Collision vs comprehensive

Collision

Damage from your vehicle colliding with something — another vehicle, a wall, a guardrail — or from a rollover. It applies regardless of fault, which is why it's useful even when someone else caused it and their insurer is slow.

Comprehensive

Sometimes called other-than-collision. It covers damage from causes that aren't a collision.

• Theft of the vehicle, and damage from attempted theft
• Fire, flood and storm damage
• Hail
• Falling objects, including trees
• Vandalism
• Glass damage, sometimes with its own deductible
• Hitting an animal

The one people get wrong

Hitting an animal is comprehensive, not collision — even though it involves an impact. Swerving to avoid an animal and hitting something else is generally collision.

Since deductibles differ and the two are treated differently in some insurers' rating, it's worth knowing which you're claiming under.

Separate deductibles

You choose a deductible for each, and they don't have to match. A common approach is a lower comprehensive deductible, since comprehensive claims like glass and hail tend to be smaller and are treated more favourably by many insurers.

Some states and insurers offer full glass coverage with no deductible. Ask.

Both are capped by the car's value

Neither pays more than the vehicle's actual cash value less your deductible. That's the ceiling regardless of what you paid or what a replacement costs now.

If you owe more than the car is worth, that gap is yours unless you carry gap coverage.