Comprehensive and collision coverage protects against damages not covered by liability insurance, such as fire, theft, vandalism or hail damage. Buying comprehensive and collision coverage is necessary if you have a car loan or lease.

This guide will help you learn more about comprehensive and collision insurance so that you can decide what type of coverage best fits your car insurance budget.

Key Highlights
  • Collision insurance pays for damage to your car when hit by an object or another vehicle.
  • You may need comprehensive insurance if your car is hit by an animal or is damaged due to vandalism, hail, flooding or fire.
  • According to Carinsurance.com’s rate analysis, the annual rate for collision insurance is $687, and $255 for comprehensive, on average.
  • When you decide to drop comprehensive and collision insurance, take your financial situation, car’s condition, age and value into consideration.
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Written by:
Shivani Gite
Contributing Writer
Shivani Gite is a personal finance and insurance writer with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She is passionate about making insurance topics easy to understand for people and helping them make better financial decisions. When not writing, you can find her reading a book or watching anime.
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Reviewed by:
Laura Longero
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Executive Editor
Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

How much does comprehensive and collision coverage cost?

Comprehensive and collision coverage typically won’t bust your budget, as the average insurance cost is fairly affordable. According to a CarInsurance.com rate analysis, the average annual rate for collision is $687 and for comprehensive, it’s $255.

Enter your state in the search field below to see your location’s average cost for comprehensive and collision.

State Collision insurance annual average cost Comprehensive insurance annual average cost
Alaska$592$145
Alabama$563$191
Arkansas$579$268
Arizona$522$173
California$975$136
Colorado$524$395
Connecticut$534$114
Washington, D.C.$852$218
Delaware$538$154
Florida$549$204
Georgia$523$162
Hawaii$550$137
Iowa$423$366
Idaho$426$128
Illinois$584$169
Indiana$533$187
Kansas$471$467
Kentucky$535$258
Louisiana$914$481
Massachusetts$718$227
Maryland$782$165
Maine$481$108
Michigan$1,725$795
Minnesota$598$275
Missouri$839$473
Mississippi$481$244
Montana$670$473
North Carolina$613$162
North Dakota$430$371
Nebraska$577$673
New Hampshire$422$110
New Jersey$642$132
New Mexico$626$229
Nevada$619$161
New York$658$191
Ohio$491$120
Oklahoma$619$408
Oregon$471$101
Pennsylvania$538$190
Rhode Island$688$139
South Carolina$452$319
South Dakota$458$735
Tennessee$535$183
Texas$684$294
Utah$707$143
Virginia$483$134
Vermont$475$180
Washington$402$119
Wisconsin$702$221
West Virginia$555$255
Wyoming$747$556

Seventy-nine percent of insured drivers buy comprehensive coverage with liability insurance, and 75% buy collision coverage, based on an analysis of NAIC data.

An individual should buy comprehensive and collision auto insurance coverage under the following circumstances:

  • If your car is less than 10 years old.
  • If your vehicle is over 10 years old and worth $3,000 or more.
  • If you can’t afford to repair or replace your car if it’s severely damaged or stolen.

Comprehensive vs. collision insurance

Comprehensive and collision insurance are optional types of car insurance coverage that pay to repair or replace your car in certain situations.

Collision coverage pays for:

  • Damage to your car when hit by another vehicle
  • Damage to your car when you hit an object like a pole or fence

Comprehensive insurance pays for:

  • Damage to your car from vandalism, hail, flooding, fire, falling objects, rocks cracking windshields
  • Damage to your vehicle from hitting an animal, like a deer
  • The value of your car if it’s stolen and not found

Explore and understand the differences between Comprehensive vs Collision Insurance

When to drop comprehensive and collision insurance

If you file a comprehensive or collision claim, your insurer will only pay out up to the fair market value of your car, minus your deductible. Shoppers must assess their financial situation, car condition, age and value when deciding whether to drop comprehensive and collision insurance.

Consider dropping comprehensive and collision coverage under these circumstances:

  • You have an old or low-value vehicle. If you have an older car with a low market value, paying for collision and comprehensive insurance may not be worth it. 
  • You can afford to pay for damages out of pocket. If you have sufficient savings to replace your vehicle, it might be a better decision to use those savings to purchase a new one instead of paying for comprehensive and collision insurance.
  • Limited usage or temporary ownership: If you have a vehicle that you rarely use or plan to sell in the near future, collision or comprehensive coverage may not be necessary. 

Here are general guidelines for coverage as cars grow older:

  • Maintain full coverage car insurance with manageable deductibles until your car has been paid off.
  • Drop comprehensive and collision when you would buy another car rather than fix the one you have.

A car repair that costs what your premiums and the deductible total are a good barometer. If you would buy a newer car, don’t insure the old one for comprehensive and collision insurance.

Do I need comprehensive insurance on an old car?

If your car is very old and has a low market value, it may not be necessary to have comprehensive coverage. This is because the maximum payout you receive from insurance is usually the car’s market value minus the deductible amount, which may not be worth the cost of the comprehensive coverage yearly. 

Can you have comprehensive insurance without collision?

Yes, it is possible to have comprehensive insurance without collision coverage and vice versa. Comprehensive insurance is a type of coverage that helps pay to replace or repair your vehicle if it’s stolen or damaged in an incident that’s not a collision.

Collision insurance, on the other hand, pays for damage to your car after an accident with an object, such as a pole, guard rail, or tree. While comprehensive and collision coverage are often purchased together, they are separate coverage types, and depending on your situation, you can drop one or both.

How to save on comprehensive and collision insurance

You may save on your comprehensive and collision coverage by shopping around and comparing auto insurance quotes from different companies.

But there are some other things you can do to lower your rates:

  • Raising your deductible
  • Calculate how much you can afford to pay for your insurance
  • Compare rates with different companies before a car insurance policy
  • Ask for discounts
  • Improving your credit score

Frequently asked questions: Comprehensive and collision insurance

Can you drop collision coverage only?

Insurance companies prefer that collision and comprehensive coverage be purchased together, but some will allow customers to buy one without the other. It’s typically more challenging to obtain comprehensive without collision coverage than just collision alone.

How does liability insurance differ from comprehensive or collision insurance?  

Liability coverage covers damages and injuries you cause to others in an accident. It doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries, while comprehensive and collision insurance cover the policyholder’s own vehicle in the event of an accident. 

Comprehensive insurance covers weather-related damage, theft, and vandalism and collision insurance covers damage caused by collisions with other vehicles or objects. Both comprehensive and collision insurance have a deductible.

Should I have collision insurance on a 10-year-old car? 

The decision to carry collision car insurance coverage on a 10-year-old car depends on factors such as your car’s value, repair costs and how much you can afford to pay for repairs out of pocket. You can consider dropping collision insurance on a 10-year-old vehicle If the cost of your collision insurance premium exceeds 10% of the actual cash value of your car. 

Resources and Methodology

Source

Insurance Information Institute. “Facts + Statistics: Auto insurance.” Accessed July 2023.

Methodology

CarInsurance.com commissioned Quadrant Information Services to get comprehensive and collision insurance rates for 100/300/100 full coverage with a $500 deductible. The rates are based on the profile of a 40-year-old male driving a Honda Accord LX with a clean driving record and good credit score. We have compared 50,00,736 insurance quotes of 27 company groups across 1,467 company groups in the U.S.

Laura Longero

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Laura Longero

Executive Editor

Laura is an award-winning editor with experience in content and communications covering auto insurance and personal finance. She has written for several media outlets, including the USA Today Network. She most recently worked in the public sector for the Nevada Department of Transportation.

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John McCormick

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John is the editorial director for CarInsurance.com, Insurance.com and Insure.com. Before joining QuinStreet, John was a deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal and had been an editor and reporter at a number of other media outlets where he covered insurance, personal finance, and technology.

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Leslie Kasperowicz

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Leslie Kasperowicz is an insurance educator and content creation professional with nearly two decades of experience first directly in the insurance industry at Farmers Insurance and then as a writer, researcher, and educator for insurance shoppers writing for sites like ExpertInsuranceReviews.com and InsuranceHotline.com and managing content, now at CarInsurance.com.

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Contributing Writer

Shivani Gite is a personal finance and insurance writer with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She is passionate about making insurance topics easy to understand for people and helping them make better financial decisions. When not writing, you can find her reading a book or watching anime.