Comprehensive insurance covers damage from occurrences that do not occur from automobiles and other people. Some scenarios where your comprehensive car insurance will come into play are when your car is damaged from hail, water, rocks, and wind. Let’s say that a tree does fall on your car due to heavy winds, your insurance will cover this type of damage. Did it rain a lot during the night and your car was damaged by flooding? Your insurance should be able to cover this as well. Unless these accidents were foreseen, your insurance should cover most damages that have not occurred due to someone else’s fault or automobile. Yes, comprehensive insurance even covers rocks that hit and crack you windshield.

Is comprehensive car insurance optional? This depends on who owns your car. If you have the title to the car, then this is insurance is optional. If you’re a financing the car, which means the bank owns the title to your car, then most times you will have to buy full coverage car insurance (which means you need to buy comprehensive). If you do own your car and your car is expensive and new, then you probably should purchase full coverage as the deductible will definitely be considerably less than if you had to pay out of pocket for such damages. Also, consider the type of deductible that you have. In my case, I had full coverage on my 2003 Infiniti G35. I lived in a no so good neighborhood with a high crime rate and had my car broken into twice in a matter of months. My deductible was $500 but the damage was considerably less than that, this means I had to pay out of pocket each time my car was vandalized. Also, if you do own your own car, think about outside dangers that can affect your car. If you have a lot of trees in your neighborhood and live in a high rain/high wind area, then it’d probably be good to buy this type of insurance as a tree branch could fall on your car. Consider the type of neighborhood you live in and if it’s a high-crime area. Do you park your car in garage or out on the street? How long is your commute? Are the roads in good condition in your local commute route? All of these things should be considered when purchasing this type of insurance. If you have already decided on purchasing comprehensive car insurance, then consider the deductible that you want on. I will tell you another bad event that occurred with my Infiniti G35 (I’ve had a lot of bad luck with this car). I was messing around with my insurance policy on GEICO and changed my comprehensive deductible from $500 to $1000 as I thought I could save a lot a few hundred a year by changing policies. I never thought that I’d get in an accident and really wasn’t thinking about the future and if something could occur to my car. All I was thinking was that I didn’t have to pay more for my premium. A week later I ended up hitting someone’s car. I was at fault and luckily my insurance covered the damages to my car. HOWEVER, instead of paying that $500 deductible, I had to pay a whopping $1000 deductible. Because of my greed and short-minded thinking, I could have saved $500.

When shouldn’t you buy comprehensive car insurance?  Typically, if you buy a used car for sale by owner, then you might want to reconsider by comprehensive car insurance. It’s usually not a good idea to buy this type of insurance when you have an older car that does not retain that much value. Sometimes totaling the car and purchasing a new vehicle is better than paying out of pocket or paying for coverage year end and year out that you know will cost more than the car value. Also, some people simply can’t make that type of car insurance payment every month. If you are in this type of situation however, then you might want to consider selling your used car as at the owner as owning an expensive car might not be suitable for you.

You can get comprehensive car insurance quotes and compare comprehensive car insurance rates at websites such as getquote.com. Typically, you will find the best and cheap comprehensive car insurance when you go directly to the car insurance companies direct website such as GEICO and State Farm.