Comprehensive Auto Coverage Explained Comprehensively
Oooh! Comprehensive coverage Covers All THAT?
If you’re buying or leasing a new car, you might as well know up front: It will be mandatory to get comprehensive insurance. Otherwise, this type of insurance is completely optional. It covers all kinds of things other than an accident with another vehicle. Fire and smoke damage, glass breakage, flooding, vandalism, theft, hail damage, hitting an animal on the highway, your car being swallowed up in an earthquake or sent to Oz in a tornado, maybe even the voodoo spell cast by your boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend (be sure and ask your agent about this one!).Things NOT covered by your comprehensive policy are normal wear and tear on your vehicle, freeze damage, mechanical breakdowns, or the ruined tire caused by driving into that pothole because you weren’t looking at the road, but touching up your lipstick instead. CDs and tape cassettes aren’t covered, but the CD/cassette player will be replaced if stolen or broken, along with any other permanently installed equipment.
One thing you need to remember to do is call your agent if you do any upgrading to your car such as installing a new stereo, adding one of those really cool little televisions your kids and watch so they’ll quit screaming at each other why you’re all on the way to great Aunt Agnes’ house, or any other special stuff you put in your car. Your agent will need to document that you’ve got this stuff so it’ll be covered in case something bad happens to it and you want that something bad to be fixed.
Penny Pinchers vs. ‘Fraidy Cats
If you’re a Frugal Frank or a Tightwad Tess, you are probably thinking, “I can get away with not having that silly old comprehensive insurance stuff.” But think about this if you tend to be one of those money-grubbing miser types: If you live in Tornado Alley (Texas, Oklahoma, and of course, Kansas), your risk has risen right up there to the sky with Dorothy and Toto, and all that money you saved because you were too tight to take this fact into account may be Gone With the Wind with the next big blow.
On the other hand, even if you do live in an area of the country prone to natural disasters, it might be a little stupid to have comprehensive insurance. This would be the case if your car is worth less than $1,000, and the reason is because your premiums and deductible amount would most probably exceed the value of that decrepit old hunk of junk you’re still driving because either a) you’re emotionally attached to it or b) too broke to replace it. If you are uncertain of the value of your car or stubbornly cling to the fantasy it’s still worth what you paid for it 15 years ago, you can learn the truth at the N.A.D.A. price guide Web site (www.nadaguides.com).
Let’s Talk Deductibles
Figures anywhere between $100 and $1,000 float around when you start in on the subject of deductibles. But don’t let these numbers throw you into a paroxysm of panic – it’s still all under your control. The bigger your deductible, the lower the premiums. On the flip side of that very same coin, however, the higher the deductible, the more you’re out from your own pocket if you should have an incident in which your comprehensive insurance comes into play. Most insurance professionals (and your smart Cousin Edgar would probably agree) say it’s a good idea to have a deductible somewhere in the middle of those two figures mentioned – around $300 to $500.
Should I or Should I Not?
There are those among us who’d rather fall down and roll over dead before they spent a nickel on something like comprehensive insurance. “To heck with that,” they say, and go on their merry way, tempting fate at every turn. Some people, however, are innately cautious and figure they’d be better off buying that comprehensive policy under any circumstances and go on a bean-and-weenie diet to pay for it, if necessary. Hopefully, you, my friend, are somewhere in between these two extremes and are wise enough to weigh what you can afford to lose against what you can afford to pay in car insurance. Why, with that kind of wisdom, you could rule the world (well, at least make a good insurance decision, anyway)!