Comprehensive Coverage

This optional coverage applies if your car is damaged by fire, theft, vandalism, glass breakage, windstorm, or even contact with an animal. It provides coverage to repair your car or pay the actual cash value if the car is deemed to be a total loss, less your deductible. Comprehensive coverage does not cover wear and tear, engine failure, or other mechanical difficulties. When you are financing your car, comprehensive coverage may be required by the lien holder.

Collision Coverage

This optional coverage provides payment to fix your car or pay the actual cash value if the car is deemed to be a total loss, if it is overturned or damaged in a collision with another car or object. This coverage would pay for damages to your covered vehicle regardless of who is at fault, but this coverage is subject to a deductible. As with comprehensive coverage, if you are financing your car the lien holder may require collision coverage.

Rental Reimbursement Coverage

This optional coverage is invaluable if you have a covered loss and you do not have another car to use while yours is being repaired. This coverage is available for purchase if you carry collision or comprehensive coverage on the vehicle. It will reimburse you, up to the policy limit, for rental car expenses incurred when the covered vehicle is not drivable or is in the shop for repairs during a reasonable period due to a covered loss. The policy limits are a per-day dollar limit up to a total dollar limit per accident. Several limit combinations are available for many types of vehicles.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Suppose you are injured in an accident caused by an uninsured motorist? Or, what if you are injured by a hit-and-run driver? This coverage is commonly referred to as UM coverage. This coverage is important--and required in many states--because even in mandatory insurance states there are still vehicles without insurance coverage in force. This coverage pays for injuries, up to the coverage limit, caused by a driver who is uninsured, or an unidentified hit-and-run driver, who is legally liable for those injuries. This coverage also protects relatives who live with you, the occupants of your insured car, and while you are a pedestrian.

Please note that uninsured motorist coverage does not pay for damage to your car that was caused by an uninsured motorist. Damage to your car would be covered under collision coverage or uninsured motorist property damage coverage, if it is allowed in your state and you carry it on your vehicle.

The coverage and limits vary by state.

Underinsured Motorist Coverage

What if you are injured and the coverage limits of the person at fault are not enough to pay your medical bills? This coverage is commonly referred to as UIM coverage. This coverage will apply if another driver, who is legally responsible for an accident that injures you, is required to pay more than their bodily injury liability coverage limits. This coverage will pay up to the coverage limit, but only after all of the liable person’s coverage limits have been exhausted. This coverage also protects you while you are a pedestrian, and it protects relatives who live with you.

The coverage and limits vary by state.